BUILDING A PORTFOLIO WITH A FRAMEWORK By Anthony O’Donnell INTRO I’ve aspired to be an artist since I was 9 years old. I’ve worked towards this goal my entire life. Today I still put in the effort daily to improve as an Artist, a Leader, an Art Director a team player and a colleague. The main thing I’ve learned is that making games is much more than just raw skill. You need to be a problem solver, creative thinker good communicator and team player. You need to have skills in certain roles and tasks to contribute to a team wide effort to produce an experience to be enjoyed by the masses, it is never easy or simple. https://www.instagram.com/nathdevlin2522 https://antodonnell.com/ https://www.artstation.com/antodonnell Since 2007 I have worked in a number of art roles across a variety of projects. I’ve worked on racing games, third person games, platform games, FPS games and VR games/ experiences. Each has taught me something new and challenged me. Junior Artist Artist Senior Artist - Lead Artist Associate Art Director Art Director 8 Released games 2 Unreleased games 5 Games contributed to via Co-development I look forward to seeing what other titles make it to this list in the future. I’ve enjoyed every minute of being a commercial artist in game development. A PORTFOLIO FRAMEWORK A lot of recent discussion around efforts relating to breaking into Game Art has again brought back an issue that keeps coming up, that is the creation of a portfolio to attain a job. This brings up a set of very common questions often asked. What do you need in a portfolio? What do employers need to see? What should you focus on? This resource is not definitive but does try to answer these questions and share some information in how to use a framework to build a portfolio that shows you’re capable and ready to work. A big shout out to the team at d3t and Coconut Lizard and the awesome artists who have contributed their art to be included as visuals in this PDF (credits at the end). Thanks to Louise Andrew – Head of Art and all the other folks who have provided feedback on this resource. I do hope those that read it find value in it. ADVICE No singular person has all the answers. Everyone’s journey is different. Everything I’m sharing in this resource is based upon my own journey and learnings but that also includes what I’ve learned off of all the amazing creatives, artists and good people I’ve met in my life so far. Without them sharing all their knowledge and experiences I would not know half of what I know now. Always seek out advice from many sources, you will find that good advice is repeated. Follow what works best for you and your individual circumstances. Find a work / life balance that suits you. Do not think this means you don’t need to put in the effort, you do. I’ve more on that here in a blog post. https://www.artstation.com/blogs/antodonnell/0Ena/thoughts-on-game-development-and-the-games-industry Nina Klos has a good complimentary blog post at the link below on planning and managing your time. https://www.artstation.com/blogs/ninaklos/7WMr/a-guide-to-planning-a-project-how-to-stay-on-top-of-it WHY DO YOU NEED A PORTFOLIO? To get a job – this is usually the main reason. To be employable you need to show the capability to do the job. To showcase your work – This is more for hobbyists but is also a great way to share your work with the world. WHAT AN EMPLOYER WANTS TO SEE … - Capability to do the work. - Potential of the artist you can become. - An awareness of current industry workflows and process. HOW AN EMPLOYER REVIEWS YOUR PORTFOLIO … - Quickly – Most folio reviews end up being 5 minutes to 30 mins. This is usually down to the number to review across many open roles at any one time. - If there are no portfolio links chances are it’ll not be considered. - Work needs to be readily viewable, reviewers won’t spend lots of time searching for the work. An employer opens your portfolio WANTING to give you a job! It’s up to you and your portfolio to convince them otherwise COMMON PORTFOLIO ADVICE - Quality over quantity - Show breakdowns - Show your best work only - Focus on your strengths - Ideally only show finished work - Keep it simple, clear and concise - Spend an appropriate amount of time on the presentation Always provide a portfolio link when you apply… (no really, please!) PICK A DISCIPLINE There are many art disciplines in game art. All require a mix of specific technical or art knowledge. - Prop Artist Environment Artist Hard Surface Artist Organic Artist Character Artist Animator Technical Animator Technical Artist VFX Artist - Character Designer Environment Designer World Builder / Level Artist Cinematic Artist Look Dev Artist UI/UX Artist Concept Artist Lighting Artist Cinematic Artist You cannot be a master of all of these simultaneously. Pick one or two and focus, you can always work on others later. HOW THE FRAMEWORK CAME ABOUT Over the last 16 years …. I’ve reviewed hundreds of portfolios to identify candidates I was an Assessor and Judge – Search for a Star I’m a Mentor at Limitbreak (2023) I’ve given many informal folio reviews As part of my job I very likely have reviewed 4000+ art assets, never mind the ones outside of work. Over time doing all of this I noticed myself starting to structure how I reviewed and considered a portfolio. The following page shows how I began to categorise the different elements of a portfolio to fairly review candidates. This also became my process as to how I review art assets. I first check the objective elements of the work. Then move to the subjective elements. Finally I consider the work as a piece of content that’s part of a whole, in the context of this document and the industry that would be a Video Game. Each category then has lists of elements which should be considered for each one. OBJECTIVE SUBJECTIVE CONTENT Process / Technical Knowledge Applied Artistic Knowledge Range of work Styles and genre Breakdowns Art Fundamentals Game Genre Process / Workflow Considered / Contextual Detailing Art Style Software Knowledge Core Art Skills Engine Knowledge Presentation Visual Design Role specific Work The following pages show examples of an objective then subjective review OBJECTIVE REVIEW SUBJECTIVE REVIEW What I realised is that I can reverse engineer the process! To define WHAT to include based upon what I wanted to see. Examples! PROCESS / BREAKDOWNS OBJECTIVE ELEMENTS UV’s Wireframes Texture Breakdown WORKFLOW / BREAKDOWNS OBJECTIVE ELEMENTS High Poly Game Res Mesh High to Low Bakes Game Res Mesh with Baked Maps WORKFLOW / BREAKDOWNS OBJECTIVE ELEMENTS Use of tileables and trim sheets WORKFLOW / BREAKDOWNS OBJECTIVE ELEMENTS Modular Kits WORKFLOW / BREAKDOWNS Rough Sketches / Exploration Concept Art WORKFLOW / BREAKDOWNS Polished Concept Concept Art WORKFLOW / BREAKDOWNS Character Art SOFTWARE KNOWLEDGE Level of knowledge of a software and Game Engines Evident via the end result and breakdowns. We’re entering subjective territory … SUBJECTIVE ELEMENTS Taking some screens from Resident Evil the Village and Ghost of Tsushima. These games are visually distinct, largely due to artistic choices. They both utilise similar methods and tools to achieve their goal. One evokes a calm and beautiful world where the other is very atmospheric and tense Shape language and use of colour and lighting all contribute. Even down to the texturing approach. These are all tools and art fundamentals that you can apply to your work to convey a mood or target a genre. Consider the context of the asset. The world it exists in, how these things affect the final look and what that conveys to the viewer. These elements of the art are mostly subjective and down to the artist producing them. When it comes to your portfolio you are the one in control here and deciding what direction to take. This judgement is what will be assessed. Your eye for detail and consistency across a body of work. ARTISTIC EYE Lighting and presentation Lighting and presentation should receive a lot of attention to finalise your work and show it in its best light. You didn’t’ spend many hours sometimes a hundred or more on some art to then show it off badly. Put in the time to get this right! ARTIST EYE Beauty Shots CONTENT Content can be a very important aspect of your portfolio It can show what work you’re passionate about It can be used by a Studio to see if you’d be a project fit Most importantly it can show what kind of ARTIST you are! Art styles in games vary WILDLY! (This is evident on the next page) Depending on which company you’re applying for they may have some clear ideas in what they’re looking for from an artist to be a project fit. You can opt to tailor your portfolio for a Studio or instead decide to show off your skills and knowledge with work you like doing and hope it appeals to a Studio. CONTENT CONTENT Art Style When you are targeting a style ensure you understand what it is you’re trying to achieve. Targeting your work! This means making optimal art that can be used in-game. The below limitations will always apply. Hardware Limitations FPS Limits Screen Resolution These targets define what fidelity you work to and how you make the art. Mesh Density and Triangle Count matters Texel Density and Texture Sizes used matters Shader complexity matters Screen Resolution and Render Buffer complexity matters Where possible in your portfolio show an awareness of this in your work and breakdowns. Seek out online resources and GDC talks that often cover items around these topics. CONTENT Role Specific Content Role specific content is required depending on the role you’re applying for. This needs to exist in a portfolio to show your suitability for that role. No point applying for a Tech Art job with nice concept art. Know your role! Technical Art will be more focused on tooling and the how of pipelines and processes CONTENT Role Specific Content Concept Art is all about problem solving and visual design, show the process WHAT AN EMPLOYER WANTS TO SEE … - Capability to do the work (Objective) - Potential of the artist you can become - An awareness of current industry workflows and process (Subjective) (Content) AN EMPLOYER ALSO WANTS TO SEE SOFT SKILLS - Team player and collaborator - Good communication skills - How you give and receive feedback - To see what kind of person you are - If you are a proactive problem solver who also seeks support These soft skills matter as much as the portfolio Likes don’t get you a job, the WORK does! OBJECTIVE How is it made? SUBJECTIVE How does it look? CONTENT What is it? SUMMARY • Do Include breakdowns – These show HOW you produce art (objective) • Do give insight into your workflow knowledge (objective) • Do try and add some depth and meaning to your work via artistic choices (subjective) • Do include role specific content (content) • Do include work of the style and type you’d like to get a role producing. (content) • Don’t forget a portfolio link FINAL TIPS REMEMBER - Keep an open mind - Never stop learning - Put in the work - Ask questions - Don’t give up! - You’re not just a software user - You’re not Ai You’re an ARTIST !!! Artwork Featured Dan Hutchinson Hollie Shepphard Ben Sparrow Bruno Pashaj Simeon Donchev Woody Stables Katie Hulmes Caleb O’Brien Rachael Jones Anthony O’Donnell Best of luck in your journey!
