Please, can you give me an honest critique on my website?
-
Hi!
Soooo.... I'm trying to find the courage and do the postcard thing. And for that, I first need to make sure my website is spot on.
Can you please take a look at my website and give me an HONEST (please, feel free to hurt my feelings, you can't see ma sad face, so don't be scared ;)) critique?
http://mag.takac.name
I would love to know, how you feel about the site:- does it look professional?
- I don't have the "about me" page, because I have absolutely no idea what to write about my self. Do you think that would be a problem? Or does the site works without this page?
- Is there a picture in my portfolio you would withdraw? I have emotions and memories attached to almost all of the illustrations, so I might not be the best person to decide what to dismiss...
- I have multiple styles represented on my website. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Thank you!!!
-
Hi Mag, some points from me. I like to read about author, I also have problem with writing about me, so I made it short, but picture and some sentences makes it personal.
I know what You mean with many styles, me too...what to do about it ha ha ha.
The first think I saw, is the light sketch picture (number 2 in the first row)...it is so empty but you look there, so I would take it out, I think the first row should have the strongest picture from You, like the 3.row.
What I would take out, but is only personal opinion: 1R 2p; 5R 3p; 8R 1p; 9R 2p, last row both pictures.
What I would pull up, the farmer and his hen, I love them.
"Contact me" is almost sad, there is no color and I think Your best character point is strong warm colors. I would make the fox colorful. Also I like to see the mail adress as contact posibiblity, not only contact form and if it is possible phone number. We in Germany have to have also impressum (adress) but I don't think it is must in Czech Rep.
Also, I don't know where You did Your website, but maybe it is possible to make one wide banner with one good work. Maybe it will be an eye catcher.
If You have photoshop, put Your information under File/File Info/Basic/name(Author) and Dokument name of the picture in the Info (metadata).
If I think of something more, I will write You. -
Hi Mag, I think it looks very professional. If I were to nix any of your pieces it would be the last two since they're a lot darker and don't flow as nicely with everything else in your portfolio. Aside from that everything looks nice and cohesive. Regarding the about page, I personally am a fan and would be more likely to hire/buy from someone if I could learn more about them as a person so I would encourage you to put something up there. There are tons of great resources out there for writing a stellar artists statement and bio that are almost formulaic.
-
I really like it. I don’t know too much about the details of websites. I just did mine. On my phone the Alice in wonderland cover wasn’t near the other ones from the story. It may be in the computer. I agree about the contact page. Not sure what to actually put on it. I haven’t done mine. You are going to need an about me page. It felt like something was missing not knowing the artist. I made my friend edit mine. I am a horrible writer. Just do a draft or two and have some friends looks over it. I have a few friends that were English majors in college. I made one of them do it.
Your work looks lovely and the site is clean. How exciting to have a body of work to show. It really looks great.
I used squarespace to make mine. I liked the feature that I could group collections together. Check it out and you can see what I’m talking about. Www.whitneysimmsstudio.com
-
Just took a quick look at the site. The font and structure is very clean and appealing. I would put an “about me” page. It helps put a face behind the art and makes you more approachable and I believe helps makes more loyal fans.
One area that stands out immediately is your contact me page seems to have an unfinished almost sad illustration. This is where you need the viewer to be excited to reach out to you and artwork on that page should reflect that. I’d sub it out for a drawing you hand in illustration or make a new one entirely of an image that invokes pure joy. That in turn will reflect on the viewer and associate that with them wanting to contact you.
I think that change will knock your website out of the park!
Ps your artwork is beautiful.
-
@mag Defo have an about page it helps readers connect with your art and search engines index your page - Using some or all of the 5 W's is a good way to work out what to write in a vision statement. What, why, when, who, where. What kind of art you make, why and how you make it. Who you are. When and where you have published and/or exhibited. I was recently advised by my art mentor to tell my story. Just try not to use too much art jargon. Keep it simple. 2 paragraphs is enough.
A problem I found with your site is it isn't secure. I'd recommend getting a secure connection. I get warned by my search engine about unsecure websites. I wouldn't share my contact details with this website.
-
@sigross great point with the https and not secure site, is really important for Mag and other ppl.
-
Hi Magdalena,
I agree with what most have already said, you have a really nice website there and your work looks consistent and strong
I would remove the last two images as they're a bit too dark and seem to different compared to your other pieces.
I hate writing About Me sections, in my opinion just keep it short and sweet.
"Hello, I'm Magdalena and I'm an illustrator/designer/whatever from _____." and then just what inspires you or your aspirations for your career and if you studied anywhere and maybe clients you've worked with.
I'm never really interested in the artist's life story
-
Hello Mag,
I like your website. It also reads very well on cell phones.
-
@hannahmccaffery me neither, only when it’s fun to read... but I will try my best not to bore people to death with my about me page. Thanks so much for helpful suggestions!
-
@sigross thanks for the feedback and the info about secured web. The site is done by my husband, I’ll ask him what he can do about that.
-
@eddysage good point! The picture for the contact page is actually really old. I had different portfolio back then, but lately I’ve been refreshing it up a little bit, but forgot about that picture. It is a quite sad. I also never thought about this picture being particularly important,but you are totally right, it’s the last picture from me they will see before making the decision of contacting me or not.
-
@MichaelaH thanks so much for your feedback! I’ll deffinitely will look into that. You had some great points there.
-
Hello Mag!
Here is my feedback:
does it look professional?
I think it reads pretty professionally. Only suggestion would be to increase the font size of the menu bar so it is a bit easier to see/click. Also, I'd make the titles of the menu bar both start with capital letters as they are titling something, so instead of "My books" use "My Books".I don't have the "about me" page, because I have absolutely no idea what to write about my self. Do you think that would be a problem? Or does the site works without this page?
I think it would be helpful to have an about me page. It makes you a bit more relatable to know a little more about you personally but you could also write a bit about your preferred mediums, etc. Maybe taking a glance at other well-known illustrators would be helpful. I like Jake Parker's website and he has a nice about me section for reference: https://www.mrjakeparker.com/aboutIs there a picture in my portfolio you would withdraw? I have emotions and memories attached to almost all of the illustrations, so I might not be the best person to decide what to dismiss...
The only illustration that I questioned was the comic strip. I don't think it is necessarily the wrong piece to add if you are interested in also doing comics, but if you are not, that was the only piece I questioned not really aligning with the others.I have multiple styles represented on my website. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?**
I'm a total newbie and so I might not be the best to answer this question. However, I think I would ask the question about what type of work you hope to get and do those images resonate with those goals?I hope this helps!
-
@mag - also if you want to post an "about me" draft here, happy to take a look!
-
@mag Hi Mag. I used to work in web & UI design. Here's my feedback.
Positives:
Clean, simple, easy to navigate. It will allow potential agents / publishers to quickly browse through your work without any fuss. Clean background doesn't detract from your work. Works well on a mobile as well as desktop / laptop. All links pointing to the right info.Negatives:
Like some others have pointed out, some information about who you are, what you have done in the past and what led you to do what you're doing. Or may be something about how long you've been in the industry and your accomplishments thus far. I was at a recent SCBWI conference and they recommended that our About section is written in from a third person perspective. This allows agents / publishers to cut and paste when they need to promote you or talk about you.I think this can flesh out your Contact page. So no need to add an additional page and further complicate a beautifully succinct site.
I personally feel a recent photo of yourself on that page is a good idea. This is not comfortable for me either but people like having a face to put to a name.
I hope this was helpful. Best wishes for everything
Cindy
