Portfolio Grind

Hey guys,

I know it's been some time since any of us has posted here. I started an endeavor to do 30 characters in 30 days that fell short after day 6 mainly because I realized it would take away too much of my time I wanted and need to dedicate towards making a better portfolio to show off this coming convention season. 

By this I mean an actual physical copy of a portfolio, which needs to be revamped. My work in the past, and even now, has been quite erratic with my images looking to be done by a group of artists rather than just myself. It's been hard to stay consistent with my work and I haven't been able to sort out exactly why that is. But I recognize the problem and am working to fix it. 

As for the cons, I go to Gen Con Indy every year, and have attended Origins in Ohio (my new residence, oh how I miss Chicago!). Raven Mimura  told me that I needed to work on getting my work more polished, which I agree with. He has been a great person in general at cons to talk to so I suggest checking him out. Aaron Miller  gave me perhaps the best bit of advice while looking though my folio last year. He mentioned that an art director wouldn't know what kind of art they would be getting, based on how varied my images were.

So I have been working to do two things:

1) To create a more consistent and polished feel to my artwork.

2) To really narrow down on my subject matter/ industry

I realize that my traditional work doesn't carry over a polished or finished look to it unless it is a 'fine art' study. I've also been struggling with adjusting watercolors over digitally without going over all my traditional work in photoshop to make it look better. This has lead me to working a lot more digitally, which isn't so bad since I do continue to paint traditionally on the side. 

With Gen Con in a few months I am really cracking my own whip on getting works done for a portfolio review. Working digitally is both a strain and a relief. I was thinking to get a bout 6 solid images done but after talking to another friend, Lake Hurwitz, he convinced me to try to grind out as many quality pieces possible before the due date so that I have more of a range of images to choose from.

While I admit this is a lot of work, I know that while I was in school I often did at least 2 pieces of work every two weeks. Sometimes more. And I realize that if I was working the way I hope to some day, that a real work load would include making a lot of quality pieces, so it's not really as far fetched or high a bar as it seems. But it will be tough to stay focused and motivated.

I realize this post has grown quite long, so I will leave you with some WIP images of a piece I am working on right now.

Wish me luck on my endeavors!

-Kat Guevara

Just a snip it: I've had this idea in my head for a bit now. I did the sketch/ drawing in PS, using a reference image from DA for the model. And also, since I am using pieces of the Sistine Chapel, I decided to just place the images where I wanted and 'trace' them to be safe in concerns to proportions and what not. I tried a grid first, which didn't work out.

Anyways, I am doing this all in greys and will be laying color over the piece when it's ready for it. I plan to make more images this way.