I am old! Portfolio feedback
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@Janette It's a great idea to offer book design for self-publishers, most of them will take you up on that! But from my experience you don't actually have to show graphic design on your website, they'll still ask if you can do it (or expect it without asking) regardless
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Hi! I am by no means a professional but as a lay person I have some suggestions about your about me section and the other parts with text. I donât want to sound harsh but it gives off the vibe that youâre unsure of yourself and your work. You mention being âoldâ (youâre not, but so what if you were?) a couple times and how your style is all over the place (I donât think itâs as bad as you seem to). This leads me to believe youâre self-conscious about these things. You should be selling yourself not sowing doubt. Your work is lovely and it will speak for itself.
And as far as the age thing, letâs be honest we hardly ever see men talking about how âoldâ they are especially in professional settings. Will Terry is probably up around that age somewhere (I donât really know because he doesnât display it) and he never speaks of his age as a disadvantage. With age comes experience and you have experience IN the industry. You are at an advantage here!
Know and show your worth without qualifiers or disclaimers
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@Janette
I echo @NessIllustration - let a clear focus drive your decision on how to put together a portfolio. If the focus you choose does not work out, you can always change it, tweak it, re-invent yourself.I consider my website super simple. But recently, I have an art direct reviewing my portfolio. She did not realise that I also have black and white illustrations in my portfolio because it was in a different tab. This made me thinking that there is definitely room for improvement on my website, especially if I want to get offers for YA novels with black and white interiors.
I made the decision to become an illustrator when I was 39, and I had almost 0 illustration experience. For years I felt I was too old for starting a new career which I have no clue when I can start paying the bill. But now I am glad I did it.
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@xin-li That's amazing, and you have a beautiful style.
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@Freddie-Leota Thank you for your feedback. Maybe its a British thing where we don't like to appear to think too much of ourselves and would rather play down our achievements. Maybe it's because I have no formal training, so I feel like I don't know enough, or like I'm an art fraud! I feel it's necessary to qualify a success with 'but I failed art in school'. lol have to balance it all out, you know?!
Maybe its a bit of both. But, you're right, I need to sell myself more. I was incredibaly fortunate to start my career in publishing and have a really encouraging design manager who knew I wanted to be an illustrator. I still work with him today, 20 years on.
You're right about the age thing. I do wish I pushed myself more to go after larger publishers, but its that lack of confidence in my ability that had held me back. I need to work on that.
Thank you for your comments.
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@Janette
what a great story! And thanks so much. My girl and egg illustrations are inspired by childhood experiences too. When we were growing up my sister had ducks for pets, and one egg wouldn't hatch, so she "helped" it and because she was the first thing it saw, the duckling imprinted on her -- it thought it was human and was scared of the other ducks!
