Concept Art/Illustration portfolio in progress

[Droog]

Hello all,
Coming from a traditional background, and been digitally painting for about a year now and here's what I've got:

www.jordansaia.com
_pixels section

I need to edit out some pieces I think, and put more focus into the stronger ones. Ideally, I want to work on concepts for games/films and possibly print and illustration for books if I can find the time.

Any suggestions on particular pieces, or on the body of work is very appreciated.

Thanks,
Jordan

[freiheit]

My 2 cent:
-pixel refers to pixel art for most people, go for terms like "digital" instead.
-Avoid symbols, L337 speak or any type of decoration in your titles and text in a professional context.
-Definitely cut your portfolio down a size, like you said, you have to put the focus on the strongest piece. If there's ANYTHING in your portfolio that does not reflect your current skills, it should be out. People will judge your abilities according to your worst piece.
-Work on your values, they're a bit muddy at the moment which makes your digital paintings less clear and readable.
-Home would be more appropriate then re-typing your address.
-Your homepage illustration shouldn't stretch your page or cause scrolling, it should look as though it was made for your homepage.

[Droog]

Thanks,
Fixed up some of the issues you mentioned. Some I dont agree with and keeping the same.
Values, yep, on the weak pieces they get muddy. Going to get to some maintenance tonight. Alot of pieces could work better with a bit of tweaking. Going to flush the bad ones out first then go back on stronger work.

Anyone have thoughts on the quality of work? range of subjects? weak points? strong points? etc?

[freiheit]

Sorry, but you're going to have to cut your portfolio down to at least 30 before I sit down and analyse it's content, you've got near or over 100 works right now? That's pretty huge considering your portfolio should be reserved for your very best works. It's also hard to make any fair assessment based on such a broad sample.

[Droog]

The only thing Im asking for crits on is the digital work. There are 35 currently. Less soon :)
Thanks

http://www.jordansaia.com/dig/-concepts/

[Artfix]

Ya know, a portfolio is a tricky thing. You have art directors saying to have 8-12 of your best very specific images of a specific genre. Then you have people hiring freelancers who say they want someone that can mimic a certain style or whatever...or maybe they want some traditional medium instead. So if you took your variety out of your portfolio, how do you show everything you're capable of? I find it very frustrating personally.

I think you're on the right track by having digital, ink, and oil. I would say the digital is too diverse at this point tho. Try to pin down what your style is, and take out anything that doesn't fit it.

Your images are either muddy or blown-out. Try to use highlights sparingly and create interest by using 'less is more'. If it looks dull and muddy, add a focal point but do it sparingly...don't use those blown-out lights.

[Droog]

Knocked about 10 of the weaker pieces of my site.
Down to 25 in the digital section, and I know I could take more down and focus on working more into others.
Any thoughts?
What isnt working and why?
Thanks

[Droog]

updated portfolio design and added some new work, here are some samples below
thoughts on front page?
content? what needs to go? what do i need more of?
I'm finding work in illustration as well as outsourced concept art, so trying to keep a good balance.
more work at my site www.jordansaia.com

[Quigleyer]

Honestly I'd get rid of the Vegrewe for Xi Cards, just on the simple basis that it looks WAAAAAYYYYYY too much like this image (http://quigleyer.deviantart.com/#/d2jd6os), which I think is pretty well known. What's the story behind that? They are very, very similar.

I also think the water demon, Zombie Concept, Legionnaire, and Vagabond could go. I think those are weaker.

Also, please note that I'm more of an illustration guy, so I'm probably also more inclined to get rid of figures standing there versus more fleshed out scenes. But I will say that I also think those pieces just have weaker painting.

[Droog]

Thanks for the advice Quigleyer, I think youre very right about Vegrewe. Its heavily referenced off that image, probably a bit too much to have up on a portfolio.
Got rid of Legionairre too, never been much of a fan, and I have better character work that will be released soon that I can put up.
I think the characters need work in general. Im also trying to learn how to paint mechs and machinery a bit better, thats a tough one for me right now.
Thanks!

[Thevilbrain]

You should definitely get rid of that last one as it's borderline copyright infringement

http://blog.slangmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/tumblr_lj445mNqT51qzs56do1_500.jpg

The images are wonderful but I hope you don't always just paint on other people's cool photos

[Droog]

ya, I found that image through a friend of the artist who did that sculpture. I showed him the paint-over and he dug it so i figured it would be fine to use. I did it a while back and haven't looked at how obscenely close it is to the original!
I never did paint-overs until after a few classes i took where the artists relied heavily on paint-overs and kit bashing techniques to start up compositions, add realistic effects/textures, etc. Ive just now scaled back my use of this sometimes rip-off technique that seems better suited for production work and not for a public portfolio.
Anyways, thanks for the call out.

[vineris]

You need to work on your lighting. It's your most obvious weak point.