"I'm a 3D animator graduated from Vancouver's Digipen school. Right now I'm working as a webmaster but I would really like to be a 3D artist in the game industry. What do you guys look for in a demo reel?"

Submitted by: Gian Delacruz

Answered by: Jason Piel (art director, Sierra On-Line)

"I've found that there are two approaches to a portfolio, Focus and Diversity. I personally struggle to find the best balance of the two, tailored for the veiwing audience, of course.

"I've been taught that Diversity is something to downplay -- that most interviewers will see too much change in styles, techniques, or media as a chaotic collection of pieces that give the appearance of "just having fun". It could seem as if you tried a buch of things, got lucky on a few, and who knows why you're not showing more of each? Will you be able to meet my deadline? It looks unprofessional, and undisciplined.

"I've also been taught that one should focus on one or two styles/techniques, and present a simple yet direct portfolio of 8-12 pieces. It should be clear that you have your act together.

"That being said, I like to see a balance of the two. If you have only a focused portfolio, fine, but if for example, I am looking for a cartoony character animator, and all that I am shown is nicely rendered chrome flying spaceships or spinny logos, I'm going to keep looking. This kind of approach opens yourself up for the cliche, the right place at the right time. If your portfolio shows me just one example of what I'm looking for among the variety of diverse samples, I'll maybe call back if that piece is strong enough, and ask to see more samples of that kind of work. The best case scenario is a portfolio that has a good range of flexibility in styles, techniques, and a fair number of each. From personal experience, I find that people who have this balance in their portfolio will have the same balance of creativity and discipline on the job.

"My portfolio is a triad of my three careers thus far, traditional animation, freelance illustration, and computer gaming art. Within each of those catagories, I have different styles, but many pieces of each. Extreme realism, cartoons, color, high contrast, labored over rendered work, linework, ideas, and "grunt" work. I think (and hope!) that it reflects my personality, solo ability, teamwork, creativity, and practicality.

"So, all these broad generalities aside, the more skills you bring to the table, the better. In the field of computer gaming art, this is very important. If I'm looking at two equal animators, and one can paint bitmaps in a pinch, guess who I'll go with?"

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