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[nothing-fancy94]

Portfolio advice, from a lead who hires Concept Artists

(This was originally a twitter thread I wrote before the site self imolated, hense it's strange structure.) I wrote this after a weekend of portfolio reviews - 1. Like a maths exam, please please show your working. I want to see thumbs options, mid options and of course a final design.

2. Arrange your portfolio, I don't want to bounce about between subject matter and pipeline. Your portfolio's narrative should be as strong as your work... 3. Please make worlds that excite the viewer, make them want to go in and explore them, explain to them the interesting parts of the town, or the way the character's hat unfolds. How will this draw the viewer in? 4. As I've said before the majority of your project work is explanatory not mood, make sure your portfolio contains explanatory work. Explained here -

5. A lot of beautiful post apocolyptic paintings, , but 80% of realistic games and film, we just give the environment artists photo ref, they are capable artists in their own right. Different work in stylised where you do need to create rules for how things can be translated. 6. Production art contains call out sheets, material references and flat graphics. This doesn't have to be your final image, but it should support it.

7. Design characters on a swatch(es) of the environment they will be viewed in. Not on white. I make swatch backgrounds from screenshots, it avoids assumptions that damage readability. 8. Reverse of this, put people in your environments, show me the scale.

9. It's not a deal breaker for a review, but if you intend to get a job, please show me your work on a screen larger than a smartphone (print outs probably the cheapest option with the best battery life). 10. Please have your contact details clearly visible, and by that I mean email address, I will not pass your social media contact on, I cannot input your form into my tracking system. EMAIL ADDRESS emblazoned and bake it in, sometimes recruiters do funky stuff to pdfs

11. Your portfolio will never feel done, not to you anyway. You will have learnt from your latest pieces and want to apply it to older work. But we know art is a journey. Send your portfolio anyway. I've been in the industry 10+ years and my portfolio is still not 'finished'. 12. If you are applying to an environment centric Concept Art position then please vary your times of day! Golden hour is cool but show me some happy sunny days, looming overcast days, what about at night? Vary your weather too! Sunny snowy day? Rainy Spring day? Stormy night?

13. If you are applying for a character centric Concept Art role then please ensure your portfolio shows a variety of body types and ethnicities. 14. Designing characters for games? Please show back views and feet (!) Many potfolios contain only front views. This is a problem because:

You haven't shown you are considering the design from all angles.

In many games rear view is the main view.

Stop cropping feet.

15. If you are entry / graduating and looking at Portfolios to compare content and standard of yr own work too, look at hired grad/junior artists as opposed to seniors Seniors and leads often have old or personal work in their portfolio which isnt representative of the day job. 16a. Show clearly the intended use case for your Concept Art. Mention the game type in the description. Are these player character designs for a 3rd person adventure game? Then more back views please. Bonus points for diagetic ways of showing health / equipment / role etc.

16b. Are these designs for an FPS? Then really the player view of the gun needs to sell the player style/ choices, in an FPS your weapons are almost your character. Are these world designs? What's the view distance? For an RTS your shapes need to read from above & a distance. 16c. The lack of clarification means I am judging the design in isolation, which both harms the design (you might be considering the backview of a char as the main adventure character.) Or an NPC, their waist up expressions may be important for conveying exposition and mechanics.

16d. Concept art is not separate from gameplay, great concept art serves the game team before it is a good illustration.

17. Play games. A variety of games. Think about them. IMO to be a good concept artist you need to understand the common language & references used by your peers. Also understand the principles and common language your audience are used to. FPS design rules are v.diff from RTS.

18. There are many skills that are needed in concept art, please show them. For example: Graphic design - logos, liveries, typographic use etc. VFX concepts - Abilities, Ambience, motion concepts. Architectural knowledge - How buildings are built! & more but I'm out of space :O

[nothing-fancy94]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Love him

Twice the charm. None of the failure.

[nothing-fancy94]

My Gal, The Finale

It’s here, the final chapter of My Gal! I hope when you read it that you can feel every ounce of love I poured into this comic. My Gal started as a silly little comic 8 years ago but blossomed into my love letter to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and my love letter to all of you! I’ve found my joy and passion in illustration again and I’m so thankful for all the support you’ve given me now and through the years. But most importantly, I just hope this brings a smile to your face ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Can you believe the original ending I had for My Gal didn't even have a kiss goodnight?! What the hell Evay?! Obviously I had to completely rewrite my ending. See, it was worth the wait after all!

Other than drawing the hedgehog smooches, my other favorite part of making this chapter was recreating some of my favorite Sonamy scenes throughout all of Sonic media history (seen in the fourth page of this chapter). Hopefully you'll recognize some of those iconic scenes!

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My Gal, Page 6.1

Sonic thinks of a different form of communication.

They are dancing to “Make A New Dance Up” by Hey Ocean!

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((Chapter 6 is what I’ve most been looking forward to drawing and has changed the most since my original script (for the better, I promise!). I sincerely hope you enjoy 6.1 and 6.2 as much as I enjoyed drawing it!))

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My Gal, Page 5.2

Why won’t Eggman leave these two alone tonight? He finally explains why…

(I really wish Tumblr would allow more than 10 pics at a time! Sorry I had to break this chapter up. Enjoy!)

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My Gal, Page 4

If you would like to see pages of My Gal before anyone else, please follow me on Patreon.

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SHADAMY ZINE CONTRIBUTORS APPLICATION OPENS!

Apply to google form below:

🎨Artist Applications - https://bit.ly/42qeYCt ✎ Writer Applications - https://bit.ly/42fEZV3

We are looking forward your participations! <3 ps: dont forget to check our Schedule! ;)

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Birthday date 💖

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I cannot cope with this week 🫠😭

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Here's some fanart of “What was stolen”! @beeextraordinary123 's fantasy Sonamy fic that I've been reading 🦔⚔️👑

(Here's the snippet i based this painting on cuz I really like it!!):

You can read the fic in AO3 ,Just a heads up tho: while It doesn't have anything NSFW or explicit in it,some scenes are kinda steamy. thought i'll mention it in case that sort of thing makes anyone awkward and/or prefers to avoid it.

[nothing-fancy94]

Neo team rose designs!

because i can't stop thinking about the roadtrip Amy mentioned in Frontiers!!

Do i have a whole storyline for a non-existing Amy game in my head? yes. Do i know what to do with it? nope. Maybe an AU? idk,At the moment i'm working on some fake “screenshots” for fun (? (they do not pass as screenshots at all but i wouldn't know what to call them) so at least there's that.

also here's the first drawing i did of these designs ,not too proud of it but i'm sharing it anyways!

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These are some of my all time fav fan art

Happy Valentine's, here's my unhinged note doodles

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There’s indifference on the wind But a faint gust of hope

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The last one with Knuckles eyes popping out kills me 🤣🤣🤣

This is how I cope with all the note-taking😭😭

[nothing-fancy94]

some different ways i've seen people draw/describe shadow's hands!! my personal favourite is the half-n-half :]

plus bonus suggestions from the gay hogs server lol

[nothing-fancy94]

Children can be so beautiful ❤