Website Feedback

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @Melissa_Bailey, I love how clean and organized your portfolio looks! Also, the sequential art is excellent!

The only piece which stood out to me is the Alice and Wonderland and large mushroom. While it’s great, the style looks distinctly different than your other pieces.

You might want to put a navigation button at the bottom to automatically scroll to the top to see your other pages in the menu.

Nevertheless, all of your work looks great!

[danielerossi]

@Melissa_Bailey I think you have the perfect number of illustrations and they are so good that I didn’t even notice I was scrolling. I didn’t get bored or think things like “When is this going to end?”. I honestly can’t think of any image to remove. Great portfolio!

[Robyn Hepburn]

@Melissa_Bailey Hi! I love your imagination and creative thinking (just judging from your illustrations) and think your portfolio is beautiful. All the images fit on the webpage perfectly - well, on MY screen anyway - so if you're happy with all of them then keep 'em all!
My only negative is the first 2 pictures - the mole ones - they're lovely, but there isn't as much contrast in value and hue as the rest of your work (which you may have done deliberately since it's underground/at night), so they stuck out to me in that way.
But hey, you've got a great portfolio full of happy, hilarious and intriguing illustrations. Something to be proud of.
P.S. the duck and girl in rain one is my favourite. I love the contrast of bright yellows with dark sky, and joy with storminess.

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Mimi-Simon thanks for the feedback! The reason why I'm trying to keep my portfolio at 15 images or less is because many agents and art directors say that they prefer to see only 12 - 15 images in a portfolio.

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Jeremy-Ross thanks, and thanks for the tip about the navigation button!

Yeah, the Alice in Wonderland piece is the one I keep taking out and putting back in. I think it's because it's more of a chapter book illustration than a picture book illustration.

Thanks again for the feedback!

[Melissa_Bailey]

@danielerossi aww, thanks so much!

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Robyn-Hepburn Thank you! Although, I can't take credit for the way everything fits so perfectly on your screen. That's the Squarespace template doing its thing.

Thanks for the detailed feedback too!

[Julia Hegetusch]

@Melissa_Bailey

[Julia Hegetusch]

@Melissa_Bailey oops sorry. I ment to write that your portfolio looks really light and playful and you show really good character consistency. I really love your two mole pieces. They are so cohesive and have a peaceful atmosphare. And im missing a piece yyou showed in the forum a while back. I think it was a title piece. Something with night time or sleeping animals? I would take out the one with the mouse on the leaf. Its not quite as strong as your other pieces. Do they really only like 12 to 15 pieces? Wow! I thought there should be at least 20 illos! in a portfolio.

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Julia-Hegetusch no worries! Thanks for the feedback and your lovely comments.

The nighttime piece is being held back at the moment, as it's a cover illustration for one of my dummies, which will go in a private page of my website, and I'm trying to steer away from duplicate pieces. (Whether that's a good call or not remains to be seen... I can see arguments for and against.)

And yes, most of what I've read or heard recommends 12-15 illustrations in a portfolio. Less is more, they say, and to include only really strong pieces. They also say that a portfolio that has only 6 or 9 pieces but they're all outstanding is more effective than a portfolio with a ton of artwork that also includes weak pieces. That's what they say, anyway...

[Griffin McPherson]

@Melissa_Bailey I think all the pieces currently in there look great. I don’t think there’s any reason to whittle it down to 15. I think removing pieces that aren’t up to snuff with the rest is more import than having a small portfolio for the sake of having a small portfolio. I’ve heard so many differences numbers for how many pieces to have in a portfolio from 10 to 22. I think it really comes down to the quality rather than the quantity

[Kim Rosenlof]

@Melissa_Bailey I think it looks really good. I the simplicity of the site and it is easy to find everything. I like all the illustrations, but the Alice in Wonderland does look a little duller in colors than some of the others, but I still like it, so it's hard to say to take it out, especially if you are wanting more work with chapter books. I also think that the mouse and leaf picture is not as strong as some of your other ones either, although it is cute. Great job whittling down the amount. I think that is the hardest thing for me to do to my portfolio because I have over 20 .

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Kim-Rosenlof thanks! Yes! Whittling it down is so difficult. And after looking at my portfolio for so long, it's hard to judge which pieces are strong and which are weaker. They all start to look ho-hum to me. But that might be because I'm also dealing with a little imposter syndrome at the moment!

[Melissa_Bailey]

@Griffin-McPherson Thanks for the vote of confidence! Getting all this feedback is great because I really am looking for quality over quantity. I read an article by Molly Idle about how she organizes her portfolio, and she usually only includes 12 to 13 pieces. If a Caldecott winner is that ruthless in excising the weaker pieces, I guess I can be too!

[Miriam]

I would move the one with the "red riding hood" girl with the mice & acorns up to the top next to the pictures with the moles, since they are more similar in style, and it transitions better to the images with humans.

I like the 2nd row as-is, since they have a similar feel & style.

I think the giraffe one would be better grouped with the tiger & poodle images.

I would cut out the mouse flying on the leaf, since it lacks an interesting composition. And maybe the Alice in Wonderland..

I'd also prefer to the see spot images (white backgrounds) grouped together, & the full page images grouped together. So I would put the Kangaroo kid next to the girl with the duck.

It would be nice to have a 3rd wombat illustration. (I don't know whether that's good practices or recommended or not, but it just seems pleasing to me, especially since your layout would fit a row of three images.) But if you don't have a 3rd wombat, I would put the dog with the cookies on that row, after the wombats.

The two with the wombat character are my favorite of all the illustrations. It's really cute.

[Griffin McPherson]

@Melissa_Bailey actually I think it makes more sense to go the opposite direction. I think a Caldecott winner can afford to have very few pieces because they don’t need as many pieces to convey their ability but for those who aren’t at Caldecott level I think it makes sense to have more articles as long as it’s high quality

[geekinm]

I think the website looks great. I love your dog - I have one that looks very similar and he would love to sit on the desk too! He’ll jump up on to my lap when he thinks I’ve done enough painting.

[Melissa_Bailey]

@geekinm Thanks! Your dog sounds like such a character!

[Mewie]

Your art is inspiring and lovely. To echo what others have said already, your website portfolio is CLEAN and shows a great variety and range of your subject matter.

The only thing I would personally change, as others mentioned, is either separating the two mole illustrations (or removing one). I find that they don't contrast and "look more of the same." Also can be said of the 8th/9th illustrations with the green shirted creature (it's not a koala bear... is it a possum?) - If you're looking to cut down your number of images, one of those would be my suggestion.

With that said, I found scrolling through your portfolio very enjoyable. Excited for you!

[Melissa_Bailey]

Thank you, everyone, for the awesome feedback! I've updated my portfolio, if you want to take a look.
mbaileyart.com