[Portfolio]

Fireflights

Hello all! I've been lurking around these parts for awhile, but hadn't made a thread until now.

I was hoping that I could get some feedback on my portfolio site. I've applied to a couple jobs in the past few days, and will be applying to a handful more very soon.

[snip]

I whittled away half the portfolio I had up a few weeks before, and left up what I thought was the best work of the lot. I still feel like a few pieces could be improved upon...but I think they're probably not bad enough to be taken down. 

Any critiques on the website itself or the work would be great. Thanks

Alberto Rdrgz

Looks Awesome, Love your Life drawings!

Saman

I love your work, it's really impressive. I think the website is great too(the layout, design, everyting). How come you didn't include the art on the first page in your gallery?
In my opinion you should leave everything that's good up on your website. I don't the genre really matters. BUT if you have some good art from other genres(scifi, realism) you should definitely put them up.
Good luck!

Unleashed

ah a fellow scad person! awesome site, my only real crit is the frame, if you had it all on one page i reckon it would be much more accessible. also the thumbs could be bigger, as theres alot of empty space which could be used to sell your stuff better.
good luck with the job hunt but i doubt you will have any problems

Dismembered

Well your works seems good, I can't really crit that as I don't know what potential employers look for regarding concept artists, but I can comment on the site. This first thing I noticed, that kind of gave me a chuckle, was the "Good morning" part on the front page. While not a big deal, they might not be looking at your portfolio in the morning. I was looking at it late at night which is why I found it amusing. And I will have to echo what Unleashed said, the thumbnails are just to small. I hate having to click on each one to pretty much even see what it is. Having them larger would be nice so at least I know what I am clicking on. Good luck with the job hunt!

Bibendum

Please don't use frames. I beg of you. Your site would look so much better and would be wasting a lot less screenspace if you just went with a header/body/footer layout.

Your updates page seems a bit unnecessary and could easily be merged with your artwork page. This would immediately present the viewer with all of your work without having to navigate to it which is generally considered ideal.

My biggest complaint would be that your work is good, but there isn't much concept art. Red/Blue ghoul are basically the same image in different color tones, they could easily be collapsed down to one picture. Your weapons could all be displayed in one image also. The fact that you chose to break them up makes it seem like you did it just to make your gallery seem larger than it really is. So really my advice would be to just sit down and churn out a lot more work to put up on it.

Progg

Hi Jennifer. I am also a SCAD graduate ^_^ Graduated in 2009. Your concept work is fantastic. I would say that the weapons are definitely your weakest element. I would take them down until either you make some new designs or just replace them with something else. I would say you definitely shine in figure and landscapes so stick with that

I would suggest possibly doing a scene.. say an architectural concept, and then doing smaller concepts breaking down pieces in the scene for further detail such as column designs, archways, trims, etc., etc. This is what most of the Vigil concept artists are doing for us and it makes life so much easier for the environment artists. I'd say the website should open right on your gallery, with much larger thumbnails. I use to keep them small, but I was told to just make them very large and in your face.

Good luck in your job search. It took me over a year but persistence paid off. Just don't get down on yourself if you cant find something right off... because your work is great.

JasonLavoie

I'm loving the colours I wish you luck in the search

gauss

Hi Fireflights, glad to see another lurker posting, we're always happy to see more artists around. A quick note--if you really want to get the most out of your involvement with polycount, you need to post. Lurking lets you see but doesn't let you be seen.
There's a lot of good work here, but you'd be drawing more interest if you'd have been posting the whole time you've been lurking--posting your own art, and especially commenting on others'. That's what makes it a community, these things are relational. Make friends and contacts in the daily in and out of casual posting and you'll be surprised at how fast you can A) just have some more interesting friends and also have friends in high places at the companies you want to apply for. It's a scary time for anyone job hunting, least of all a new grad, but you can really make life easier by being visible.
When I worked at 8monkey, we knew that if a polycounter's application came across our desk they usually got preferential treatment above other applicants because I generally had a sense for what the person was like. Maybe not well at all, but someone from the community that has a decent or very good reputation will always have better odds than just some unknown portfolio filtering into the inbox.


The best advice I ever got about my folio was that the person looking at it is probably pissed off and tired from being on portfolio duty, so your aspiration should be to give them not only some great artwork to look at but do everything to make getting them to the art easier.

As it is, I have to click once to get to the actual gallery, and then select a piece from there. One click too many--what is the "updates" page there for?

Good work, but be honest, don't pad it out. You know when you're doing it and absolutely your prospective employer will notice too. It's tough being a grad and you know you want to have more pieces to show but don't force it, you have a lot more quality work than most.

So in handy bulletpoint format:

-ditch "updates" page entirely, open site with gallery thumbs (which yes, could be bigger)

-the blue/red variations on the skeleton beastie is padding that you don't need to do. If you really like both versions, join them into the same image, otherwise pick only one.

-the interesting painting you use for the splash doesn't actually appear in your gallery. Drop the splash (as mentioned) and include that piece first in line of your gallery, but at a higher resolution. It's a good, well rounded piece showing an environment, a character in action, and a beastie, so show it off.

-I know you don't want your portfolio to seem too scanty, nobody does--but there's also a little too much padding in the site layout itself. The Resume/About/Contact do not deserve their own pages. Contact info should be big and obvious and nestled right next to the resume--on top of the resume, and right next to the resume download link. You've got the contact info on the pdf version of the resume, so keep that as close at hand on the page layout, too. The "about" isn't bad, but again just not deserving of it's own page. I would condense by about half length, append below the resume portion or omit.

Again, just consider your portfolio site a hyper-efficient artillery piece, blasting the artwork (and then resume and contact info) you want people to have as fast and directly as possible. By no means do you have a bad site, clearly it's been put together with care and consideration (the colors are nice), but it could stand further clarification.

Again welcome to polycount. Get painting more concepts and orthos and get posting!

Fireflights

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised about all the comments about the frames! :P

So many spot-on comments. Thanks all very much for your feedback, I'll be making changes.

c0ldhands

I personally liked the site. What I actually would want to see is more quantity also. The Illustrations section is very impresive, shows you are very skilled in the traditional art departament (sculpture is kickass). But I feel that the concept art section should be stronger, like you said more variation. I think that maybe 5 more new pictures would really tie up the whole package.

Will Faucher

I love your choice of colors! Everything just fits together *SO* well, it's ridiculous. Many of your concepts have made it directly to my inspirations folder.

However, I agree with getting rid of the first updates page. You should use the same first image at the top of your page, but it would be nice to just scroll down to see the rest. It may help a future employer look at your work as well.

Other than that, perhaps a little variation in the theme? Everything in your concept art section seems to be fantasy. Perhaps some science-fiction as well?

I love your style though, keep up the great work!

Shogun3d

Nice portfolio and layout Jennifer.

I think you may benefit from tightening up the vertical spacing between your header pieces in your gallery. Especially with such a small frame to scroll (or get rid of the iframe all together). Either way, it's fast and simple to navigate.

Nice work as well, some very nice illustrations and sketches. I like that you display your thumbnail and progression as well, Studios love to see this. Cheers!

achillesian

no problem with frames here, and i quite like that the website worked without javascript on, might be useful if one of those pissed off portfolio duty people are browsing from an obscure and unsupported platform.

EVIL

ditch the graphics design section. its meh, and has nothing to do with concept art/illustration.

edit: oh and you lured me in nicely with the splash image, but then I don't see anything in your gallery that is as good or better. The splash image looks to be your best piece so its a bit dissappointing to go in and not see more work with the same level of quality or better.


edit2: :P what I would do is keep the splash image, but move the gallery underneath the splash image. Also ditch all the subsections and list your contact information right there on the same page as your artwork. Add in a big obvious resume button for them to download your pdf

I'd rather scroll a bit (I can do that wherever on the page) then navigate my tired hand to some small button and click. I know it seems strange but goddamn you have to spoonfeed all the information to the viewer.

The about section. I dont know, You have a nice face which might make some people notice you more. so I wouldnt hide it. maybe move that to the bottom of the page or something?