2 year grad portolio

[themindofmorris]

Howdy folks,
The name's Morris, and I am looking for some opinions
on my on my port. I graduated 2 years ago, worked at a
couple of places and I am looking for work once again....



my website is
(themindofmorris.com)

and here are some of my recent fellows






Comments from shooter peeps aren't appreciated though

(Folks who do that sort of thing
are the most likely to jeer or
say I will never find anything)

[Hitsu//San]

What are you trying to sell man?

[themindofmorris]

I am trying to sell characters that would make interesting toy or kids show designs; hence why just about everything has a logo.

Also I could see my self working on movies or platformers, things of that nature.

[Hitsu//San]

If you want to sell toys or work on movies you have to enhance your design abilities by doing bp and stuff about your characters. Currently you're only showing final results but a company will need to see if you're able to do their concept and your concepts too.

[themindofmorris]

what is bp?
I do have the sketches and rough paints up of most of the characters on my site though. They are in the sketch section.

[Hitsu//San]

I saw your sketches, those are only raw sketces, something you do to figure out your general designs and forms before starting to detail them. You can't do a 3d character based on those (well actually you could but you have to do the design work when doing the 3d model), this is not the way it works. You have to be able to draw "blueprints" of your models before doing the models. Your sketches doesn't have the details your models have. Actually you're not taking your studies in a good direction, you're in the middle between concept design and 3d modeling.

The problem is that companies ask for concepts before 3d models, and you're not providing them, then asks for 3d models which you're good but since you're not following any final concept it's not clear if you're reliable to do advanced 3d models with a provided concept. See the point?

[themindofmorris]

To tell you the truth I am a bit perplexed.
Are you referring to the the turn around sheets?

I kinda stopped doing those when I had the confidence to do the characters straight
from base mesh I made.
When in the process of modeling I usually do change my mind upon how the character should look or how much detail should be put in.

I do want to do the character designs too you know?

[Hitsu//San]

Yeah i got it, that's why i'm telling you that if you want to do character design too you must do it on paper first then in 3d cause in most cases working in house you can't change design when you're doing it in 3d. That's cause a design must be approved by your boss before going into the 3d phase. This if you're working on videogames or cinema too. I'm not so prepared for toys i must admit it but i think the process will be the same, there are steps of approval about a design that you're totally jumping over.

This is a problem unless you're not thinking about selling your 3d models as they are, if that's the case i'm sorry i didn't got it first.

[themindofmorris]

I'm just perplexed and want to just find a new place already.

[themindofmorris]

i made this one today... idk

[TheDirtSyndicate]

my issue with your work is that i cant tell what anything is.
the last image i understand, its like a dragon character with smoke stacks out of his back... and up above there's a gorilla looking character...
the rest? i dont know whats going on. especially the first image, what the hell is that? that looks like nothing i've ever seen before, and not in a good way. its just shapes to me, an abstract 3d thing maybe? buy you say "here are some recent fellows" which gives me the impression that this is supposed to be a character and not an abstract 3d. maybe seeing it from a few different angles would help me understand what it is... cause right now i see nothing that resembles anatomy. characters usually have arms, legs, LIMBS, a face at least... i dont see that in most of your characters.
only in the 2 i mentioned can i tell that its a character.

*just looked at your website.

on your website you have things that are more clear and easy to understand.
my advice is to try and think more about the silhouette of your characters design more. a silhouette is INSTANTLY recognisable! this is how we see things and i dentify things. if you dont have a strong silhouette your design is going to suffer. and tahts what i'm seeing here.
check this out:


thats a perfect example of what i'm talking about. you can recognize every single character instantly by their silhouette. THIS is what you want in your character designs! and in illustrations in general, you want the pose of your character to have a strong silhouette.

[themindofmorris]

And here it is!
Normal norms on the rise.
Judging by how you put things, you are seeing things with a
"Saturday Morning Mindset"
You gotta come in with a warrior's mindset

And I'm seeing old stuff there, I am one of the future,
and don't just include western fellows.




.
When I think of a character to design, I'm thinking of
BATTLE, SPECIALS, and transformation; not a slapstick type of
dude that looks cute.

I mean what the heck?!
Is it really that hard to understand?
The first character is egg super robot equipped with a cluck cannon,
the second you mentioned was a spheroid warrior who uses pipe propulsion.

Where in the world did you get the idea that it looked like a gorilla?

I'm not sure, this could be meat plot in disguise.

[Hitsu//San]

That's what happen when you're not able to plan your designs. It's a thing that's been called happy accident but in your case you're the only one who's happy about it, cause in your eyes they look cool, it's what you want them to be, what you like em to be... but everyone is going to like it or understand it? Probably not cause they're not grounded in a believable reality and lots of shape you use are not readable. Take a look at most of the toys and characters that's been a major success in the last 50 years and you can see what i'm talking about.

[Shorinji_Knight]

I hate to say this, but I can't really tell what your stuff is either. I don't mean anything bad by this. TheDirtSyndicate is right about having a strong silhouette. It doesn't matter if you're the future or not good design is good design. Strong silhouettes are needed to make designs readable past present or future.

[themindofmorris]

idk at this point it seems like no one will be happy
no matter what i do.

All the people either want meat/death games, woodland fantasy types, or generic items.

No matter what site I am or what ever I produce, people are going to get angry.
This is no good.

[Shorinji_Knight]

Were not the ones who are angry, more indifferent if anything. We only comment here trying to help you. I really couldn't care less what kind of art you make. We're just pointing out how to make it stronger more readable. I personally have nothing against you or your art. I do like how you use color and I think you do have some good ideas. However you need to work on making you designs pop.

[themindofmorris]

ok thanks indeed, i need to make more action poses.
and I wanted to make a versus type thing or model
that brontosaurus type guy.

[Hitsu//San]

idk at this point it seems like no one will be happy
no matter what i do.

All the people either want meat/death games, woodland fantasy types, or generic items.

No matter what site I am or what ever I produce, people are going to get angry.
This is no good.

Well everyone of us sooner or later have to face that this is a job and not a crusade against society. Like every industry there are trends and you have to sell products (if you don't sell you don't work for so long) then you need to adapt. Eventually might come the day that you can be able to produce your stuff yourself and you surely will face the question "this thing is going to be a success or i am going to waste my money on it?".

[themindofmorris]

how's that? a versus banner of two old characters I redid.

[Hitsu//San]

It's not balanced, right side tends to be much more black and the eye is dragged there which is not the purpose of this kind of banners. In general is pretty much the same as your previous images and i think you're not getting the point. It's clear what you're trying to do, we understand it, but the way you're doing is breaking so much rules about readability, characters and forms creation which are be made in centuries of art study. What are we telling you it's not our way of doing things that you might compare with yours, it's a general rule about our brain functions studied by generations and generations of artists that have dedicated their entire life into this stuff here.

Anyway i hope you can understand it some day, i might help you with tips from now on but everyone have already told you the way you need to move for your sake and i'm out of the discussion in this thread.

[TheDirtSyndicate]

And here it is!
Normal norms on the rise.
Judging by how you put things, you are seeing things with a
"Saturday Morning Mindset"
You gotta come in with a warrior's mindset

And I'm seeing old stuff there, I am one of the future,
and don't just include western fellows.
.
When I think of a character to design, I'm thinking of
BATTLE, SPECIALS, and transformation; not a slapstick type of
dude that looks cute.

I mean what the heck?!
Is it really that hard to understand?
The first character is egg super robot equipped with a cluck cannon,
the second you mentioned was a spheroid warrior who uses pipe propulsion.

Where in the world did you get the idea that it looked like a gorilla?

I'm not sure, this could be meat plot in disguise.

dont like critiques from a working professional?
have fun NOT getting work dipshit.
learn how to take a critique, be open to improving your work, or you will not succeed in this industry.
you dont even know the BASICS of character design. a strong silhouette is one of the absolute most important aspects of a character design. it doesn't matter what style you're drawing you dumbass.
take any comic book of any character of your choice, any cartoon of your choice, it doesn't matter dude: every character has a strong unique silhouette. the example i pulled was just the first image i saw on google image search, but it applies to ALL styles of illustration.

educate yourself before opening your stupid mouth.
watch this video. Feng Zhu (one of the best concept artists in the world if you dont know who he is) will school you on the importance of a strong silhouette:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yKxY0KKrak

[TheDirtSyndicate]

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=meIOValetZw

"if your silhouette makes no sense, then you probably shouldn't pursue it further, because its not cool already"

oh, and "warrior mindset"?
its an EGG. you're talking about a warrior egg. sounds like some goofy saturday morning childrens cartoon to me. *shrug*

[themindofmorris]

Use of profanity, really professional.

If I see something I don't agree with,
I'm going to say something about it.

You made a sweeping generalization that the pieces I made
had no faces, and you posted 90's cartoons; when in fact
you work in vfx and shooter based media.

Who are you to say that I am stupid when you
come in with standard designs and become extremely
hateful when it doesn't fill your quota of death and gore.

A common trait among those who enjoy killing spree and medieval escapist games.

You seem to be
a very insecure and angry individual who's
opinion must reign supreme.

Well with that, Cheers.

[TheDirtSyndicate]

Use of profanity, really professional.

If I see something I don't agree with,
I'm going to say something about it.

You made a sweeping generalization that the pieces I made
had no faces, and you posted 90's cartoons; when in fact
you work in vfx and shooter based media.

Who are you to say that I am stupid when you
come in with standard designs and become extremely
hateful when it doesn't fill your quota of death and gore.

A common trait among those who enjoy killing spree and medieval escapist games.

You seem to be
a very insecure and angry individual who's
opinion must reign supreme.

Well with that, Cheers.

1. you didn't just "not agree" with me, you argued. there's a big difference between accepting someones critique of your work and not agreeing with it and arguing with that person. try that on a client and see how well you get paid.

2. i did not make a comment about your characters not having faces; i said it wasn't clear where the face was, where the arms and legs are, etc. having a strong silhouette will solve those issues.
so not only did i point out a problem with your designs, i offered a solution to that problem. this is what is called a "good critique".
someone who isn't good at doing critique would just come in and say "this sucks" and not explain why or offer any solutions. i didn't do that. i offered you a good critique backed by experience from doing concept art for film and video games, and you wanted to fight me on it. thats why i called you stupid.
the only words that should have come from you are: "thank you for your critique, i dont entirely agree with you, but i appreciate your comments and will think on them"
any other response is just plain stupid.

3. again, i guess i must repeat this because you're reading comprehension is terrible: i posted the 90's cartoons because it was the first example i found on google images. a strong silhouette is one of the absolute most important aspects of a character design. it doesn't matter what style you're drawing/designing in.
and this isn't MY opinion, its the opinion of all the pro level designers that taught me.
i'm trying to pass on knowledge. i'm trying to help you become a better artist.

4. death and gore? quote the comment where i mentioned anything about that please.
i'm talking about having a good character design. i never said anything about death and gore, i have no idea what you're talking about.
i've been talking about silhouettes and how important they are to character design.
this is another reason i think you're stupid. you're manufacturing arguments based upon things i haven't said.

[Triplaneta]

dont like critiques from a working professional?
have fun NOT getting work dipshit.
LEARN HOW TO TAKE A CRITIQUE, be open to improving your work, or you will not succeed in this industry.
you dont even know the BASICS of character design. a strong silhouette is one of the absolute most important aspects of a character design. it doesn't matter what style you're drawing you dumbass.
take any comic book of any character of your choice, any cartoon of your choice, it doesn't matter dude: every character has a strong unique silhouette. the example i pulled was just the first image i saw on google image search, but it applies to ALL styles of illustration.

^ I second this.
I've been looking at this thread since it came to be, and I don't know if this guy's trolling or just too close minded.

[gnarl]

...

If I see something I don't agree with,
I'm going to say something about it...

=

So then you already know everything? Why are you here, why aren't you a professional?

[themindofmorris]

1. If you don't show a little bit of base into your voice on internet forums people will jeer at you. Folks on the web are animals, and if you behave politely your nothing more than idol pray for them.
(I've posted in 3 forums and I get jeered at if I am polite)

2. I check the silhouette with most of these, alright I admit some of the ones that aren't traditionally shaped or have huge appendages kinda have blurred silhouettes. but for the most part you can tell who they are, Seriously I do check before I make these dudes.

3. Ok I may have over reacted, but number one again.
I am not going to be the laughing stock of this site because I was too nice.

4. People who like these things often are the ones to jeer.
I noticed you were one who liked this, thus you might be one of the other dudes from the site.

Again, I am a professional fellow who works at places and no one on the web thinks so because I don't do gore or medival based things. So I will say something when someone is on the verge of saying rude things before they start.

[Hitsu//San]

...

You know what? I think you must sit down and think about your current work and what do you want to push your career cause right now you ain't going anywhere from where you are, especially with this kind of behaving and skill level.

If you think your product is fine as it is then good, have a good luck with that.




Thank you, i'm pretty sure we never steal work each other

[TheDirtSyndicate]

again, i never said you should do gore or medieval based things at all. nobody here is saying that theres anything wrong with having a cartoony style.
i dont know where you are getting that.

look man, the only reason i commented on this thread was because i think your stuff is on the right track but could be better.
if i didn't like your work i wouldn't have commented on it at all.

[Triplaneta]

Again, I am a professional fellow who works at places and no one on the web thinks so because I don't do gore or medival based things. So I will say something when someone is on the verge of saying rude things before they start.

I don't know why you keep saying that in fact it doesn't really matter.

And heck I'm not a professional but I know that kind of attitude will have a negative impact on your career, sure you can say your a working professional but some companies REALLY DO give a shit about the things the other people said above.

EDIT:And yeah, people are trying to help here so I don't know what you want us to say to you. :/