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I posted a link to my portfolio in the thread a couple of pages back and got some helpful feedback, which I've used to redesign it. If anyone has any feedback or suggestions I'd really appreciate it: http://www.zackcorcoran.com I'm going to be applying to a few creative staffing agencies in my area soon; basically my situation is that I graduated from college with a BFA in Comic Art in 2007 and have been languishing for 5 years, and I just want to get into a field that's closer to what I love to do. I guess my major concern right now is that without examples of design I won't get a day job with this portfolio, and I'm condemning myself to freelancing or nothing at all. I know that the Illustrations are old; I'm going to be redoing a couple of pieces that aren't portfolio worthy but are strong conceptually, and then giving myself personal projects to build up a stronger portfolio. edit: I think there might be a problem with the 'San Francisco Food' illustration (the first one in the second row)- if it doesn't load for you please let me know, I can't check if it's just me or not right now. Fortis fucked around with this message at 16:16 on May 7, 2012 |
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May 7, 2012 16:13
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Fortis posted:I posted a link to my portfolio in the thread a couple of pages back and got some helpful feedback, which I've used to redesign it. If anyone has any feedback or suggestions I'd really appreciate it: http://www.zackcorcoran.com I'm not sure which is the San Francisco Food illustration but clicking on the last image in the illustration section of your portfolio made my browser (Chrome) lock up so you might wanna look at that! As for your portfolio in general, I'd change the font you're using for the header & links panels. It is far too heavy in the header, it makes the 'I's look like Ls & it makes all the letters join into each other.
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May 7, 2012 16:38
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Yikes, just a heads up Fortis but I also clicked the first picture in your Pixel Art section and had to close your website (in Firefox). Didn't click anything else so it might be an overall problem.
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May 7, 2012 22:24
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Yeah, I think overall there's something going on with the jquery plugin I'm using (prettyPhoto). I'm not sure what it is; I can't really get it to happen consistently, so it doesn't seem to be related to any image specifically. I'll take care of it though. Thanks for pointing it out! Edit: Switched to Lightbox 2 which seems to solve that particular issue. Fortis fucked around with this message at 17:09 on May 8, 2012 |
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May 7, 2012 22:47
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Huh. I just tried it and it did the same thing at first but I just refreshed and now it's working fine. Maybe it was just my browser. The site looks good, everything's easy to see and view. The only thing I don't like is the type — it's not really hard to read but I think it detracts and doesn't look very good. I'd stick with something smaller and cleaner.
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May 8, 2012 18:33
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I'm graduating in a week with a BFA in Fibers from MassArt in Boston. I work full-time at a yarn store and have a ton of experience working with fibers. I don't really know what I want to do right now but I'm overwhelmed at how lovely the job market is and how dumb I was to get a loving fine arts degree in fibers. I'd be happy to work at a gallery if any of them were even hiring. Anyone here have experience getting into textile or fiber fields? I'd like to work with yarn companies but I don't think that will happen. I don't even know where to look for work :| My school sucks and this thread just overwhelms me.
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May 10, 2012 17:24
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Shnooks posted:I'm graduating in a week with a BFA in Fibers from MassArt in Boston. I work full-time at a yarn store and have a ton of experience working with fibers. I don't really know what I want to do right now but I'm overwhelmed at how lovely the job market is and how dumb I was to get a loving fine arts degree in fibers. I'd be happy to work at a gallery if any of them were even hiring. I just kind of randomly came into this thread but I saw this post. Looking at that school, it's not cheap even if you live there, and it sounds like this bachelor's in fibers could have cost upwards of $100k. That's stupefying. Did you investigate job prospects for this education? How did they sell it?
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May 11, 2012 18:01
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Like every art school does, BIG fancy graphics of pie charts and it's 90 percentage of graduates finding a job. What they don't tell you is the small sample size they use to make up that percentage. Also the closets media/videogame company near the school. The school I went to? It's selling point? We have Activision/Blizzard next to us, they are always looking to hire new artists (yeah, leave out the whole 90,000 applicants trying to get in). Yeah... Artschool is basically taking a plunge, and having a chain wrap to your ankle as you desperately try to swim out of debt. I was lucky I only went to A.I. for only a year and owe 30k. Cal arts and the others? Try 140k. (after 4 years) Shindragon fucked around with this message at 00:07 on May 12, 2012 |
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May 12, 2012 00:04
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I had an interview for an arts job yesterday and it's sounding too good to be true, so I'd like to know how much I should worry. They want to hire me as a graphic artist to do colouring work and such for their comics, tabletop RPG guidebook and video game projects. I had not heard of the company before and they have no online presence, but have apparently already published a tabletop gaming book that should be at my comic store. The gig would be part time at first, coming in one day a week for $1000/month and move to permanent at $30,000 / year once they get new offices. It sounds absolutely perfect. In a couple weeks, they're going to give me a panel to colour to test my skills. I'm very excited about the prospect of making a decent living doing work that I love, but I'm worried it'll blow up in my face like the last time.
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May 12, 2012 01:11
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What's your expenses if you take it? You should do a cost/benefit analysis on the situation. If you don't incur huge risk to take the job (relocation, leaving an existing job, etc) then you could always take a leap and try it out and if it bombs, oh well. If there's much risk involved, then go with your gut.
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May 12, 2012 06:53
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mutata posted:What's your expenses if you take it? You should do a cost/benefit analysis on the situation. If you don't incur huge risk to take the job (relocation, leaving an existing job, etc) then you could always take a leap and try it out and if it bombs, oh well. If there's much risk involved, then go with your gut. The only risk at all is not taking other job offers that I might be getting soon. I don't know if I should hold out for this one over the next couple weeks or just snatch the first thing that comes my way. If I take a job offer in the next two weeks, it would look really bad if I suddenly quit to take this new job and even worse if the new job doesn't work out. I guess I just find it hard to believe that anyone wants me as a professional artist, since the last time I got offered a dream job, I got fired after 2 weeks.
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May 12, 2012 17:36
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:I just kind of randomly came into this thread but I saw this post. Looking at that school, it's not cheap even if you live there, and it sounds like this bachelor's in fibers could have cost upwards of $100k. That's stupefying. Did you investigate job prospects for this education? How did they sell it? I was 17, grew up in a small town, and would have done anything to get the hell out of there. I did investigate job prospects, thanks for asking. I originally applied as a printmaking major with the intent to go into medical illustration. Except I hate drawing. So I switched to fibers and I planned on doing either design work or conservation work, which requires a masters which I'm ok with but not right now in my life. Add on that museums aren't really funded right now, and the job prospects are pretty low. Ultimately it depends on who you know. I know plenty of people in my major who have gotten positions, but they've networked like crazy. And MassArt is significantly cheaper than most private art schools. Edit: Are you from the US? Most education out of state is close to $100k. There's really no way to make sure that you'll get a job out of college even if you study something like engineering. And it's a little late to criticize my choice in a degree now, isn't it? Shnooks fucked around with this message at 18:38 on May 12, 2012 |
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May 12, 2012 18:35
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Shnooks posted:And it's a little late to criticize my choice in a degree now, isn't it? Your school sells that degree because people will buy it. I was genuinely curious how they pitched it. I think our educational system has become disgustingly predatory and I think the next bubble to burst will be student loans. Best of luck.
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May 12, 2012 20:02
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:Your school sells that degree because people will buy it. I was genuinely curious how they pitched it. I think our educational system has become disgustingly predatory and I think the next bubble to burst will be student loans. I'm not entirely sure how my degree in fibers is any more "predatory" than someone elses degree in illustration in this thread.
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May 12, 2012 23:09
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Shnooks posted:I'm not entirely sure how my degree in fibers is any more "predatory" than someone elses degree in illustration in this thread. You're the one who said it was dumb. He's saying that art schools are predatory, not you having a degree.
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May 12, 2012 23:56
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Edit: Nevermind
Shnooks fucked around with this message at 00:07 on May 13, 2012 |
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May 13, 2012 00:01
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mutata posted:You're the one who said it was dumb. He's saying that Fixed.
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May 13, 2012 00:29
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Shnooks posted:I'm graduating in a week with a BFA in Fibers from MassArt in Boston. I work full-time at a yarn store and have a ton of experience working with fibers. I don't really know what I want to do right now but I'm overwhelmed at how lovely the job market is and how dumb I was to get a loving fine arts degree in fibers. I'd be happy to work at a gallery if any of them were even hiring. This was a pretty great show of fibers. Do something like this or with the CSROT  http://www.ravenrow.org/exhibition/the_stuff_that_matters/
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May 13, 2012 01:04
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Jalumibnkrayal posted:Your school sells that degree because people will buy it. I was genuinely curious how they pitched it. I think our educational system has become disgustingly predatory and I think the next bubble to burst will be student loans. The student loan thing is going to be UGLY when it finally collapses. At least people screwed in the housing collapse could walk away. What does a student do when they can't even afford their minimum payment but at the same time can't discharge the loan through bankruptcy? How will the American middle class react when college is physically no longer an option? What are we as a society going to do with what is potentially an entire generation of kids without higher education at a time when access to college is more important than ever?
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May 13, 2012 21:08
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They'll do what everyone else is doing- sending a $5-a-month good faith payment until forever, claim extreme hardship or flee to South America to teach. Personally, I was unemployed and fell behind on my Sallie Mae loan I took out to get certified as a WEB DEVELOPER in the heady days of 2000 when all you needed to know was a little Perl and HTML. At the time, my freelancing was making my bare-minimum bills and that was it. When they threatened to sue me, I offered to bike over to whatever law office they were using to save them the cost of a process server. I made an offer, they made a counter offer and I re-told them my offer. When I found a decent job, I then worked my rear end off in an unrelated field to pay it off. Now I know how to do electrical, HVAC and plumbing stuff while doing design and animation in my spare time. So my advice is to go to barber school. It will defer your loans and you can make a decent living cutting hair out of your kitchen.
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May 13, 2012 23:18
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Shnooks posted:I'm graduating in a week with a BFA in Fibers from MassArt in Boston. I work full-time at a yarn store and have a ton of experience working with fibers. I don't really know what I want to do right now but I'm overwhelmed at how lovely the job market is and how dumb I was to get a loving fine arts degree in fibers. I'd be happy to work at a gallery if any of them were even hiring. You have a few actual options available to you, none of them are really great in the short run. A few things that come to mind - Find an actual established artist to work for/apprentice for for a few years. That will help your craft as well as help you network. Both of those things will be necessary if you want to work in fine arts. Explore the supply chain in other directions. You can make a decent living doing things like shearing sheep or other fiber bearing animals in some areas. It's very physical labor. I know a guy who shears and spins his own niche market type fiber. He has a nice house and a decent life, and is able to raise a family etc. Of course it helps that his wife is in real estate. I don't know anything about working for commercial operations except that the bulk of them are not in the USA - I think something like 80% of the worlds wool comes from NZ now - so you'd be involved with smaller niche type stuff.
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May 14, 2012 21:32
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So, i've had somewhat of a complicated school career..being a highly mediocre student in high school, i went to community college right out of high school for 2 years pursuing a communications degree. After that, I transferred to a private school for com, and spent a year and a half there before i decided that i...kind of hated it and wanted to go after graphic design instead. I moved back home and spent another semester at community college, taking art classes...got rejected from the school i wanted to transfer to (SUNY New Paltz) and now i'm completely lost as to what to do with myself in the fall. I've always been of the opinion that Art Institute type schools are pretty much bullshit money-grabs, what options are there out there for me? I have an associates in COM and am like 75% done with a bachelor's in com. I have all my gen eds done so basically i'd just be taking art classes, but i've been exploring some of the more non-traditional options and just don't know what's good and what's not.
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May 15, 2012 16:38
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Unfortunately getting good at creative work takes a lot of actual work. Some people get a lot of exposure growing up, most people don't and just have to work their asses off. It looks to me like, given your record, you've basically not put your nose to the grindstone and I think that if you want to get into a good art school, you're going to have to actually do that for a few years. It's good to aim high, but to get into a good program you're also going to have to bust your rear end. If you're not ready to do that, nobody here is going to suggest going to an Art Institute or any other school. It would be a waste of money if you're not ready to bust your rear end and it would be a waste of time if you aren't on the same baseline technical level as your other students which - for undergrad programs - is really not THAT high. A rejection is just telling you that you need to be more diligent - if you're not ready for that, art school is a waste of your time. Despite the high cost of art schools in general I think it CAN be a solid investment if you are ready to work very, very hard. If not, you are in the wrong field to begin with.
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May 15, 2012 22:41
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So after much hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth, I'm looking to finally form my own freelance editorial business in the state of New York. Is it as simple as printing a business card and starting to look for work or do I need to incorporate myself/get a particular business license? Sorry if this ground has already been covered by other CC folks.
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May 17, 2012 00:06
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same posted:Here are a few of the next chapters I will be posting on in the future: I'm disappointed that these don't exist. Does anyone wanna take a crack at making posts for these?
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May 28, 2012 21:16
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Nessa posted:I'm disappointed that these don't exist. Does anyone wanna take a crack at making posts for these? 3: No* *if you must, go to a school that actually rejects people and don't go $75 grand into debt for a bachelor's in graphic design because your first job is probably going to pay less than $20 an hour and make sure to not go to a school that advertises during late night cartoon reruns
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May 29, 2012 21:42
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It seems like the portfolio one would be so field- or specialty-specific as to require many answers. I could speak to game art, but not really serious graphic design, etc etc.
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May 30, 2012 13:59
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qirex posted:3: No* To add to this I went to a state school and they were picky about who they let into their design program (due to size constraints and to keep everyone out who just wanted to take design casually). My cousin is working as a waitress in NYC and graduated SCAD majoring in broadcast design and motion graphics with 45k in debt and most are private loans. She graduated a year earlier. I'm working an entry level salary job in my field with a little less than 30k of debt and they are all federal loans. I got a job in less than a year.
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May 30, 2012 16:29
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qirex posted:3: No* I'm thinking of saving up some money and working on my portfolio so that I can attend a private college for a comic book illustration course. Tuition is about $16,000, and it's a long and involved process to get in, including an interview. I think in a couple years, I might be good enough to get in if I keep up with my drawing.
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May 30, 2012 18:09
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Nessa posted:I'm thinking of saving up some money and working on my portfolio so that I can attend a private college for a comic book illustration course. Tuition is about $16,000, and it's a long and involved process to get in, including an interview. I think in a couple years, I might be good enough to get in if I keep up with my drawing. Are you looking at CCS? That tuition sounds about right, though the description of it as an illustration course makes me wonder.
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May 30, 2012 19:04
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bairfanx posted:Are you looking at CCS? That tuition sounds about right, though the description of it as an illustration course makes me wonder. Nope. No clue what CCS is. I'm looking a Guru Digital Arts College. A friend of mine is taking the course next semester, so I might be able to learn a bit from her as well.
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May 30, 2012 19:31
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Nessa posted:Nope. No clue what CCS is. I'm looking a Guru Digital Arts College. A friend of mine is taking the course next semester, so I might be able to learn a bit from her as well. The Center for Cartoon Studies. They're in a really strange place, professionally, as they have been allowed the ability to grant MFA's and certificates by the State of Vermont and are pretty much thought of as one of the places for cartooning education among independent cartoonists but have not been accredited on the national level yet. Guru seems interesting, but I wonder what their success rate is. 35 hours a week of classroom time means you're probably doing projects the rest of the time, I assume.
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May 30, 2012 21:29
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bairfanx posted:The Center for Cartoon Studies. They're in a really strange place, professionally, as they have been allowed the ability to grant MFA's and certificates by the State of Vermont and are pretty much thought of as one of the places for cartooning education among independent cartoonists but have not been accredited on the national level yet. I'm unsure about the success rate, but it seems really focused of the kind of illustration I want to do, which means I'll have a portfolio of stuff that I actually enjoy working on, as opposed to another program where I'd have to make a portfolio of stuff I don't really care about. Nessa fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Jun 5, 2012 |
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May 31, 2012 03:41
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Question for anyone who might know. Are there jobs out there for someone to just do pencil on paper characters/designs etc? Inking is not my strong point, I have no colour skills and my drawings look like poo poo on computer. I can water colour my drawings (and I've sold a few) but everything looks much better in pencil. I'm guessing I should go to some type of art school and learn how to really use a colour pallet etc.
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Jun 12, 2012 06:51
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ExplodingSquidx2 posted:Question for anyone who might know. Are there jobs out there for someone to just do pencil on paper characters/designs etc? Right now everything looks better in pencil only because you're ruining them when you ink/color them. If you were good at inking/coloring, they might look better inked and colored. Learn to ink and color, even if only in a very simple way. It's extremely hard, but it's worth it. I'm in the same situation you are and only recently started bothering to learn how to do either. That said, there is nothing stopping you from finding a work partner who inks/colors your pencils and going into business as a team. Comics people, for example, frequently divide the pencil/ink/color labor. However, you might get outcompeted by someone who can do all of them, because they can charge less. There's also no reason you can't just be a strictly black-and-white artist. But the level of polish for your pencil work still might have to be higher, particularly if it has to carry itself without the flash of color.
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Jun 12, 2012 13:45
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neonnoodle posted:Right now everything looks better in pencil only because you're ruining them when you ink/color them. If you were good at inking/coloring, they might look better inked and colored. Learn to ink and color, even if only in a very simple way. It's extremely hard, but it's worth it. I'm in the same situation you are and only recently started bothering to learn how to do either. Thanks for the tip! I'll start looking into some guides on how to do inking, maybe even look for a course to take.
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Jun 14, 2012 04:57
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e: Moved to the Kickstarter thread.
eggyolk fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Jun 16, 2012 |
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Jun 16, 2012 07:36
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Anyone know of any colour and inking courses that can be done? I've been watching some youtube tutorials but it's hard to find real ink and colour, not just photoshop.
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Jun 16, 2012 08:59
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ExplodingSquid posted:Anyone know of any colour and inking courses that can be done? Most colouring (at least for comics) is done exclusively in Photoshop. I'd recommend hanging around Gutterzombie.com for colouring. It's a forum for comic colourists and there are some tutorials on there too.
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Jun 16, 2012 20:02
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Thank you. Now... To buy art supplies tomorrow.
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Jun 16, 2012 20:42
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