Student Wesite

[andrewstuchlik]

I just built my first website to show off some of the stuff I've done while in school. I would love some advice to bring up the level of quality in it and my art, so any help would be crazy appreciated. I made it using WIX. Alot of this is pretty new to me, so any help would be great!

www.andrewstuchlik.com

[Raoul Duke]

I checked out your site. I'll just say you made your site more complicated then it has to be. I personally like basic bare bones galleries with subtle presentation. I clicked on a passing image and got stuck. Now I have to close it. This is where a potential employer will give up and move on.

I did manage to check out some of your stuff. The "before and after" section where you traced photos could become a bad habit. I understand you are probably just trying to get control of photoshop, but I'd get away from that practice if I were you.

I hope this isn't too personal, but I saw in your about section that you are going to AI-SD. Bad news is you are at the AI and I have seen some horrible graduate portfolios from there, that demonstrated that they are not a serious about art, only money. Good news is you are in San Diego and there are plenty of amazing and cheap schools in the area. Here are some links.

Ateliers
http://studio2ndstreet.com/
http://www.wattsatelier.com

Community colleges
http://www.palomarart.com/
http://hub.miracosta.edu/art/default.html

[arenhaus]

You'd get more immediate help if you just post artwork here.

As for the site:

1. It's Flash. And it is not debugged. The round icons all "blink" sizes randomly, they scroll around on their own, and you have to chase them with your mouse. Ugh. And then the whole menu disappeared altogether after clicking on one of the icons. Double ugh. What's wrong with good old HTML?

2. It's impossible to save images. Those art directors who collect images from potential candidates won't be able to keep your work. It's better to provide files properly named and tagged so they can be tracked back to you, than forbid saving altogether - IMO.

3. The works themselves... I dunno. The three random things that occurred to me first are: you need to practice color much more; your use of photos is entirely obvious, you're either smudging photos you pasted in or copy them too closely; and there is a great overuse of the smudge tool.

Keep on working.