My first portfolio creation

[Fedodika]

hey igor, it's good to see you're still at it!

I'lltry to give you the best critique i can and just hope you see where i'm coming from and adress the things i think you need to work at yourself.

the things you're doing well:

composition; you're doing a great job in all these recent pieces at composition, that is probably you're strongest point. tight rendering: you do great i'd say at least 20% of each of these images are rendered at a professional standard, as far as like MTG and applibot go.a healthy ambition: definitely go that, hang on to it as long as you can!

now i've never worked for either of those companies, hell i've never done a paid commission for anyone, so you don't have to take anything i say seriously at all!

Here's where i'm going to give you the most critique, but it's more a philosophy i have towards art.

Just looking at the detail on some of these things you've rendered, i'm sure you've invested an assload of time into rendering that, but you are trying to improve to get jobs right? i hate to tell you, but painting each notch on that spider girls legs or each cranny in the skeleton dudes helmets probably didn't progress your skill much. It's more of a labor thing than an acquiring of information.

And that information i'm talking about is the thing you're stuff is lacking the most of; it's tough to explain, it's what makes life have it's charm, what makes paintings beautiful. All of your work looks like a plastic toy, like everything is just plastic, with the only things being rendered differently are metallic surfaces. you render hair, skin, fur, clothing, even some less shiny metallic surfaces like they are made of plastic. this hurts your illustrations, but the good news is that you seem to have mastered
the concept of wrapping form, so you've got that 100% down! of course, this stuff could be easily fixed with some focused studies where you just get the edges and the concept of the material right.

I know it's disappointing for your hard work to not pay off, but there is stuff that goes beyond rendering that make companies interested in your stuff. You must bring something original and different to the table that companies have never seen. Look through your portfolio and be really honest with yourself, would a potential client look at this and say, "wow this is fresh and interesting?" i mean, yea some of your armor designs are somewhat intersting, but do you feel it really represents you? what represents you the most? from the looks of it, generic fantasy artwork? busty girls fighting monsters in skimpy outfits? is that what you want to bring to the world? if that's so, cool, if not, really look at what you love; it could be a fascination with something, like the way day light hits some
one's skin, or the way snow looks and feels. go back through your youth and find the things you really love, make a list and write it all down. if you just do this, you'll be surprised and it will affect your art.

I mean who doesn't like big breasted women and cool monsters and armor and stuff??? but we've seen it a billion times and these companies just... it's the opposite of what they find interesting.

people may get hired for painting these things companies display as their products, but there portfolios are generally filled with something else, something they really feel.. that's the whole hard part about this is finding your voice and what you want people to remember you for and feel when they see your stuff.

It is my opinion that you are just doing the content you've made to get work, and you're not really expressing yourself through your painstakingly made artwork, and it feels painful for me to look at, because i know you're putting in the time and not reaping the rewards.

I've seen artists who can render nowhere near your level get steady work because their work has charm and flare, and they market themselves differently. they draw faces with more emotion, more charm, and put nowhere near the amount of time your put into your pieces. people want to see fun, ease, grace, and originality in their art, try to spend less time on things and do more with less if you wish to find these things.

(you could study impressionism, craig mullins, even stylized art like anime. try to understand how so little can give such appealing.)

As dan warren said, "Your idea is what sells, the rendering is just how you present up your idea."
Feng zhu, "we are designers first and foremost."
will terell, "You could sell stick figures if you have something to say."

Your anatomy could use alot of work especially in the face, and hand department (the two toughest things to get right.) also, just look at your spider girl illustration, look at someone raising their arm where the deltoid connects to the pectoralis muscle. does yours emulate that? look at her hand grasping the weapon, do knuckles look like that? do fingernails really look like that. or her other hand does a thumb really look like that, just look at references of hands or your own hands! your poses are kinda stiff, like the last illustration look like the girls are setting up for a photoshoot for runway models, and the monster on the right is like, "Hwuh?" while
the other monsters are all like "rawww"

for the faces, well, you seem to understand the overall proportion and structure of faces, it's just they lack a sort of charm that comes from practice.. the faces you've depicted seem to be aiming for being attractive, which is good, but there is something about the way light hits the wetness of the eyes, or getting emotion in expression that is impossible to explain. really study that from stills and the way you look at people on a daily basis.

also invest some time in still life studies, your color look passable but they have that very "Dodge burn overlay smudgey" look. challenge yourself to do studies and pieces and limit the use of those tools almost entirely. it will benefit you greatly because it forces you to understand the subtleties and changes in colors that give "charm" to your paintings. and that is what you need more of, charm, you've got just about all you need, just that is missing. if you really work towards adding charm to your work you'll have no problem getting work for your goal companies by next year, but REALLY THINK ABOUT IT DUDE! Charm is what people want to see; something that makes them want to return to your gallery. be known for your work and not your work ethic is how i put it.

I'll just run down the paintings and say what i think about first when i see them
1. ahh i'm a skeleton and i'm frying for some reason!!
2. go minions! brad rigney is awesome, that's why my weapon is cut off!
3. this one isn't all bad, i think it'd actually be your strongest piece if you put some effort into making that dude on the right a little more gross, just adding slimy parts on the back, and try to dirty up the tightness of your work it will go a long way.
4. It's alex negrea's ice queen for LOC with a darker background and spooky armor. who needs clothes it's polar bear weather! do you like my wow sword?
5. got all my pals for the final fantasy battle. poison ivy, mileena with a normal mouth, storm, and cool german chick "hey check out my butt!" "ok lol, where's your nose?" "I DUNNO WHERE'S your nose!??" "storm chick are you drunk? Because your foot is cleverly positioned behind this smoke cloud so the artist doesn't have to render it!"

Cynical dick comments like these since no one else will say them, i hope it lights a fire under your ass to prove me wrong ;P

anyways i think you'll be making good progress if your next illustration you spend less than 8 hours on.. try to bust your ass on studies and acquire new information. spend more time on those, and apply them in quick imagination pieces. your next endeavors will improve with dirtier brush work, more color variation, better anatomy, and poses; especially better expressions. You're not ready to take on illustrations as ambitious as this and pull them off to the standard you want; you've gotta get the little
things down first because that's 80% of it. the hard parts done, now figure out the simple things... cheers

places you try to get work: paizo publishing, fantasy flight games, or just posting your stuff on newgrounds you may be able to get some commissions there i dunno.