My first portfolio creation

[IgorIv]

Hello guys!!!

I haven't been posting in a while... Sorry... Wanted to update what is going on with my art journey and hopefully get some good feedback, critiques and encouragement as you guys always give...

I am working really hard on improving as alway with some success and more failure but I'm not giving up yet... I finished my first portfolio and I will share below the paintings I haven't shared up until now...










Well, I sent the portfolio to that one company I was aiming to work for but I got the copy/paste telling me that they are not hiring for the illustrator position, witch really means I am not good enough... Well I was sad because I invested my last year to working hard on that goal, but I got over it in a few days... Nothing left to do but try again...

While I am working on the new portfolio I would like to send the one I have now to companies and try to get some work... Since I started working I didn't have a single one commission and its a bit depressing because I feel like I am not doing anything in life (living at my parents house).

I wanted to ask you guys for help... If you could tell me is there somewhere I could find a list of companies that would need the kind of work I am doing... I don't know where to start. Just sending me companies names would help even more...

If you read up to hear thank you allot and I really appreciate all the feedback!

[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.

[IgorIv]

Yes,yes, yes and yes... You are right in everything you said... This is allot of really useful information and thank you so much for taking time to write all of that!!!

One of my problems is that my main inspiration comes out of other art... That is probably why my stuff looks like a million other things... I never intentionally copy other artists, but I guess it just comes out of my subconsciousness. For example you mentioned Alex Negrea's Ice Queen which I don't even know and probably never seen. Also all the time people tell me I am copying Brad Rigney and it is never my intention...

The funny thing is when I paint these things I really am inspired by the things I paint and really enjoy that, but that is probably because my mind is filed with things I already seen somewhere...

I completely understand what you are talking about when you talk about charm... I am able to see the charm in other artists but I just don't know how to achieve it in my work... I just don't know what to do about that...

Again, thanks allot for all that you wrote here it is really helpful and I hope that I will be able to succeed in those things... I mean I must because my life depends on that... :)

[Fedodika]

Glad it helped! i reccomend you listen to a couple of the "one fantastic week" series by pete morbacher, the executive artist for MTG. He will give alot of insight about working in that industry that i personally found insightful

https://www.youtube.com/user/Bugmeyer

Also check out dan warrens old streams, him and dave chat about alot of the things you are actually struggling with! also the critters streams on dave rapozas YT channel; watch them again if you have already with new perspective

https://www.youtube.com/user/danwarren

and just try to relax, your life may depend on it yes, but you seem like you have people who are willing to support you so just try to enjoy the ride as much as you can. try to get insight from other artists from streams and old sketchbooks and stuff.

also remember these guys who illustrate cryptids cards and stuff tend to be really cynical about it; try to look for things that inspire you not because how well they are painted, but have something else you like you can't put your finger on.

Looking forward to your future progress igor!

[IgorIv]

Thanks man I am constantly listening to "one fantastic week" while I'm painting...

Well, here is a painting I did for a personal project I am working on... I did this before the conversation we had here... This one is too clean even for my taste... I'll definitely work on making my stuff look more painterly, now that I achieved the goal, that I had before, to make it look like a photo or 3d...

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Ou yea... I forgot to show you a 1 hour painting i did for the first time in my life... But it is really stupid and busted allover... However I wanted to force myself to try it because I never tried it before... But once again I did not care about anything in this one except the process...

[Fedodika]

now that 1 hr painting is really cool; love the way it looks actually more than all your other stuff; keep things loose, i think it would do you great things in the coming year!