Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The GDC Experience [Day 2 - Thurs]

I was so worn out from Wednesday that I didn't do much at the conference today. I ended up hanging out at the Expo for most of the day. I got to draw with Wacom's Syntec tablet for a while and hoping that one day I'll be able to own one. One day. Hopefully.
Other than that, I visited more booths and got more constructive feedback for portfolio:

Telltale Games
  • overall, strong concept art. If you're looking into becoming a concept artist, build a concept art portfolio. Specify!
  • known to be stylized, so lean more towards style. Still include realistic.


WB Games
  • couldn't get a portfolio review
  • managed to get a contact for the division that made Batman: Arkham Asylum

High Voltage Software
  • couldn't get a portfolio review
  • managed to get a contact in case an internship position opens up
  • looking for a technical artist


Activision (again)
  • revisited here because I forgot to get a contact name yesterday.
  • got another portfolio review from a different person
    • strong concept art
    • suggest leaning towards environment art
    • add depth to the environment concept I have. Break up the space between the foreground and background.
    • models looked decent. If interested in prop modeling, I was suggested to look into an internship at Treyarch.

Ubisoft
  • strong concept art, especially in the characters
  • include silhouettes and process work! Show more concept.
  • current environment art piece is lacking.
    • needs depth and atmosphere
    • overall looks airbrushed. The lighting on the subject is too strong - push it back. Be bold with the brush strokes: use sharper edges!
  • textures on the individual props models look good
  • treehouse screenshot of the living room interior should be removed from the portfolio
    • can see many flaws: no contact shadows, lack of transitional edges
    • needs more attention to detail
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The Ringling alumni party happened at the end of the day, which was very fun! I met up with my TAs back in precollege at Carnegie Mellon's National High School Game Academy program: Ben Taylor and Dawn Rivers, which was a blast! It was an overall great social event, one that I know I'll never forget. The party was going to continue on at another bar, but I couldn't go... (cough age cough).

So ends the second day of GDC! :D