Building A Strong Portfolio / Finding your tribe
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From my residency I learned that an art director can give you some guidance. Will Varner saw my art and said instantly visual development for games. I had no idea what he meant and he referred to my “love submission “ with the witch and the draw 50 things combo. And he saw similarities and said thats the market ill thrive in. So I recommend get a portfolio of your strongest pieces together and find an art director to give you a critique. 3x3 magazine does a critique for 30$ over skype. They really go into it. That’s what helped me figure out what to do once my residency is over. I can do comics and visual development.
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Some great responses so far. The hardest part is breaking away from the mindset of making art to please other people or just making what's popular. Gotta really listen to yourself
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@Will-Terry thank you for this and taking the time to respond. I truly appreciate and respect your input. I would have to agree with your points. When I started graphic design I targeted what I loved and eventually got more of it to work on. (Logos and iconography ). Eventually moved over to web development for financial reasons and put a back seat to that passion. Now I feel wayyy out of touch in what I wanted to do, to begin with.
But that's a story for another time. Thanks again! I should post more work and get feedback.
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This morning @Will-Terry, after reading your comments and all the other helpful experiences shared by fellow SVSers, realised the monkey mind strikes again, and this whole week I've been in a funk thinking I'm in a catch-22, where I can't go obtain professional feedback because my portfolio is not good enough and my portfolio is not good because I've not obtained that feedback!
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Yeah im on board with will terry. It seems like the answer has always been Make art that you love to make or you find fun or funny, whatever. Then ask a professional where that art fits (like an art director or illustration teacher) The reason I wouldn't ask someone that's not one of those things is because from my experience, if you ask an illustrator thats been doing something for a long time, they may not know anything about other markets except the one they've worked in for 30 years however long. I swear I just learned this like a week ago have yet to see if what the art director told me is what would work for me but it would be fun to do so maybe.
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I feel like I'm in the same boat as you, @Qi. I am in a feedback loop on this forum - and having that is all-important, of course - but I have not taken any steps to get a professional portfolio review online or to attend events where I can get that done in person, precisely because I feel I need to develop my portfolio further before I can do that. It's a tricky place to be.
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@animatosoor @Qi I think the problem is that just "making a better portfolio" before you can request feedback is such a vague goal. To make things happen, you need to have a much more tangible goal, something you can quantify and evaluate, and then break it up into smaller steps. Otherwise you're just kind of floating into nothingness with no clear path to your objectives.
So you want to improve your portfolio. Define what you need exact;y for that. Let's say you need 10 new top notch pieces (or 5-6, if you already have some you can use). Then make a list of what you'll do for each one of those pieces. Take into account what your portfolio needs when making your list (example: I need to show more characters, I need more animals or children or interiors in my portfolio).
Once you have a clear list of all the pieces you need to create, give yourself a timeline. How much time would you need to complete each piece? Let's say you're very busy, but you can manage to do one per month. Then break it down further. I need to have my thumbnails and color tests / value tests done by the first week. Final sketch by the second week. Colors by the 3rd week, leaving the last week of the month for feedback, tweaks, and recharging your creative energies for the next piece.
Once you get a solid plan like that, tell everyone about it to keep you accountable! Post about it in the forums, tell all your artists friends, and your family. Telling people makes it real and helps you be accountable and keep it up.
Now you have a good game plan! You know exactly what you need to do, when you need to do it, you know when you'll be done and you have set up a way to keep yourself accountable for it. You have a lot more chance of success than if you're just randomly drawing with a vague goal of improving your portfolio.
I hope this helped, and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future
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Great advice once again, @NessIllustration. Thank you so much for your insight.
I did make a list of what is needed in my portfolio just last month, and I've been following it very diligently. Before that it truly did feel like I was floating into nothingness, as you said, and it's felt clearer since taking this approach.
The accountability has been working well, too, but I guess I've been a bit impatient with myself as of late, getting frustrated about what I sometimes consider to be slow progress. I've got to keep truckin'.
Thank you for your helpful comment.
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@animatosoor It seems like you're already well on your way to accomplishing your goals and didn't need the advice
Great work and your latest pieces on Instagram are especially stunning!
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@NessIllustration Aw, that's really encouraging to hear! Thank you so much.
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@animatosoor Did You made Your list from the svs class or Your own?
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@MichaelaH I used the PDF list from the SVS class "How to Perfect Your Children's Book Portfolio" as a guide, and then created a personalised actionable list for myself.
I opened up a blank word document, and in it I wrote, for instance:
- Toy Demon
- format: stand-alone illustration
- emotions
- environment (interior)
- kid
- creature
- Forest River Scaffolding
- format: double-page spread
- emotions
- animals
- environment (outdoors)
This way I know what items in the checklist I'm able to incorporate into each portfolio piece. And then my next step would be to determine when I would finish each illustration, as @NessIllustration said.