Hey everyone.

I introduced myself in the lobby forum but in case you didn't see that, my name is Noel Hill and I'm a fine arts student at the University of Southern Maine. Anyway, I'm in the process of building an online portfolio and I could use all the help I can get. Like I said, I'm a fine arts major, but despite this, my school wouldn't really know where to start when it comes to instruction and advice regarding my genre and how to go about gaining exposure with it. I'm primarily a conceptual designer and illustrator, which basically means that I create artwork that's aimed mostly for entertainment purposes such as film, games, comics, and graphic novels. In this broad field you'll find that people primarily promote their work and services online... A medium that most of my professors are terrified of for some reason.

Anyway, I've maintained my own websites before but none of them were very successful. I joined here because I'm looking to give it another try and I figured that some of you guys might be able to help me out with promotion methods, and the actual design process of the site itself. That's probably asking a bit much for me being a newbie here but I thought it never hurts to ask. I also thought I'd post some of my work here for some feedback.

Any comments and feedback would appreciated.
-Noel

Here's a sample of what I do just so you can get a feel for it.

This piece is a creature design inspired by Douglas Preston's and Lincoln Child's novel, 'Relic.'



Here's a piece from an independent project.



This is a quick illustration I just finished a few weeks ago.



...and here are a few self portraits I did as an excecise.

You have some good pictures there, what is your aim? to be able to sell online or work creating art for projects and compamies?

Your first picture reminds me a little of the first Alien movie (Just a little... )

So do you ever scare yourself with that imagination?

Nils

They are some pretty good pictures you have there. Are they digitally made or are they done traditionally? I have started to get into digital paintings myself as i am starting my 4th year at college in september on a Graphics Design course after 3 years doing software programming.

I really like the last 4 of your pictures, i am really into portraits.

Congratulations on the work and good luck with your studies and future work which i am sure you will get.

overture

phoo!
wow!
great!
clap-clap!
nice work!

...

you should subscribe to deviantART, and show off there, then you can show off somewhere if people ask you for your work, and your work can *accidentally* be found on google - by accidentally i mean when people are just looking for something, but not for you, but they will find you, get it?

anyway, keep up the good work, and do something with it! serious!

good work, kinda spooky, especially those portraits.
are they real people?

do you use 3dsmax at all?

have you looked here?

http://www.raph.com/3dartists/artgallery/
3D Artists - Art Gallery

They should be real people, he said "self portrait", so unless he's unreal... it's "real people"

ndhill, I'm not picking on you.. I think the pictures are great...

Nils

ndhill, i have seen your work and i think you have great potential.

Why not try something more livelier.
It may generate happiness to the person looking at it and i am sure you will be very happy know that your creation create happiness and your effort/talent is appreicated.

What do you think of my suggestion?

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

NilsC: Thanks man. I guess, to answer your question, right now my main aim would be to just get my name out there. Landing a small freelance gig would be great but the good ones are extremely rare. I've done a few low profile things for people who tried to wave the "I'll pay you once this project gets off the ground" carrot in front of my face but those always go nowhere. I learned my lesson the hard way when it comes to working without a contractual agreement. Now, I really want to focus on my studies for the most part and just build a good solid portfolio and some name recognition so when I get out of school and finally have to do something with myself, I won't be starting from scratch.

overture: Thanks. Yes, those are digital. I use Corel Painter and a Wacom tablet...Two tools which I cannot live without. I would recomend either of them to anyone who's interested in 2-D image making let alone digital painting.

Frisco: Thanks. I actually subscribed just last month (under the same name). I like it for the most part. It's definitely a great concept. The problem I have with it is that it's very hard to find what your looking there and I imagine it's just as easy to get lost in the mix. I've fallen in with a core croud of some excellent and humbling artists though, and it's definitely cool to get their feedback.

chris1234: I've only tried my hand at 3-D once and the results were... Umm... Less than satysfying. Let's just say that my appreciation for the guys who can do that kind of stuff has quadrupled. Thanks for the feedback man. You ought to check out cgnetworks.com and cgtalk.com if you want to see some more great examples of 3-D and 2-D art.

avalon: Haha. I get that a lot. I never really considered my stuff to be dark. I've just always found myself gravitating towards weird subject matter for as long as I can remember. I love good atmosphere too. I love using overwhelming red or mirky earthtone color schemes too. Nothing engages me more, anyway. Thanks for the feedback.

@ndhill: thanks for answering. I have had Painter for a couple of months now, but i never seem to get around to using it. I know it is a really FU**ing great program and really amazing stuff can be done with it but i seem to be stuck to Photoshop as it was my first love lol. I am finding it hard not to do what i am doing in it as i am use to all of the shortcuts and the interface. anyone else found that problem. i am sure it is very common.

I know what you mean. Really, the best way to think about the two programs is that photoshop is more of generalized image editor while painter is a highly specialized Paint program. Photoshop will always surpass painter when it comes to flexibility and the sheer amount of the control you have over every aspect of the image. Painter however is much better at making fluid and natural looking paintings. The amount of brush building options you have with Painter will astound you. I've been an rabid Painter fanatic for about five years and I'm still always finding cool new stuff. The possibilities are limitless when it comes to the active painting side of the program. It all depends on your priorities. Some digital Painters even prefer photoshop's more utilitarian painting approach. Check out goodbrush.com for instance to see the work of Craig Mullins, the god of photoshop painting. I guess the only way to find out what you're best suited for is to just put in the hours. See which one you gravitate to.