Seeking constructive critisism on my portfolio

[Yogita Chawdhary]

Hello everyone!

I’m new to this forum and excited to join this community of such talented illustrators!

I’m a kidlit illustrator with a background mainly in picture book illustrations, but recently, I’ve also been exploring middle-grade cover illustrations at the suggestion of my agent. I just recently signed with my agent, and while I’ve received positive feedback from her, I haven’t had much constructive criticism. I’d love to hear from the community here to help me improve!

I’d appreciate any feedback on my portfolio, especially in areas like character design, composition, style, color palettes, or any other elements that stand out to you. If there are any types of illustrations you think I should add or remove, please let me know.

Looking forward to your insights!

Here is my portfolio: https://www.yogitachawdhary.com/

Thank you!

Yogita

[Yogita Chawdhary]

[Malachi Hudelson]

LOOKS GREAT!!!!

[nohdee]

Hello, I saw your artworks and everything looks great. While you do have different topics like festivals and stories, what I observed is that the characters mostly have the same expression, pose, and are 3/4 facing. You can try to show some other emotions and feelings in your artworks. Right now, they look happy and surprised. Maybe you can include sadness, anger, curiosity, envy, etc. and depict different angles and poses.

[Yogita Chawdhary]

@nohdee Hey thanks so much! That is a great observation! I was planning on adding more variety in expressions. I didn’t even realize I did 3/4th angle in almost all the illustrations- thanks so much for pointing that out! It definitely needs more variety in expressions, poses and angles for sure. I really appreciate you taking the time to go through my portfolio and giving the feedback!

[studio-yuey]

Hi! I agree with others that your portfolio looks really nice. My favorite piece is "the shadow hunters" book cover because of its great contrast and dynamic composition. One thing I'd suggest, and this is something I'm working on for my portfolio as well, is to add some pieces with good use of negative space. This is a comment I got from a recent portfolio review. It's nice to have some pieces where you don't fill the entire page, as they work like breathing moments in your portfolio. Hope this helps!

[A Former User]

@Yogita-Chawdhary, you have reached the top of the present plateau. Your work shows that you are capable of so much more.

Regarding contrasts, there are three axes: hue, Chroma, and Value. The value axis is the foundation, and I see a concentration of midtones that generally paint the entire composition. This is only true for some of your examples, but it scatters the focus. Try creating simple, distinct regions of light/dark. Get back across the room and see what I mean. Much of your color is saturated. You are not exploiting chroma contrasts where pure colors are offset with neutrals or low chroma areas. White is the freshest neutral you can employ; it brings a crisp, light relief from concentrated areas of color.

You are ready to take your art to the next level. I encourage you to explore new techniques and styles. Here is an artist whose work, similar to yours, showcases a sophisticated refinement and sensitivity of color choices that may inspire you: https://catagencyinc.com/lavanya-naidu

[Yogita Chawdhary]

@studio-yuey Thank you for your kind words, Yuey! 'The Shadow Hunters' is my favourite too.
Making use of negative space in the illustration is such a great tip- Thanks for that! It does create focus, breathing space and a good balance overall. Definitely going to incorporate that in my portfolio

[Yogita Chawdhary]

@TY-Graphics-LLC Thank you so much for your encouraging words, Thomas! I really appreciate your insightful suggestions, especially about creating clearer light and dark areas to improve contrast and focus. You're right about the chroma contrast- I do have a lot saturated colours all over. And I admit I’ve been sparing with white, though not intentionally. I’ll definitely be incorporating these tips in my future work to get more distinct contrasts.

I've seen Lavanya's work before, and I’m a huge fan! She’s brilliant at everything- character design, composition, and color choices!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@Yogita-Chawdhary hey! Great work! I’m gonna keep it short. You need more interior and sequential illustrations. That’s it for me. All the best.

[Yogita Chawdhary]

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Thank you so much, Nyrryl. I'm definitely going to work on those.

[Ellie]

@Yogita-Chawdhary I don’t have a critique but I wanted to pop in and say your portfolio is gorgeous! I love your use of colour very inspiring

[Yogita Chawdhary]

@Ellie @Malachi-Hudelson Thank you so much for your kind words!

[Hannah England]

Hi! I just posted a similar ask for my portfolio, so I'm happy to help from the other side of things

Overall it's looking good! You have a good variety of characters and locations, and the style is very consistent. Aces on that.

I would suggest maybe a scene where the character isn't so central to the piece. The actions all take place at the center of your images, which is often needed, but I'd like to see one or two pieces where there's more of a focus of a scene the character is looking at rather than the focus being on the character. Maybe show someone from an angle you haven't included, like from the back.

But you really do have a good variety in there already, great job

[Yogita Chawdhary]

@Hannah-England Thank you so much for your kind words and feedback, Hannah! That is a great suggestion. It'll be nice to have something from a different angle and not specifically focussing on the characters. I'll work on something like that.