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Doodle dump and help with portfolio design

TheMorningStarTheMorningStar Registered User regular
edited April 2008 in Artist's Corner
Hey guys, I need some opinions. I've recently finally grown some balls, and decided to change my major to art, and I built a website today to act as a portfolio. I plan on filling it with the art I make over the next two years before I transfer to a UC. I wanted some opinions on the design. I haven't really kept anything I've drawn for about five years, but I did find some doodles I did in class about a year ago, and those on on the site. Here's one of em:
Dell%20Laser%20MFP%201815_20080421201639_3_1.JPG

whoa, that pic is huge. I probably should resize those...is there a way to resize photos in iPhoto?

http://themorningstar.110mb.com/

Anyways, as you can see I'm working with a less is more approach. Critz please.

TheMorningStar on

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    XALXAL Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    uhm. best thing to do is to practice practice practice and draw as often as you can stand.
    draw things you see and learn to draw complex figures via simple shapes.
    look in the help thread for some art books on how to draw.

    you can just upload the images to imageshack or photobucket and pick a resize option.

    less is more? for your art or your website?...

    http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=29171

    if you just have doodles, then just post them in the doodle thread and ask for critique.

    XAL on
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    TheMorningStarTheMorningStar Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Uh, I was looking for critique on the site as a portfolio. I know the stuff up there isn't that great, they're just some random doodles I did while not paying attention to lecture. I'll have some better stuff up when I have time to actually sit down and do some work. I put that stuff up just to get an idea for how I want the portfolio designed.

    And yeah, less is more is referring to the site.

    Using image shack is a good idea though, thanks.

    TheMorningStar on
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    desperaterobotsdesperaterobots perth, ausRegistered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Simple things:

    get rid of the intro page; pointless and pretentious.

    get rid of the page where i have to press on the doodle dump sketch to see more thumbnails. get straight to the art.

    Tell me what im going to get when i click something. Art. Life. Deep. What the hell are they.

    desperaterobots on
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    NightDragonNightDragon 6th Grade Username Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I hope you take what I'm about to say seriously, and don't brush it off. I feel that this first part is honestly much more necessary for me to say than a critique of your site. Excuse my soap-box speech, but after seeing your stuff I just feel that I should say this...

    You are really going to have to kick yourself into high-gear. If you're actually serious about this, here are a few links you may find helpful:

    http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26636

    This is interesting in how good he became in 6 years, it may be helpful to study his progress and what helped him improve:
    http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870

    http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

    (There are quite a lot more in the Questions thread). Basically, you seem to be just starting out at this (and having read your blog, I'd assume this is the case). I hope I don't sound condescending, I don't mean to be, but there are a lot of things that people tend to think when just starting out with the idea that they want to do art for a living. There are a lot of misconceptions.

    Be positive that you want to do this - you're going to need a lot of dedication. You're going to have to draw/paint/etc very frequently. You have to know that you're going to be okay with spending hours and hours making art, for your career...every month, every week, every day. You're going to have to really push yourself. I'm just saying this because the competition is incredibly fierce - some are better than others, and that's fine, but they're also the ones that are going to be considered for a job, in the end. Work as hard as you can! Study the basics, study the foundations, and excel at them. Throw in creativity, experiment...but don't forget to keep your foundations skills strong - a lot of people try to develop a "style" too quickly. Don't worry about style, that will come naturally as you progress. Trying to develop a style early on will likely hurt you more than help you. Keep an open mind when receiving critiques - many of them are going to be brutal. Stay strong, take advice, and try your hardest every time. Compare yourself to the professionals, don't take compliments to mean that the piece is perfect. Have your work critiqued frequently - it's a great way to see things differently after staring at the same image for so long. Things can (almost) always be improved! Be dedicated and know that this is absolutely what you want to do.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Your website design is really bland. Simple designs are good, but the idea is usually that you will *design* the site with thought to color (is applicable), layout, text (font, spacing, size, etc). It currently just looks like you tossed up the first thing that came to you. Check out a number of other websites for inspiration, see what appeals to you, and incorporate those ideas into your website design.

    Here's an awesome link for web designs:
    http://www.designmeltdown.com/

    Check those out and jot down a number of notes, thumbnail ideas, and whatnot. Think about design and flow.

    NightDragon on
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    TheMorningStarTheMorningStar Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I hope you take what I'm about to say seriously, and don't brush it off. I feel that this first part is honestly much more necessary for me to say than a critique of your site. Excuse my soap-box speech, but after seeing your stuff I just feel that I should say this...

    You are really going to have to kick yourself into high-gear. If you're actually serious about this, here are a few links you may find helpful:

    http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=26636

    This is interesting in how good he became in 6 years, it may be helpful to study his progress and what helped him improve:
    http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870

    http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

    (There are quite a lot more in the Questions thread). Basically, you seem to be just starting out at this (and having read your blog, I'd assume this is the case). I hope I don't sound condescending, I don't mean to be, but there are a lot of things that people tend to think when just starting out with the idea that they want to do art for a living. There are a lot of misconceptions.

    Be positive that you want to do this - you're going to need a lot of dedication. You're going to have to draw/paint/etc very frequently. You have to know that you're going to be okay with spending hours and hours making art, for your career...every month, every week, every day. You're going to have to really push yourself. I'm just saying this because the competition is incredibly fierce - some are better than others, and that's fine, but they're also the ones that are going to be considered for a job, in the end. Work as hard as you can! Study the basics, study the foundations, and excel at them. Throw in creativity, experiment...but don't forget to keep your foundations skills strong - a lot of people try to develop a "style" too quickly. Don't worry about style, that will come naturally as you progress. Trying to develop a style early on will likely hurt you more than help you. Keep an open mind when receiving critiques - many of them are going to be brutal. Stay strong, take advice, and try your hardest every time. Compare yourself to the professionals, don't take compliments to mean that the piece is perfect. Have your work critiqued frequently - it's a great way to see things differently after staring at the same image for so long. Things can (almost) always be improved! Be dedicated and know that this is absolutely what you want to do.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Your website design is really bland. Simple designs are good, but the idea is usually that you will *design* the site with thought to color (is applicable), layout, text (font, spacing, size, etc). It currently just looks like you tossed up the first thing that came to you. Check out a number of other websites for inspiration, see what appeals to you, and incorporate those ideas into your website design.

    Here's an awesome link for web designs:
    http://www.designmeltdown.com/

    Check those out and jot down a number of notes, thumbnail ideas, and whatnot. Think about design and flow.

    Thanks for the input! As far as the whole art side of things, I have a little understanding of what you're saying. My cousin has been through the whole process of gaining an art degree, and has given me advice. I'm not worried about becoming better, that's what the schooling is for. And as far as dedication goes. It's there. Drawing used to be pretty much be my life. Two years ago I was stupid and felt like I didn't want to do art because everyone told me I should. I know it's not going to be easy, but I want it bad enough I know I can make it happen.

    As far as the site being pretentious...huh, I never thought of that. Looking at it now though I can see that. I'll remove the welcome page. The reason you have to click on the pic to see the others is because I plan to have a lot more stuff up and didn't want pages and pages of pics not in any sort of category.

    Thanks guys! I appreciate it.

    TheMorningStar on
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