Requesting Portfolio Review after almost a Year of reforming it

TessaW

Hi Nathalie! You are producing some really beautiful work. I have a couple of suggestions to add, but please take them with a grain of salt!

I think you'd have an overall cleaner presentation if you took out the paragraph text from the images. NOT the pieces with titles, those are great, but the text from the snow tracks piece and the frog piece. It's not always the case, but I have noticed that many illustrators I follow leave out the text from images that most likely were made to include paragraph text. I find it makes for a stronger overall portfolio impression.
In some of your pieces the rendering includes pencil texture over top. I think you should apply this element to all of you children's illustrations. I think it's more marketable for contemporary tastes and it will help to unify your portfolio.
I'd consider making some black and white illustrations that would fit well into middle grade books. Your style looks like it could work well in that market as well, and it could open up some more opportunities.

Hope that was helpful. I loved hearing what others had to say. Good luck in your career journey!

TessaW

Also a quick note to add- why haven't you included your bear in the snow piece? I love that one.

xin li

@Nathalie-Kranich Keep going. your work really comes a long way. Regarding your last question, I would say do both, pick out a few images you want to improve, and work on them, keep making new stuff also. But at the same time start querying more.

I am in a similar situation as you. Right now I am working on improving 2 pieces in my portfolio, and making a couple more spot illustrations. I am also researching which agencies to contact. I want to send out to 3-5 of them and wait for 2-3 weeks before sending out the next batch. I just assume most of them will say nothing, and maybe one will say "no"( which they really mean is "not yet"). If I do get a "No", then I can try to keep the conversation going by asking "what is missing from my portfolio?".

I used to think to query agency is like applying for a job. But now I think of it in the opposite way. It is more like I am offering someone a job (it is just chances that he/she would reject the job offer is very high). It helps me to think this way because I realized that I have to make sure to offer the right person the job of representing me by doing my own research.

Hope this helps.

Nathalie Kranich

@TessaW Hey tessa! Thanks, that's some great advise. I had been wondering about text and I think you're right, I might go through and remove that.
Thanks for remembering my bear piece XD I wasn't sure if it was all that strong, but with the current layout I have a space free again so I might reinclude it with some alterations...

Pencil textures are featuring more and more in my work so i hope with time my portfolio will become more textured and book-friendly

You might be right about B&W! I alwyas think of colour as my strength, but you're right that my subject matter probably works better for middle grade.

@xin-li

wooh! Good luck with your applications, your work has really stood out to everyone for a while now so it's only a question of time until you make a total breakthrough That's a really cool way of thinking of applying to agents. I'm not sure my inner-imposter could be shut up like that, but it's really good to remember how true that is. They are making money off their artists too after all.

xin li

@Nathalie-Kranich I guess almost everyone who takes art seriously has an inner-imposter. I have been listening to podcasts where many very established artists still struggle with the inner-imposter. I think the imposter monster is here to stay, and it will probably never leave. But we can somehow learn to live with it somehow. I try very hard to remind myself that I am not alone feeling this way, and I am not alone on this art journey.