Concept artist in 1 year portoflio

[Vajking]

Hello everyone!

I'm a self-tought artist currently living in th UK, who had this big dream 2 years ago - to become a professional digital artist and work for the entertainment industry. Right now I've narrowed this to one specific goal - I want to be concept artist working preferably in the video games industry and I want to achive this in 1 year from now. What you'll see beneath is the outcome of my last 2 year's effort. All these paintings were made in the last few months.
I'm looking for professional advice and crits from you guys with the aim to prepare the best portfolio I can make, and also to work on numerous flaws that you'll shurely find in my pictures.

Any general advice on what I should really focus on to include in my portfolio, or what should I learn will be very appreciated.

Some of these pics can be found also in my portoflio:
http://wasilonek.daportfolio.com

1. Troll


2. The flying Cauda


3.Abandoned town concept


4. In the shadows


5. Warrior girl


6. Warrior girl character sheet

[self-epidemic]

The lines are so unproffessional. You should really focus on cleaning it up, get perspective, lines, and that finished look down. This will make your work stand out, right now it looks scruffy, unclean and unfocused.

Also good luck on getting there in a year, while I don't think its unachievable I think its going to be bloody hard and you're going to have to work every day for a minimum of 8 hours to even think about competing with the people in that industry.

[Olooriel]

I think your scenery concepts show promise, I like that abandoned town, but I have to agree with self-epidemic - your lines look really unprofessional, and the pose/anatomy of the warrior woman (bottom left in particular) is wonky as well.

[Hitsu//San]

You can't do it in 1 year. If you're saying that in 2 year of practice you're at this level then you're not spending the right amount of time in it. So you can't do it in just one year unless you start to take this freaking seriously and work on it something like 10 to 16 hours per day (yeah, sounds like crazy? it isn't). Some people will say that i should be more polite but i say that you should stop daydreaming and work damn hard if you really want to become a professional concept artist because there are so many good people out there that are working damn harder than you and you don't have a chance if you're counting on luck.

PS: I've got my first contract after 10 months of studying 12 hours per day and i was far more ahead than you when i started so... i'm not kidding, quantity is important.

[Vajking]

Thanks everyone for the cold shower, I really hope that I'll be able to achieve my goal though. The reason is simple - I frankly hate my current job but I can't leave because it's giving me enough money for living and some kind of security in these hard times. If I don't want to stay in these kind of jobs forever, I need to specialize in something I love and it can be only art. Unfortunately I don't have more than 2, maybe 3 hours a day for painting, but then I'll try to do the right things to improve. We'll see in a year what will happen I think I'm gonna start a sketchbook on this forum to monitor my progress. Wish me devotion! And of course a little bit of luck

[Hitsu//San]

Sure, work as hard as you can then, a sketchbook in here will help you to grow a lot of skills

[Shorinji_Knight]

Your worst flaw is rushing your work. Take the time it takes to make quality art and stop looking for digital shortcuts. Most artists spend a LOT (pros usually anywhere between 5 to 100hrs) of time working on a finished painting. Don't settle for good enough. Keep looking for more things you can do to make a piece better until you can't find anything else. Then don't look at it for a few days and see it with fresh eyes pretending you have no emotional attachment to it. Ask yourself 'If somebody else painted this, would I like it?'... 'why?' or 'why not?'

I've been in the same position of hating my job and looking to my art to save me from it. Honestly I'm still sometimes working on that one. So I know how you feel and wish you the best of luck!

[Vajking]

Thanks Shorinji_Knight, that is a useful tip, I don't know why I haven't been doing this earlier, maby it was just more comfortable for me to not see the flaws...