Building my portfolio

[TessaW]

UPDATE: I'm going to throw pieces here as I complete them.

ORIGINAL POST:
Soooo. . . . I don't have a portfolio. The past few years I've been having babies and trying to improve my art skills when I can. I've recently started doing art again now that my baby is over a year, and I finally feel ready to start trying to compose my own work (rather than just study). I thought I'd post work here as I finish it to see it all in one place and hopefully recieve feedback. Critiques are definitely wanted and welcome!

Here is one piece I feel might be portfolio ready, which I completed last year, though I might need to update it.

Here's a couple of freshly done pieces:

I have a lot of ideas that just need to be worked through and completed. I'm really not sure if I have a style yet or not, but at this point I'm just going to worry about getting things done and hopefully I'll see some indications of what I should work towards in terms of style.

[linhb]

whoa so nice

[aska]

These are great and don't really need improvement But if you really want to improve anything on them, cause you have nothing else to do ... then I would probably try to raise one the woman's knees on the first pick, so her cycling is more dynamic and brighten/sharpen kids face on the second one. Third one - i have literally no idea what to improve cause its perfect

[MOO]

I love them all! I agree with Aska that you might want to raise a knee on teh mom but maybe she's coastng with her legs out to the side Very cute.

[NoWayMe]

I Tess! Great work I LOVE the second piece!! So cute!

A think the biggest problem with the two first pieces is composition. In both, your focal point is centered in the image. I would definitely try to put them on the 1/3 rule. I think it would be especially important for the first one, because as you have it now, the mother is very close to the egde of the frame, and it creates something awkward that I can't really explain. I did a very quick paint over to show you what I mean :

In term of style, they look very similar (they both look like they belong to the same painter!!) but in the second and third one you characters are a lot more "solid". I think #1 can still be included in your portfolio, but I would change the composition a bit and refine the characters (especially the faces) to show your current skill level!

I hope this helps

[Kat]

Super cute! I love the girl in the tree, looks like a fun story in that one.

[mattramsey]

these are all really great!

I think on the first one it would be worth it to spend more time on the lighting of the little girl--you've got so many gorgeous things going on that the sunlight is coming across as a little "generic"* on her. Also, I think that the lizard is a little too bright and a little flat.

*I think it needs some banding effects, for example.

[TessaW]

Thanks guys!

@aska and @Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen good point about the knee.

@NoWayMe Thanks for the paint-overs! Much better. I'll have to tweak them a bit.

@mattramsey Yeah, I see what you mean. I think I will work on this one some more.

[Myss]

Hi Tess! Your art is so cute! I think a thing you can always work on is depth, value and shading/lighting!
Depth can be shown when the things closer to the viewer are more dark/saturated and things father away begin to be less saturated and lighter. Shading also makes the character have depth as well as lighting.

I painted a bit over to show shading, lighting and reflected light! The objects closer to the light is brighter and less saturated and the things closer are more darker and more saturated, making a bit more depth. I made the shading pretty green because I believe light reflects off the leaves and therefore makes everything green haha!

and another thing you can do with lighting-

If its bright outside and the foliage isn't as dense- light rays can pierce through and show themselves! Here's another thing you can do with lighting in a tree.

The same things can apply with your other drawing! I think you're doing great, just keep drawing!

And with style? Don't worry about that, style will come on its own naturally. In my opinion you already have a style!

[WithLinesOfInk]

@nowayme @TessW Having a centered composition is a constant habit of mine, too, to the extent that I have "DYNAMIC COMPOSITION" on a sticky note above my monitor.

[WithLinesOfInk]

Tess, I love how consistent your style is! I think people have given some great advice here, and really it is all just a few minor tweaks and things to consider moving forward. Have you done a Dream Portfolio, by any chance? It's something @Lee-White had me do several times, and which I now do yearly, to figure out what exactly I wanted and needed in my portfolio, and it's been super helpful. If you want to message me, I can explain more in depth!

[TessaW]

@myss Thanks! Yup, I struggle a bit with values. I've been told I have the tendency to go too dark and contrasted, so I actually lightened this painting at the end. Maybe I shouldn't have? I was also considering doing dappled light but was concerned it would be too busy. But it does look quite magical the way you've done it! Thanks for your thoughtful paint-overs.

@WithLinesOfInk No I haven't done a Dream Portfolio! Sounds intriguing. I will definitely message you.

[TessaW]

Working on updating this piece. I kind of wanted to see if I could throw a bunch of busy foliage in the background with warm colors and still keep my focal points.

[WithLinesOfInk]

@tessw So cute! I think you could brighten the mom and kid a bit, or push back the background even further. But the values among the background elements are very cohesive and non-invasive!

[WithLinesOfInk]

[WithLinesOfInk]

Here, this is kind of what I was thinking. I can send you the photoshop file with layers if you want to see kind of where I slopped everything in.

[Jose Ramos]

@tessw said in Building my portfolio:

o see if I could throw a bunch of b

Great work Tess...I love it!

[TessaW]

@Jose-Ramos Thank you!

[Tyson Ranes]

@tessw Your stuff is awesome, has a great quality/feel to it.

[TessaW]

@withlinesofink said in Building my portfolio:

@tessw So cute! I think you could brighten the mom and kid a bit, or push back the background even further. But the values among the background elements are very cohesive and non-invasive!

Thanks for your feedback! Sorry, should have replied to you sooner, but I was thinking about how to incorporate your advice.

I'm getting closer and closer (at least, to the best of my ability), which seems like it's harder and harder to make progress on this. Still have a bit to do. I don't want to emphasize the mom as much, which is why I have chosen to keep her pretty dark and less contrasted. Do you think that's ok for the image as a whole? Or are you finding that you want the mom to be as much of a focal point as the girl and the gecko?