Could you please help me with my portfolio?
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@Miia-Child Hi Miia
You have wonderful skill! You art is lovely, but as a portfolio it is quite ineffective. If you want to do illustration professionally, your portfolio is like your sales page and you need to cater it to people who would like to hire you.An important question to ask yourself to guide all your decisions is: what kind of illustration work do I want? Editorial, children's books, advertisements, personal commissions, etc. If you want to do children's books for instance, then you need to showcase book spreads, you need to show you can draw the same character consistently, place characters in an environment, and draw a variety of characters like children and animals. Or do you want to do realistic pet portraits? Then, showcase more of that. Do not put anything in your portfolio that you don't want to do professionally, even if you're able to do it.
It's also important to showcase a consistent signature style. Categories should be kept to a minimum because ideally your whole portfolio should work together as one and display a variety of things to showcase your skill. Breaking it down could only fracture it. A common way to break work into simple categories is: main portfolio (finished illustrations), books and projects, and sketches or ink (unfinished look).
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@gavpartridge Awww don't say that Gav, all opinions are valid! Besides we said mainly the same thing: not too many categories!
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I love the seagull and bison, I'd say do some more pieces in that style. Maybe aiming towards editorial animal illustrations?
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Hi Miia, congrats on taking your big step! This is great!
I would suggest checking out web portfolios of artists you admire, see how they've organized their stuff, and see which formats you find most engaging. There are quite a few routes to go, including organized categories and a single hero image on the landing page. You might want to check out Will Terry's website (https://www.willterry.com)--he has his work split between 'Art' and 'Drawing' which might be a good approach for your portfolio.
Also, as a web design note (since you weren't asking about this specifically, please feel free to ignore): you might consider simplifying or establishing a clearer hierarchy for your main navigation. As a main link, the 'Work' link should stand out more than its sub-links, which can easily be done by increasing its size. Also, It is a little confusing having two 'About' links that take you to different pages with the same content--you would only need the one main 'About' link.
Keep up the good work!
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I think "not too many categories" is a good point but it's okay to maybe have two or three max. So if you want to do some looser ink drawings and also some more realistic animals, you can! But make sure you have enough consistent examples for each that they could be considered full portfolios for each style!
I understand having trouble narrowing down your style or the industry you want to be in and I've been struggling with that for a few years as well. I think you're on the right track, just keep going. The more work you do, the more your style(s) will show!
I'd also suggest making an effort to find other artists that you like or that are doing similar work to you, and then seeing what industries they work in and how your art could be applied.
