Portfolio Overhaul

[K-san]

Hello, my name is Katheryn Glade. I believe this is my first post here, although I have been lurking for years now.

I figure this is as good a place as any to start trying to get some feedback. Here is where my portfolio is now, I am in the process of overhauling it again.

www.ksanstudio.com

I feel I need better/more environments, and just some more updated work in general. Any thoughts are always appreciated.

[Giacomo]

Your work looks good.

I'm not an art director, but if I had to offer one piece of advice it would be to break some new ground. I suspect the art directors of the gaming industry have gotten to the point where they really don't want to see another armored demon or Asian schoolgirl with a gun, no matter how well executed. If it were me, I'd pick a work (probably a book) that doesn't already have a visual interpretation, and do some portfolio work based on that.

Just my two cents.

[MiniGoth]

Hey Katherine! Nice work :).

What is the focus of your portfolio? That would help a lot.

I don't see any landscapes/enviros, and few critters or machines. Not that you can't have a specialty, but a nod to being able to do some of that stuff might help.

[dpaint]

Your work is competent. My question would be how long are you spending on the individual pieces. What it looks like is there is an inordinate amount of rendering going on. Industry jobs depend on speed, so you might consider a more direct approach for the style sheets.

[K-san]

Thank you for the responses! I'm glad my work is competent :P

The focus of my portfolio is concept art geared toward a job in the video games industry. I have a lot of work that has been cut out over the years from my original BFA port (which was illustration) due to the fact that it has nothing to do with the industry. That being said, I still have some awfully old work in there, and it is gonna get the boot in this overhaul. I used to have more critters and machines, but due to the fact that they were so old and weak comparatively, they were taken out in the last redo. I agree 1000%-more enviros, more critters, more machines. I certainly don't want to limit myself or over specialize.

I find myself doing a lot of contests, as they are a good way to keep motivated and get some feedback (as well as network with other artists). It leads to specific subject matter, determined by their rules. I have fun with it.

I am actually quite quick. Another problem I see with my own port as well is that there is no indication of time spent. Some are speed paintings, others got significantly more attention. The overly presented character sheets are also a result of competition. However, they do look nice, so I keep. I do many of the little b/w thumb sketches for any character, way more than I present. That is the most fun stage for me, cause ooooo, the possibilities. I pick n' choose for presentation/rules sake. It concerns me that perhaps being not obvious, the fact that this is an entirely functional and fast stage, is lost.

I wonder if I need short explanations for my pieces. I want to make it stupid easy to find my work. I am trying not to bog down my own site with useless information, but perhaps it is needed. I also find myself clicking on the work to continue on to the next piece(which doesn't work) and getting mad at my own gallery! If it is bothering me (and it is my site) I can't Imagine it hasn't bothered anyone else.
I am also playing with the idea of adding different galleries/a sketchbook area.
Need to find the balance of brevity.....and information.

Thank you for the thoughts, I have been given some very good food for thought.

[MiniGoth]

Can you divide into sections like:

speed paint

sketches

final renders?

[MiniGoth]

Can you divide into sections like:

speed paint

sketches

final renders?

[unicorn]

Hey Katherine! Really appreciating for your excellent and fantastic work, keep it up, as I am new in this, so please guide me for this forum.

Thanx
David

[unicorn]

Hey Katherine! Really appreciating for your excellent and fantastic work, keep it up, as I am new in this, so please guide me for this forum.

Thanx
David

[K-san]

@minigoth-I'd considered something like that, but I really like the idea of having piece progression together as well, and that would break the whole thing. The A-B of a piece can really be interesting, I know I look for it. Keeping that in mind, any more thoughts on it? I always appreciate helpful thoughts, thanks!

@unicorn-ha, thank you, but I'm not sure I am the best guide. I am a reforming lurker and still figuring out the ups / downs/ side to sides of this particular forum. Art is however a grand equalizer, just make! We shall journey together, no?

[unicorn]

I have seen your portfolio. Looks nice. So you use any software and since how long have you been doing this?

[DieHard]

I can´t acces to any link here, why?, do you have any idea?

[K-san]

@unicorn-yes, I use photoshop as well as painter mostly. There is some Illustrator snuck in there as well. I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon, but I got proficient with the digital stuff in college some years back (4-5?)

@die hard-Perhaps the server went down. I just clicked them, and they work fine. It is not unheard of for my provider to go down for maitenence from time to time. Try again? Otherwise, I dunno....enable link?

[RogerAdams]

Hi Katheryn,

The dominance war stuff is really nice but, like you said, the rest of the pieces are older and don't show the same level of skill. In my opinion, it's better to have fewer high quality work in your portfolio than having many pieces but of lesser quality.

Environments can be difficult until you can find a narrative. That's not my advice, Dermot Power tweeted that a few months ago. But it's absolutely true. For some, characters are easier because once you get that expression down you start to feel a story about them and everything else seems to just flow so easily.

But if you don't have that same feeling with an environment then they become rigid and stale and you lose interest. You need a story in your environment to help you develop it. It doesn't have to be complex, something simple like: This is the place where "blank" happens. "Blank" can be: ...Luke fights Darth Vader for the first time, ... where Nemo meets some other fish... Get what I mean?

Study the works of Ryan Church, Erik Tiemens and Robh Rupple. Robh Rupple's blog in particular, he shows a lot of preliminary work. Copy those sketches. Stick to the Rule of Thirds and if you can get Erik Tiemens dvd, it has some really great stuff on composition and thumbnails.

Hope that helps. Good luck!