Portfolio Review

[D_Auvil]

Hello, my name is Dylan Auvil. I am currently a student at Collins College, and I will be graduating in March 2011. I want to be a concept artist in the gaming industry. My proficiency is in Photoshop CS5. I'm looking for reviews on my work and advice as to how I might improve it. My url is:

http://www.dauvil.daportfolio.com/

Thank you for your time.

[supadave]

Hey Dylan... I'm not an artist so I'm not going to comment on the art itself, but the site.

The site is laid out nice and easy to navigate.

I'd suggest you add the tools used to all the images, even if it's just simple text in the corner. Want people who are reviewing it to know the tools you are comfortable with and prefer.

I'd spice up the homepage. The image is cool, but I'd add a brief bio paragraph there. Want people to know who you are and what you're good without clicking any links.

The bio page should have your resume, not just the paragraph. Don't take for granted that employers are going to have your resume in hand when looking at the page.

Otherwise, a good start. Good luck.

[ThomasSLC]

I think you've got some promising stuff here, especially the 6th piece "Landscape_Concept"

Overall I think you can improve the depth in your work. Several of your pieces feel flat. Playing with atmosphere, tone and color tempurature as you move away from the forground can add so much to the feel of space and distance .

I really like your "Landscape_Concept" because of the distance you've created there and I'd like to see more of that in your other work!

[Olninyo]

some cool stuff, and finished to a high level of quality.


I agree with previous comments on the flat feeling some of the pieces perpetuate, maybe try something really over the top with perspective just to break the habit?

Also fill the environments with more clutter, the texture on some walls looks nice but doesn't say much about the material or age of the environment.

[D_Auvil]

Thank you all very much for your advice. You've been nothing but helpful and I will try to gear my work more towards what you all have said. I will continue to post pieces on the site as I near graduation. If you have comments on those, if you find the time to look at them, I would be happy to hear them.

[LMP]

It's a good start, but artistically you are lacking a lot of fundamentals.
Here are some key things artistically to work on:

• Perspective
• Color Theory
• Anatomy

Your understanding of Perspective is almost there, you Color Theory needs a lot of work, and your anatomy is way off. Also, your figurative illustrations are lacking in, brightness, they are awfully dark to the point where you can barely see the figure.

Good Luck, honestly you are not going to get a highly competitive concept artist position with that portfolio, have you considered branching out into a 3D discipline?

[D_Auvil]

Thank you very much for your advice. To answer your question, no. I have been taught and worked with 3Ds Max 2010. I have been using it for about a year for various projects in school, and I don't think that I would enjoy a career in 3D art.

As for what I'm lacking in my 2D work, thank you for just stating plainly what I need to work on. I now have a clear direction for improvement. If I can ask for just a little more of your time, do you have recommendations as to where I will find references? I have found numerous myself, but I always find it helpful to look at what more experienced artists see as useful.

[LMP]

When it comes to references google image search is the first place I go looking. Even if you can't see yourself doing 3D, don't just forget about 3D, if you block out the scene you want to do with basic shapes in max, I'm talking like really simple here, just plain old primitives. You can then setup a quick composition with the camera and then take that and use it as a base for your illustration, that's called a paint over. Also, don't be afraid to over some photo textures into your paintings, this will quickly help add some detail to your painting, but just remember to make it look good.