another portfolio to look at please :)

djlambson

Hello fellow artists

I'm setting goals this month and one of them is to submit my portfolio where I can to find representation.
Can I have you take a look and give me some feedback please? Where is it lacking or weak.. all critiquing is very very welcome.

https://deborahlambson.com/folio

Nyrryl Cadiz

@djlambson Hi! Ok, going straight to the point, I can see a few technical issues with your site right of the bat.

Like when you go to the 'stories' tab and your header disappears. I looked at the bottom right of the page and saw a button to go back to the portfolio. This is a huge issue in my opinion. if you plan to add buttons on the button make sure that you also add them on top of the page. That way people won't have a hard time navigating your site.
I think you can loose those social media icons on top of your illustrations in the folio tab. In my opinion, they should go to your top right corner or maybe at the bottom of your page or you can put them in your contact tab.

Now, let's go to your illustrations.

I don't think you have enough illustrations. you only have 15 images. 5 of them are repeats of 2 pieces which brings your image count to 12.
You don't have a lot of kids in your illustration. If want to get into the illustration market, you'll have to draw a lot of kids of various race, shapes, ages, etc.

So far, these are the major issues I'm seeing. I hope this was helpful.

TessaW

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Has already made good points and I'll just add a couple more-

The picture of the boy in the pool at the top of your portfolio page- it looks like you took a picture of your computer screen. To me that doesn't look very professional. I'd photograph or scan the image properly if you are going to include it.
I kind of want to see your name be a little bigger at the top!

djlambson

@TessaW and @Nyrryl-Cadiz That's great..thank you for the feedback. I have been bothered by those site issues but have put it on a back burner. I'll work on the site.
I think I thought that was an arty pic of the pool boy, but will change that and work on more children images. Thanks for the fresh eyes you guys..appreciate it!

Nyrryl Cadiz

@djlambson you could take a picture of the whole page of the pool boy instead

djlambson

I think you were right the first time @TessaW ..I removed that one and put the whole image in so as not to upset the grid energy. I'm looking for a better portfolio site now..this is Adobe and I'm not loving it. Honestly Im not super happy with some of that artwork in there, so they'll just be 'placeholders' til I can replace with better work.

NessIllustration

@djlambson I noticed that your portfolio is linked to /folio rather than straight to your domain, so I checked to see what https://deborahlambson.com/ goes to. I was surprised to see it goes to that standalone story page! That's an issue. Your domain should go directly to your portfolio. I don't think the story page should be your main landing page, and it shouldn't be disconnected from the rest of the site either. I also think you should only keep one of the Mama Hen images.

djlambson

@NessIllustration I will work on those things. Thank you! @NessIllustration

eriberart

@djlambson I wouldn't worry about having lots of images if you aren't happy with some of them! I was taught at uni that it's better to have 12 really solid good pieces, than to have 25 okay ones. For an idea, we were told that we should aim for 15-20 pieces of our best work in our portfolio, and 12 the minimum if we were struggling. This is as illustrators at the start of our careers, as you do more work you will naturally add to this number!

Mara Price

@djlambson Portfolio Day in Twitter
NEXT ONE: October 13th, 2020
https://twitter.com/PortfolioDay_

j.sienkowski

One thing I would consider changing is using a cleaner, more legible version of your name at the top of the page. The sketchy-ness of it makes it hard to read.

djlambson

@j-sienkowski I'll work on it..appreciate that!

djlambson

@Mara-Price Was not aware of that. Thanks so much for that encouragement!

djlambson

If someone would please be so kind as to take another look at the name/title and tell me if that hand drawn font is hard to read..I have somehow turned this into an art project and now just want to go back to Time Roman.

https://deborahlambson.com/folio

Kevin Longueil

@djlambson It is not an instant read for me...i think if the first letters of each name were capitalized and the "s" was tamed a tiny bit it would read faster for me - i really like your farm image with the chicken sweeping the porch!

Julia

@djlambson I would keep it simple and neat to be easily readable. In the case you revert to Times New Roman, maybe you want to add the little bird underneath your name? That would do the trick (= personal touch)

djlambson

Thanks so much for the feedback @Kevin-Longueil and @Julia. I think you're right. Re-do!