Dream Portfolio

kaitlinmakes

Anyone interested in doing the dream portfolio challenge over the next week and posting them here? The PDF file is in the finding your style video if anyone is interested. I thought it might be fun to share in the discovery, and maybe learn of new artists.

lmrush

I would love to, did you mean just building the dream portfolio, or also the copying the masters as well? I would need more time for that Such a great concept!!!!

djlambson

That sounds like fun to me..Ive been gathering images but have to weed my folder..I keep it in Pinterest. Im assuming you mean posting our attempts? I'm certainly interested!

kaitlinmakes

Awesoe!
I was thinking to just take the week to build the portfolio and then add your notes on each artist and what speaks to you about the image(maybe the sparknotes version? ).
I think it will be cool to share insights on what we see in each other's portfolios.

The master copies will take forever Maybe we could start a new forum to critique mastercopies - I know there are already some people working on them and interested in it.

lmrush

@kaitlinmakes @djlambson Maybe we could use a shared dropbox file (if everyone uses dropbox) to share our dream portfolios? I have been in shared file groups, but usually someone else has started the shared file so I don't know how but I am sure I could figure it out.

djlambson

That sounds like a good plan to me @lmrush Lisa and @kaitlinmakes Kaitlin..I'm not familiar with sparknotes, but always like learning something new. I'll look it up. Time frames would be a problem for me so hopefully we're all good to go at our own pace with this. I'm Deborah by the way.

kaitlinmakes

@djlambson @lmrush
Deborah and Lisa that sounds great - I've never used a drop box before, but I like the idea of it.
Sparknotes are a series of annotated books done for classic novels - so in high school if you had to read Animal Farm but you were too lazy to read it, you could read the spark notes and get a general gist of the story. It's probably good you don't know what they are Deborah
But if we are using a drop box, why not just post our full notes?
I'm not in a rush either - I just wanted to finally do this and I thought it would be fun to share the experience with other people I'm starting my research tomorrow.
Best to you ladies - hope you have a lovely holiday weekend.

kaitlinmakes

@djlambson @lmrush

This assignment is a little bigger then I imagined it to be.
I took your suggestion and started a DropBox account and then made a new file for us to upload images - If you want to shoot me your emails in private messages or on this feed, I can shoot you over the file!
Also, technology never ceases to amaze me - dropbox is such a cool tool.

lmrush

@kaitlinmakes Awesome! istorymama@yahoo.com

djlambson

@kaitlinmakes mine is deborahlambson@gmail.com Looking forward to this!

kaitlinmakes

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r4vju9rogtk8uwl/AAAXqPi1emvXuSYc2qmZwfX-a?dl=0

I just figured out too that you can make a link to the drop box - so if anyone else is interest here it is! I don't know if you can edit it without it being shared directly to you, so if anyone wants to jump in on this, you can just put your email in the thread.

Pamela Fraley

I put mine in a post on the forums a while back. Will id work if I post a link? I'll give it a go.
dreamportfolio

kaitlinmakes

For some reason this assignment threw me into an identity crisis - which is really funny considering it's all about understanding what your stylistically attracted to, who your heros are who do it best, and where you are in conjunction to them (i.e. finding your identity).

I think I'm having the most trouble deciding what direction I want to go towards, business wise - I think I gravitate closer to fine art, but that seems scary because an illustration path seems more clear cut on how to become a successful working artist. I'm also a server/bartender, and the drag is getting real my friends - it helps to motivate me to draw, but I can not wait for the day where I can give it up.

But I'm back on the wagon, and the dream portfolio did help me see what I am most attracted to and what kind of emotions/stories/visual elements I want to express. I put the image on the bottom of my post - I would love to hear what you all see in the pieces - how they relate to each other in story/technique.
Here's a link to get a better view of the individual pieces.
https://www.dropbox.com/home/Dream Portfolio/Kaitlin/DreamPortfolio_IMAGES_individualimages

@Pamela-Fraley I'm so glad that you joined the conversation! Going through yours and @lmrush portfolios, I feel like I've gained so much insight into who you both are as artists, without really being introduced to your actual work. And then when I see it, it all makes sense.

Also - what is Jake's style wheel?

@lmrush
Secret smiles, matter of fact
-muted/quiet/innocent (the feeling)
-sketchy/loose/flat (stylistically)
There seems two be two sets of images in your portfolio. What seems to dominate it are these quiet, muted stories where the expression is in the quietness of the colors/atmosphere.
Most of the illustrated people have very simple facial expressions - either they have a "secret smile" or their faces are straight up blank. This makes me as the viewer look around at the whole image in order to understand it better - the story is told in how these characters hold themselves, or in the environment they are placed. Each element is so well picked that it's in direct service of the story - and if it isn't, it's simply not drawn in.
There is whimsy - which I think takes place for over-expressed facial features. Most of the whimsical nature of these pieces are sweet and playful, but I LOVE how you also put in imagery of the darker side. The stories being told seem to be quiet stories - as if the climax of the story is about to happen, or already did.

There are a few pieces that are different in their stylistic treatment - they are more rendered out and seem to have more of a roundness about them - they aren't flat. The colors are more saturated, and the faces have so much more expression. They are not as loose - they have a more refined feel to them. But they seem to be telling the same quality of story - sweet, innocent whimsical stories.

Also, who did that elephant grabbing the apple image with the clown girl? I'm in love.
Also, the two kids and a dog making tea?

@Pamela-Fraley
-Muted darks(expression of light sources)
-Rich/Complex World Building - Busy

Your images really speak to three things for me - light, expression, and climax.
You mentioned that they have that subtle glow - and that's right on the nose. I think that a lot of that also has to do with the colors picked - Most of these images use muted darks, and like Jake and Lee and Terry say - there can be no light without dark. The saturation is still low, so you're not getting a lot of screaming colors, but the overall darkness does allow those lights to really speak.
This one is a little tricky. The characters in these images are mostly centered, and the whole story seems to be centered around their emotion. While the imagery is busy and rich, the main focus is always the person dealing with what ever they are dealing with. The fear of the woman with the cabin, the glee of the boy in the window, the studious nature of the little old man in his study. It's very bold story telling, that hits the viewer right away. The beauty of having such rich backgrounds is now I can take some time to explore the world and the mastery of the craft, to settle myself after getting hit with these emotions.
My last thought has to do with story - whereas Lisa's picks seem to be placed around quieter moments, your picks seem to be closer to, if not at the direct action of the story. The hobbits seeing a train of elves, two kids running after a magical beast, a woman fleeing in the woods, a nanny and her two kids running down a mountain, a fainted woman. These are all charged images just based on the moment the illustrator chose to draw.

lmrush

@kaitlinmakes Wow awesome observations well done!!! I will have to research who did the images you mentioned, sadly when I started saving files I didn't use the artists name

burvantill

@kaitlinmakes I missed this post. What is the dream portfolio challenge? I’ve tried searching but all I get are financial portfolios . From looking through the thread it seems you collect art from others as goals for yourself. Is that correct?

kaitlinmakes

Hey @burvantill! Try searching the forums - I feel so silly starting this thread because there were 100 others already started! But it's a Lee White assignment, and the basic idea is you collect work from your favorite artists who are doing work that you sit there and go, "man, I wish I did that piece." You're only "supposed" to do 20 images - and then you out them together as a portfolio, and ideally put one of your own pieces in the mix to see how you stand up to your heros.
It's a cool idea, because then you have a catalog of pieces to do studies from, and you start to see patterns in what attracts you visually to an image.
Mine took me three weeks to put together.
But I would LOVE to see yours.
Also I can not wait to hear how your book dummy is coming along - I hope you've had a really successful month.

kaitlinmakes

@lmrush ah! You're killing me!
But seriously - loved your portfolio.

burvantill

@kaitlinmakes Thanx! I will have to do that, I would be interested to see what it looks like. I did a little challenge on Instagram a while back where I picked 8 of my favorite artists and then put mine in the middle. I was ALL OVER THE PLACE. I had fine art and illustrators, LOL! So I made two.
My dummy is going good. I have all the loose drawings placed in InDesign. Now I have to paint two pages/ spreads for the final part. Thanx for asking. =)x

NessIllustration

I think I will do that too! I'm making my way through the podcasts and keep hearing about this assignment, and it really sounds wonderful!

kaitlinmakes

@nessillustration
Yes!