Sarah Webb highschool portfolio

[erysium]

Hello! I'm 18 years old, senior in high school, applying to a bunch of art schools this year (hoping to major in Illustration). Lately I've been trying to do more observation and traditional work so my portfolio's not so flat, but here's the finished pieces I have right now. I'd especially love critique on the pencil drawings, but any help would great!
Attachment 1649363

[Black Spot]

Lovely sense of colour. I like the pencil SPs. Nice start.

[Mr-Joe]

These are very good, I'd suggest attempting some anatomy studies to reinforce your life drawing studies.

[erysium]

Black Spot - Thank you! Planning on finishing those in acrylic or colored pencil or marker, not sure yet. Maybe one each (:

Mr-Joe - Thanks very much, I'll definitely keep studying! I've been looking at Bridgeman and Loomis, and doing gestures so far for practice.

[MrBigCheese]

This has to be one of the strongest high school illustration intended portfolios I've seen, makes me think I should start to seriously consider a concentration for mine as well and do more of my own concepts and studies haha

Very nice organization of the portfolio as a whole so far and your sense of colors and shading is superb. Do you base your first ones off of multiple references or are they your own concepts? They're so lovely, especially the nighttime one, though the composition or perspective seems a bit wonky. I love the cupboard bottles study a lot too, remind me of Hayao Miyazaki's style for some reason, probably the contrasted highlights. Definitely keep it up, if you're like me and applying by Feb 1st for most schools you should have 1 or 2 months to add a few more strong pieces to it. I definitely suggest more real life observation like the cupboard (if that's an observation and not a photograph). You're definitely getting a scholarship with that portfolio

I'm just wondering btw, what schools are you applying to? I'm also going for Illustration and am applying to SVA, VCU, Pratt, Ringling, CCAD, SCAD, MICA, a few others maybe.

[Hitsu//San]

Oh very nice indeed, you're able to handle a lot of details to be so young. About your pencil drawing of course you have to study anatomy more but i suggest you to keep looking at people and try to be more gestural with your lines, one thing i've noticed is that you are not doing lineweight and this is making your figures so heavy. Have a look at this http://www.ctrlpaint.com/the-power-of-line-weight/

[erysium]

MrBigCheese - Wow very kind words, thank you so much! They're all my own concepts, (maybe excepting the first one which is very inspired by a photo- link) I do research while working on the picture though, of course. Yeah hopefully I'll get a lot more work in here, actually most of this was made in the last 2 months! So there's certainly still time.
Nice list, mostly the same for me! MICA and SVA are my top 2 choices, I really like ACCD too but doubt that I'll get in there (not strong enough foundation skills right now). Are you/have you been to a National Portfolio Day? If not I really recommend it, it improved my portfolio so much, I'm sure it would benefit you since you're applying to so many good schools, too.

Hitsu - Thanks for the great suggestions, that's very helpful! Especially about the lineweight, I can't believe I've been forgetting about it. Definitely will practice that

[Pepperwheel]

Wow, your work is beautiful! I'm especially in love with the first two, and the first figure study Really sorry I have no useful critiques right now, but I pretty much agree with what has been said so far.

[MrBigCheese]

MrBigCheese - Wow very kind words, thank you so much! They're all my own concepts, (maybe excepting the first one which is very inspired by a photo- link) I do research while working on the picture though, of course. Yeah hopefully I'll get a lot more work in here, actually most of this was made in the last 2 months! So there's certainly still time.
Nice list, mostly the same for me! MICA and SVA are my top 2 choices, I really like ACCD too but doubt that I'll get in there (not strong enough foundation skills right now). Are you/have you been to a National Portfolio Day? If not I really recommend it, it improved my portfolio so much, I'm sure it would benefit you since you're applying to so many good schools, too.

Oh awesome, maybe we'll both end up at the same school haha. SVA is great, I've been there multiple times and the low price, location, student and teacher body, and unique teaching style is what I love about it the most. It's not one of those super fancy, fenced off castle like campuses in the middle of nowhere you know? It's like a real world sort of location and I love that about it, and the rent is pretty cheap in Queens and Brooklyn too (I used to live in NYC). And yeah I went to National Portfolio Day and SVA, Pratt, and VCU already accepted me so I'm just applying for scholarships basically cause you know.. i don't really wanna be in debt for the rest of my life lol. You should consider applying to as many arts and merit based scholarships as you can find online, even if they're like $1000 each or something, though you'll definitely get some scholarships at SVA for example if you apply there (they really stressed that they want to see your own work and concepts, and not just observations or referenced work like I usually do).
You can see my currentish porfolio here btw (or the myfolio link in my sig) http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...-in-the-making

[HackTardist]

you're going to make it. no question. just study from life as much as possible and keep a strong work ethic. keep doing what you're doing. probably the best high school portfolio i've ever seen. the ONLY crit i have is that your larger pieces with the city compositions are very busy. it's hard to find a focal point. but don't sweat it. You're obviously talented enough that you'll sort through issues like this on your own. The world is your oyster. lol

[Fexazaur]

Oh my goodness. I'm flipping out. Your art is SO AMAZING. I'm also applying to SVA for illustration and Im going crazy to think that i'm 'competing' with you for the scholarship. x'D I LOVE how you really gave so much attention to detail and the environment, lighting and all! The concepts are so cool and creative, I also really like how you use weird angles and perspective. Even if they may be a bit 'wonky' but I think that adds to the piece and gives it it's own personality. Anywho I'm completely blown away by these and really hope the best for you! And who knows if we both and up going to SVA we'll see each other!

[erysium]

Sorry for taking a while to reply, wanted to have something new to add to my portfolio before I did. (Repainted a study into a cityscape, so I'd have something that blends the observation/cityscape sections of my portfolio better.)

Pepperwheel- Thanks very much! (:

MrBigCheese- Great things to hear about SVA, I wasn't aware of most of that, I was just judging it by how often I hear of impressive people coming from there. Yeah I really need to get to work on applying for scholarships, this weekend I'm finishing my portfolio for Scholastic's Art&Writing, but I need to check out more little ones! If I don't do well with scholarships I'll take a gap year to improve and hopefully do better the year after.

HackTardist- Thanks for the support! Nice to hear this. I'll definitely keep working on life studies/work ethic/watching the focal points, thanks for the reminders!

Fexazaur- Wow thanks very much! Haha I feel the same way when comparing my art to a lot of other people's, don't stress out. Good luck to you too, hope things turn out well. (:

[Majika]

Hello ersium,
You don't need a degree in illustration to have a career in illustration. Nobody cares if you went to Harvard. All a client cares (whether it is an art director or creative director) is that you can reproduce the same style they see in your portfolio. I would suggest get yourself familiar with the market as soon as possible. Buy Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. Research which area you can make a living with your style and market it. You can either find yourself a rep or an agent. Just start your career now.

Four years and 20 grand is a huge investment for something you can already make a living. With all honesty, you're already better compare to most professional illustrator I see out there.

[erysium]

Hi Majika, thanks for your confidence in me! I think that the best way to improve my work(thus my career) is to get a good education. If I can't get scholarships to pay most of the cost I'll wait until I'm good enough that scholarships can, and I have no problem with investing the time. Of course I'll try to get some small work, but I think while I have free time (like I'll won't have again after I'm working/paying rent/etc) I should concentrate the most on improvement.

[SarSengo]

Wow...you are extremely talented. I once thought talent was a lie, that hard work would get more done, but I guess its a combination...I love your sense of color and creativity, keep up the good work! and trust me, education will pay off, although working and studying is a horrible combination. Anyway keep drawing and also have fun!

[agriffith]

I go to ACCD and this portfolio is way better than what they accepted me for.
You have a good sense of color. I think you should practice rendering in paintings more just to prove you can do it. Figure studies (even just gestural and not finished) seem to be liked. Finish up high school with strong grades & don't forget to ask if they can give you more scholarship (I did and I received an extra 5k).

[erysium]

SarSengo- thanks, I sure don't feel talented haha. Color used to be my biggest weakness, actually! You keep up the great work too!

agriffith - oh well that's really nice to hear! Good idea, I'll make sure to have a few more highly rendered pieces, and keep working on the figure studies. Nice tip about the scholarships too, thanks!

and here's a new picture too! The drawing was from observation, but painting from imagination. Trying to do more observation, although I'm not too happy with this one.

[SarSengo]

ummm so ill attempt to critique here... if you want you could try distorting the path a little so it doesnt look so linear, seems a little parallel to the the rest of the picture (trees, umbrella, etc). Watch your tangents too, you cut off that chair on the bottom right too close to the edge, and the table that is next to the chairs is a aligning with that wood structure so it flattens it out. I am not quite sure about the perspective...is the whole scene on a slope? it seems that you have 2 vanishing points...i cant seem to find out what is wrong with it thou. Anyway, either way it looks good, i envy your gift of color...i am still scared of dealing with it

[erysium]

thanks very much for the help! I'm a bit confused about what you mean with the path being linear, and the table aligning to the wood rail. Thanks for catching me on the tangents, I think that perspec looks strange because the umbrella+bushs area looks flat and close compared to the path which looks like it's going deeper into the picture. I edited it a bit though, I think adding the step helped.
Color's not to hard to conquer with studies, I promise! It's only practice.

Here's a watercolor observation [and some other new stuff], trying to do more figures/traditional.

[HarbingerofIllRepute]

This looks fantastic, I wish I had a crit for ya but damn.
I hate to use the word "talent" because of all the implications that come with it "e.g. Doesn't have to work hard to obtain desirable results", but I can tell you've really got something here.
Such strength! I love it!

[Nemome]

Looks awesome, especially cause you're 18 years old
You're a lot better then most of the people who get out of high school, so I wouldn't worry to much about getting accepted in an art school.

I would love to see you open a sketchbook here. :>
Keep it up!

Nemome

[anendlessvoyager]

Your stuff is mind blowing. There's just a life to your colors that makes me want to live in those worlds.
Plus, it's great to see someone about my age with such talent. Give me hope for myself.

Keep it up!

[erysium]

Harbringer- Hey, thanks very much!
Nemome- Thanks! I'm not so scared of being accepted as I am scared of not getting a good enough scholarship to go anywhere, but hearing support's nice anyway (: I'm going to slow down a little for a week or two, but I'm planning to start a sketchbook later this month! Hoping it'll encourage me to study more often.
anendlessvoyager- Thanks so much! I'm really happy the colors take you into the picture well

Finished and sent in my portfolio to my top 2 schools last night! Spent all day arranging sketchbook pages and finishing a new observation and one more scene.

[MrBigCheese]

Aghhhhh I almost had a heart attack submitting my portfolios for MICA and SVA 2 minutes before midnight. Amazing use of color btw, I can't get over how good you're at it, especially the newer watercolor studies, I love those. Gotta get better at watercolor myself. Either way, good luck with getting those scholarships, you're pretty much guaranteed the SVA top scholarship btw

[RumpledElf]

This portfolio stands out to me because I'm looking for someone who can draw interiors, and for some bizarre reason this seems to be overlooked in virtually every portfolio I've seen lately and I think all I've been doing for the last 2 or 3 days is looking at portfolios. If you have more, I have a job ad up in the employment section.

[erysium]

MrBigCheese - I did that too haha, and I was so stressed out the entire week before! Good luck to you too with scholarships!
RumpledElf - Seems like you found someone by now, thank you for letting me know though!

I spent all last week working on figures! The hardest thing Would love to hear critiques on these!