Trying my best at my internship, but still dissapoint myself and them

[Slippereend]

Hi there,

first thanks for taking the trouble to even read my thread, you have busy lives as well, so thanks for putting in the time

So, the title says it basically, I really work hard and try my best to create good and usefull artwork at the company I'm working now, but most of my work just isn't usefull at all.

You can find my portfolio website here:
estherw . carbonmade . com

The above portfolio is also the portfolio on which they've selected me as their intern.

I'm not going to post any of the stuff I've made for them, even though it's small, it's probably better not to post anything.

The things that stand out from the feedback I get from my supervisor/tutor is that my designs aren't good and that I'm very, very slow.

Some feedback:
-I try to make the endproduct immediately, instead trying different things.
-I easily fall back on clichés and use some lazy 'excuse' to justify it. (Not on purpose, but because I don't know any better)
-Also, I tend to really work on one tiny bit of a piece and forget about the rest.

We both realise that I still need to learn a lot, and I do learn a lot from them, but I just wish that I could give something more back.

So, I really want to learn how to design better than I do now. How fast I am is probably secondary, since that'll come to when you work more. I work for about 7 hours a day, sometimes longer, so Ive got that covered.

I really feel horrible that I'm letting them down this way...
So, what can I do to improve my designs?

Thanks again!

Esther

[Black Spot]

Moved here. I think you'll get better answers.

[Maidith]

The things that stand out from the feedback I get from my supervisor/tutor is that my designs aren't good and that I'm very, very slow.

With deliberate practice you can be sure of improving over time, but in the short time of an internship - usually between 3 and 6 months - you can't anticipate a significant improvement. It's going to take a lot longer than that, for pretty much everyone.

What you can do right now is to research every type of assignment as thoroughly as you can, AND post them in the WIP/critique section here on the forums. If time allows and you really work hard, the feedback from others will be worth gold. Just make sure you get your employer's permission first, to post work online.

Otherwise it's all research, and simply do your best while developing a thick skin. I had a disappointing experience today at a convention, because I didn't do my homework as well as I thought I did, and made a fool of myself. But I'll write it off as a learning experience. I learnt a lot today on this convention, so it'll have been worth it. Learn whatever you can from your employers! Ask for specific feedback on your work. And of course an internship looks good on a CV.

[Kamber Parrk]

Is this a paid internship?

[Shorinji_Knight]

A internship is about learning. Looking at your portfolio, I think that the company probably had a pretty good idea what your skill level was when they hired you. They don't expect pro work from you. They expect you to learn how to do pro work from them. Their feedback sounds like tough love. Part of learning art is learning that you haven't learned enough.

[JeffX99]

Don't fret too much about not doing high enough quality work to somehow "repay" them...repay them by enrolling in a solid design program somewhere, working your butt off and becoming the best designer/artist you can be.

[vineris]

Some feedback:
-I try to make the endproduct immediately, instead trying different things.
-I easily fall back on clichés and use some lazy 'excuse' to justify it. (Not on purpose, but because I don't know any better)
-Also, I tend to really work on one tiny bit of a piece and forget about the rest.

Okay, well it sounds like your problems have been at least partly identified. So since you now KNOW that you have problems with making just one design, trying to finish it and trying to perfect one piece of it before you do another, STOP DOING THAT.

- They don't want your first design, so instead of stopping after just one, do 5 or 10.
- They don't want to see the same things everybody else is doing so instead of looking at other people's art, look at weird things in the natural and manmade world and work harder to make your stuff different. Not stopping with the first design is a big part of this, but the other part is feeding your brain with knowledge about the world.
- You know you have a deadline so try to take each picture to the same level of finish before moving on to the next level. You should have all your shapes blocked in before you move to rendering. If your boss needed the picture early, a fairly rough but complete picture would be more useful than a blank page with one perfectly rendered corner. And sooner or later some boss will need the picture early, so get used to working as if someone could come and get the thing at any moment.
- Likewise, if your boss wants 10 options and comes in early, you should have 5 rough options for them to look at, not one beautiful drawing and four blank pieces of paper.

So how do you do this? Remind yourself of what you are supposed to be doing as often as you can. Don't shut your brain off and work without thinking.

[snacks ex machina]

What kind of place are you interning at?