General Portfolio Advice
polycounter lvl 4
Hello everyone, I'm a recent graduate from a Digital Art and Animation degree that suffered from being too unspecialized.
I'm currently doing 2D motion graphics for a marketing company with some scattered freelance, but I would like to move to the games/film industry. I've sent applications with not much luck so far.
I understand my biggest problem is that I haven't specialized on anything yet, I think I would prefer working in the 2D field but I'm afraid my skills are not entry level yet. I would really appreciate if anyone could take a look at my portfolio and tell me what my main problems are, if my work is too scattered or if it's simply not good enough. I feel I've been stuck in some sort of echochamber and I think some outside feedback would be useful.
Anyway, if you have the time to take a look and give me some pointers, it would be awesome:
http://sandra-gerse.com/
I'm currently doing 2D motion graphics for a marketing company with some scattered freelance, but I would like to move to the games/film industry. I've sent applications with not much luck so far.
I understand my biggest problem is that I haven't specialized on anything yet, I think I would prefer working in the 2D field but I'm afraid my skills are not entry level yet. I would really appreciate if anyone could take a look at my portfolio and tell me what my main problems are, if my work is too scattered or if it's simply not good enough. I feel I've been stuck in some sort of echochamber and I think some outside feedback would be useful.
Anyway, if you have the time to take a look and give me some pointers, it would be awesome:
http://sandra-gerse.com/
Replies
So first of Id recommend going through "Your portfolio repels jobs".
Things like your home page could most likely be removed entirely.
as for your 2D work, its all over the place, both in style, presentation and skill.
Where do you wanna work and what do you wanna do there? Build your portfolio around that.
your art isnt bad, but your portfolio really needs clarity, cohesiveness and focus.
I think you should work on a piece thats going to be better than all the rest of the work you have done and sets a new standard. you will have to think carefully as to what this could be. personally i would look at what area i want to work in, find an artist that works in that area, look at the work that got the job and see if you can do something better.
The pluses from your site are its well designed and you have enough work of good quality.
Good luck.
Peep'd your folio and to some degree @lotet nailed down those specifics that struck me needing a touch of finesse in general.
By the way, out of interest were you formally trained drawing/painting? because (...as a trained Portraitist myself) there's recognisable aspects the female illustration especially highlights and I'm guessing is a self portrait in terms of composition, shading, contrast/tonal values...etc
So seriously I wouldn't be selling yourself short, IMHO the current 2D skillset supersedes that required for an entry level submission. Perhaps think about tailoring your portfolio towards the 2D Concept Art discipline?!