[Portfolio Review] 2D Concept - what do you think?

Undercurrent32

https://lukaskuhn.artstation.com/albums/85791

Hello everyone! Still pretty new to the site but I hope its fine for me to ask for tips here!

At the beginning of 2018 I graduated from my bachelors and as of recent my job search was not very fruitful- most studios weren't looking for a Junior Artist or with the one that did, I got passed up. So now I of course obsess about how to polish my portfolio some more for the next time

I've been working in a vacuum for the most part and could really use some input as Im struggling to see what to work on from here going forward.

My personal hunches are that I just have way too many pieces in my portfolio, especially considering many of them are projects but I have a hard time deciding with which to part.
I try to keep original design ideas and avoid the 'castle on hill' stuff though Im starting to think that might sell better in the end?
Other than that I hope to keep a healthy balance of environments and props with some wips, sketches, variations and 3D. A character or two where I felt they turned out really well.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I might be totally off. What do you think? Maybe something really vital is actually missing from this? A big heartfelt thank you for any response!

carvuliero

Hey there ,

You have pretty good stuff out there , you shouldn't be without a job for long , probably they didn't look for concept artist at this moment 

I have 2 general and 2 specific suggestions :

General :

You have good enough stuff to not say to everyone that you just graduated ,if they ask you its ok but don't start with that

I wish you have a high res images on your portfolio even when zoom in they are still small so to see details

Specific :

If you want to keep wheelchair guy you should polish him further , dynamic lighting and some contrast can bring him to life as right now he look dead and muddy or even redesign as description and what you drawn doesn't really match in my opinion there is nothing visually to  indicate that he have some power to heal or banish demons ,just a regular cripple guy

Castle-tree composition , you have brown gray version which I think works much better then red one

Also tall building colored version still need more work whole thing lack depth

Why did you blow up only triangle bad-char thing ?

If you are eager to work you could try some freelance before some big studio eat you alive

Doodlok

Whoa, I love what you got on your portfolio, and super cool that you worked on the surge  

Im really not in any position to give any professional feedbacks, but my impression from the portfolio websiter is that they all look much more impressive when they're shown bigger on the screen. Perhaps choosing some of the main pieces and arrange the portfolio thumbnails in a way that they show larger than others might be a good way to get that wow factor at first glance? Also, I agree with @carvuliero that your wheelchair exorcist is sorta out of league compared to other works. 

But then, I know nothing and your works are great. 

Undercurrent32

Thanks for the feedback you two!

Thank you carvuliero for the confidence, I used to write that I just graduated in my first paragraph until like a month ago haha.
What resolution would you like to see? I always figured 1500-2000px on the widest length should be enough. I really hate how artstations default display is to have text and image next to each other making the picture so small, maybe I should just pay up for that PRO badge.
I took the exorcist out, its probably a good call!
Changed the castle-tree image as you suggested, thanks!
I have a lot of respect for freelancing since I would prefer a stable income and its not like Im internetfamous or anything.

Hey Doodlok, thank you! Yeah I got to intern on The Surge two years back. Its a shame that by now I dont really think that work represents me well anymore since professional work would look great in the portfolio. Eg. I already un-published this project. It would be nice to have more props in there but.. eh. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Zrd3m (hope the link works for you?)
Which pieces would you think should be featured more prominently? If I do end up getting the pro subscription, I would for sure do that. I personally really dig the fantasy piece with the huge statues (tomb of the matriarch) but that may be because its very recent so Im biased haha.

Thanks again! This is very valuable to me

carvuliero

Ok I checked again and only Shop of the Sage and  Ascension to Hellmouth have this problem .You can see how one of them is looking on my 27 inch monitor , when you click to zoom in it become even smaller

If I have to pick 3-4 of your work that be : VIP suite [just swap both variation second one have better contrast and point of interest maybe some packing will be a wise thing to do for example you can combine VIP suite wall variation and furniture in to one but do that after you add few more pieces]

Paint over you did for The Surge  , The witches carriage [size might be an issue here as horses feel really small and probably wont be able to move that massive thing , maybe you could add one more raw of horse or increase their size ] and Iadlain house studies [this are visually very interesting but as I said above colored version require more polish ]

Specifically for tomb of the matriarch I think you should push darks few values to get wider range + cant really see any cast shadows from this huge statues .You can reveal a bit head of the statue to the right so all statue heads are related in an oval or trapezoid pointing to the middle similar to what paved ground is doing

Undercurrent32

Thanks!

I really like your idea for the tomb of the matriarch, already added a head to the top right corner of the image!
For the Iadlain house designs, I might add an environment painting featuring the house designs to round out the project, too.
Im happy you like the carriage this much! I put a back and side view of it on my to-do-list so its more concept art than illustration.

 Yeah the display is very frustrating, next time Im sending out applications I will just cough up the 10 bucks for better display options. The images are much higher res than what youre seeing, but I get that no art director has time to right click and open in a new tab.
Maybe adding zoomed in shots like so would help the issue? I dont quite like how it might be misunderstood as sequential art for a glance.

carvuliero

Looks like some sort of limitation on tall images why don't you send them a ticket see what they can do about it

If you have money to spend instead paying artstation you could invest in some quality tutorials :

- Barnstone studios -> really eye opening knowledge here that nobody else is teaching [to my knowledge ]

- Visual Storytelling with Iain McCaig -> if you want to tell a story with your art this is tutorial for you , its beautiful and entertaining too

"Maybe adding zoomed in shots like so would help the issue? I dont quite like how it might be misunderstood as sequential art for a glance. " yeah it changes the whole meaning