Good enough for university ?

Hey there :slight_smile:

First of all I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Martin I am 18 years old and I have been using blender for a while. Now comes the time, that I will be finished with school in a few month and I want to start studying something related to CGI (at university). But first I have to get accepted. They want to see some of your art related work you did to this point.
I was thinking to sow them these picturs below. But I do not know if there are good enough.

Inspiration:


Cycle of life:


The Railway:


I hope I can get some feedback from you guys. And maybe some general advice in which part my pictures need the most improvements (lighting, texturing, modeling …)

Don’t doubt your skills. If those images are your best, then they are good enough.

I think your good enough! I like the cycle of life. If your going to show them if then perhaps render all of the scenes at once so you don’t have the borders on it.

in the library picture, i think you can improve. first the shelfs look flat, not deep enough to hold these big books. the books, it is too obvious that you made a few, and put them next to each other. look at one shelf, all books are same. yes this is iin libraries, that books on one shelf are bound same way. yes, you have tilted some, and put a tad depper into shelf, that is a good start, but also vary the thickness of books, and maybe make some look more used. even if books are bound in same leather, the thickness varies, depending on the number of pages… try to make it not visible at first glance that you reuse books often., and, the lightning, it seems to come from the right, i believe it would be more attractive picture if the lightning is stronger (while keeping the left side in the dark as you have)… also, the title of image is inspiration, it took me too long to get it. the letters, the lightning effect around them needs more “pop”, as i understand your image, this is the theme, what you want show us. so, it should be clear focus… that is my main issue with this nice image, it has no clear focus. you can bring that in by better lightning…
cycle of life i like. i would keep the separate images. to me it adds to the content.
railsways, train tracks have a too obvious repeat. also i would consider to make the color more like metal. otherwise i think this is a good one too, pleasing composition that divides the area nicely.
good luck!

Hey Martin!

Yes, I’d also say they’re good enough. Don’t forget that you’ll be applying for university - not for a job. Usually when it comes to “artistic education”, the technical aspect is the least important…you’ll be there for learning that. They usually want to see whether or not you have the general ability to tell a story in a picture, or catch a mood…maybe you might want to add something to your portfolio that is related to a certain artist or artistic epoche. that way you can show that you have basic knowledge about the history of art…Many famous artists reinterpreted things that other artists had created before.

I also like the circle of life best (maybe you might want to add some blossoms or fruit to one of the trees?! replication belongs to the circle of life, too ;)).

Best luck for your application!

I’d also add that the book on the first pic seem to be floating on the table
and that the door is too narrow. Keep at it, you are doing good!

good enough to get there !!
but remember 50% are better then you an the rest worse :wink:
so keep practising keep learning
and the first time that girl in a bikini with a FREE beer looks better then your text books
you’ll FAIL :frowning:

Thanks guys for taking the time helping me out. :slight_smile:
All your suggestions are really helpful and I am definitely going to redo the picture to improve on the points you mentioned. The main thing I took away from your comments was that I should not worry that much about the technical side of the images and more about the story I want to tell (hope that’s about right).
Thanks again helped me a bunch :slight_smile:

You’re using the internal engine I take it, as these snapshots though good lack the realistic lighting and texturing that can be gleaned from cycles.

Library

As Doris said, the bookshelves are far too flat and small. You either make the shelves bigger or the books smaller. And variety helps - no library has a set of thick books only. There’d be thin books, smaller books, taller books in a shelf or neighboring shelf. I’d also break it up a bit by adding some other things here and there - e.g. a vase, doesn’t have to have flowers or a bowl with something in it. Just books upon books is rather boring.

Sorry but the letters coming from the book don’t make sense seeing as the book itself isn’t doing anything unusual - it’s just an ordinary book. I’d expect some glow or something for symbols to be floating into the air.

Seasons

Not bad, can’t really adjust those.

Train Tracks

Major thing, it’s internal engine so you don’t have any gloss on the tracks or the train sign. Train tracks, even rusty ones, have some gloss to them and the color texture is far too uniform - you just added an array. I’d have either made the tracks bigger and arrayed or simply applied the array and then the texture so its not as uniform.

There’s no glow from the light.

There’s a few other issues but not bad. I’d have a look at the university and see if they have any demos and/or demo portfolios that you can have a look at to compare.

The major thing is is that you see the issues and am willing to adjust - you could be a fantastic self taught artist by yourself but if you don’t take critique well you won’t get far in a university.