Power Portfolio Critiique: my experience

Lissy Markmiller

Hello everybody,

I did a SVS Power Portfolio Critique recently and wanted to share the great experience I had in this group:

I want to break into the children's books industry and built a new portfolio for that specific field last year. Before my review I had a feeling I really hit a wall. In the weeks prior I had received a mix of very positive feedback but also quite a few "friendly rejections" from editors I met. Which meant something wasn't right... After my Power Portfolio session I can tell you: We often overlook things that are totally obvious. And some things I have never even considered before can make a huge difference. This is why I really needed a good professional look from the outside. From people like our SVS instructors who have a ton of experience and know the industry very well.

I am super happy I booked my critique with Lee White and here is why: during the booking process, I was able to put some additional information into a text gadget about the main question/problem I might have. Later in the review addressing my main concern about my work was only the beginning. Lee looked at my work in incredible depth. Which means before he recorded the 30 min review (which you can download and keep later on) he took the time and really analysed my entire work. He used a template with categories like consistency, composition, value control, storytelling and a lot more. No stone remains unturned here. It blew me away completely. The feedback I got was super helpful and showed me the strengths and weaknesses at a glance. It came with suggestions on what to work on in the next step. And you can keep that matrix as reference in PDF format as well. Also worth mentioning: All was done in an incredibly friendly and respectful manner!

In the live meeting with Lee I had the chance to discuss everything and make sense of it. (It got recorded as well).

Honestly, it was a game changer for me. The SVS instructors really set up a powerful tool which can help us reaching the next level. Now I am confident I have a good understanding of what is already pretty good and what needs some improvement. It is so rewarding to now know exactly where I should put my energy in.

If that sounds familiar and you are in need for solutions, go for it!

Sara Therese Art

@Lissy-Markmiller Hi Lissy - I know you posted this a while ago but I just wanted to say thank you. I completely relate to how you were feeling before your review. This post has helped me to decided to book a portfolio critique! It sounds like exactly what I need to get unstuck. It seems like I'm living in a little vacuum with trying to figure everything out on my own and create a professional portfolio. It's difficult to be both creator and judge when I'm not sure what I don't know... if that makes sense.

Mimi Simon

@sarandipity let us know how it goes!

Sara Therese Art

@Mimi-Simon I received the emailed critique/review today and have my zoom meeting in a few days. I booked my review with David Hohn and he was fantastic! I received a pdf rubric with personal feedback for each area - pointing out how I was doing and what could be improved upon. In addition to the rubric, he recorded a VERY thorough video going through each piece of my portfolio along with addressing the concerns I had mentioned when I booked the review. I'm not sure that it is normally included, but he even did a draw over on one of my art pieces to demonstrate some concepts. I love that I have all of this to refer back to. After going through the feedback, I've made a list of questions I'm going to talk with him about during our zoom session. Honestly, it's one of the best things I've done for my art because my head is spinning with ideas for how I want to improve my work going forward. I may try to schedule one more critique in 3 months after I've done the things recommended to me, just to make sure I'm on track.

Katherine

Thanks for the description — I'm so looking forward to doing this! I'm kind of losing my mind because I can't find it anywhere. I search for "Portfolio Power Critique" in the classes and nothing comes up. I'm so confused. How did you book your critique?

Katherine

@Katherine Oh my gosh, I just found it seconds after posting that question

Sara Therese Art

@Katherine I'm glad you found it. I think you'll be thrilled you decided to do it. I'd love to hear how it goes for you!

Katherine

@Sara-Therese-Art Ah dang, I've been hanging out all year to book @Lee-White in for the portfolio critique but he doesn't have any slots for the rest of the year We have the same taste in art so I really want him to do it. I think I'll just wait until he has slots available.

Lissy Markmiller

@Sara-Therese-Art I am so sorry for my superlate reply. I had some technical issues with my hardware recently. Some things went out of focus because of it. Now everything is up and running again :).

I am so happy to read that my review helped a bit to decide wether or not you would book a critique or not and that you had such a great experience too! Woohoo!! I got a small draw over as well. I guess they do that in cases when they want to demonstrate how much even little things can improve the image. In my case it was problems with the values. I was only using high key colour values which made my work fading away somehow. The draw over helped me to really understand the problem and how easily it could be fixed. Keep going Sara Therese ! Doing another critique in autumn sounds like a brilliant idea. I am thinking of a follow up as well. Fingers crossed

Lissy Markmiller

@Katherine Oh no, I am sorry to hear that. I am pretty sure every instructor can give us a ton of advice and I am also sure they all use the same procedure as Sara Therese and I described it. But I fully understand why you want to do it with Lee White. Hopefully he is available in 2024. If you think it holds you back for too long, you could do a review with someone else this year and another one with Lee next year. It's a lot of money of course and one has to be thouhtfull how to use it. Just a thought.

Lissy Markmiller

@Sara-Therese-Art

AustinShurtliff

@Katherine there is a good chance that Lee will have some slots opening up in the next few months. Hopefully we can share more info soon!

Lee White

@Katherine I just added some new slots for the next few weeks! Here's a direct link.

https://svslearnschedule.as.me/LeeWhite

I'm only doing 1 per week, so they fill up rather fast. There are a few open times to pick from. Hope to see you in there! : )

Cheers,
Lee

LauraA

@Lissy-Markmiller I booked a critique with Lee as well. I had also been working with him on his Patreon while he was doing critiques (he doesn't anymore).

I thought it was interesting that he asked me right off the bat why I chose him, since our styles aren't that much alike. I heard his question as genuine curiosity. I said, "That's exactly why I chose you. What we're good at, we already know. I need help with the things I'm not good at. You bring something to your work, especially the conceptual aspect, that appeals to me and that I don't understand as well as I'd like. I want to learn more about that and apply it so my style." (I don't remember my exact words, but that was the substance of it.)

And what do you know, I do see improvement in my work in this area. And so do others!

Now I want to book an appointment with the other instructors to see what I could learn from each of them! I can't afford that, but it sure would be interesting.

@Sara-Therese-Art, I totally agree with what you said above about working in a vacuum. I don't know other illustrators IRL, and it can feel like a drag on creativity. But I am very lucky to be part of a virtual critique group with some other SVS illustrators. We found each other after a critique group thread started a few years ago. So in addition to a Power Portfolio critique (which I totally recommend), you might keep a look out for other compatible people here on the boards and form a group of your own. Good luck!

Lissy Markmiller

@LauraA so good to hear that it helped you to improve in your specific area! That's brilliant! I like your idea to ask somebody who does things totally different than you and at the same time offers something you are eagerly looking for. Everybody approaches things in their own unique way which can be inspiring and super helpful.

Katherine

@Lee-White Oh shoot, I only just saw this! Thanks for replying though. I've been haphazardly checking your slots every few weeks. Will keep doing that!