Good places to send a portfolio - as an anime artist?

[Sayuui]

Hello guys! ; v ;
I come to share my unpleasant story here with you haha;;;
I haven't gotten a single penny on my art since August this year. These forums are quite hard as for some reason thousands of artists suddenly started to pop out and take over the recruitment area (sorry! T v T) and I'm often rejected on job offers on skillots due to my very poor Japanese skills ; v ;'' also, I haven't gotten commissions for higher than $10 ; v ;'' I've tried sending my portfolio to several game developers and I don't know when they might open for opportunities - I don't even know if I'm their favorite haha xD;;;;

I don't consider lowering my prices because I've already stablished them. If I do so, I will never stop blaming myself for not getting a job because my prices weren't the lowest ; v ;'' I have concluded that I have to give myself more value if I want people to see me as a valuable person. ^^

I guess that if you want to make a living on art, you must either be a very very flexible person or already have a stablished fame ; v ;'' it's much harder than I thought OTL

So I think it's time to ask for help! I'm normally too proud to ask people's help, but I think it's important right now ^^''

[NialGrenville]

*Admitting pride
*Showing submission to advice

This is the first step towards making your unpleasant story pleasant. Being humble is the first step to good things.

*Admittedly telling myself off*

I have spent a lot of time doing art. However, I have so much humility it makes me beyond humble. Which is self-deprecating. Too much of either one of these are a bad thing.

I hope you get some advice, and maybe some valuable info that is not about morals. Have a nice day!

[Sayuui]

*Admitting pride
*Showing submission to advice

This is the first step towards making your unpleasant story pleasant. Being humble is the first step to good things.

*Admittedly telling myself off*

I have spent a lot of time doing art. However, I have so much humility it makes me beyond humble. Which is self-deprecating. Too much of either one of these are a bad thing.

I hope you get some advice, and maybe some valuable info that is not about morals. Have a nice day!

Indeed! I will take your words seriously. Thank you!

[SundownKid]

In terms of suggestions I'd say... maybe people are passing you over because you have a very specific art style. I would call it "cutesy and fluffy" I guess. People might be seeing that and it might not be right for what they wanted to do. You might want to try diversifying your portfolio into different subjects and art styles and also making a portfolio page or website that can display your best works.

Also, if you have never been hired for a game before you might want to consider doing a collaboration or lowering your prices until you have at least one example of game art under your belt. "Establishing" your prices doesn't set them in stone for your entire lifetime and across every project. In the off chance someone bothers you about it, you can explain that you did it to get more portfolio items and it doesn't represent your typical pricing guidelines.

[Sayuui]

In terms of suggestions I'd say... maybe people are passing you over because you have a very specific art style. I would call it "cutesy and fluffy" I guess. People might be seeing that and it might not be right for what they wanted to do. You might want to try diversifying your portfolio into different subjects and art styles and also making a portfolio page or website that can display your best works.

Also, if you have never been hired for a game before you might want to consider doing a collaboration or lowering your prices until you have at least one example of game art under your belt. "Establishing" your prices doesn't set them in stone for your entire lifetime and across every project. In the off chance someone bothers you about it, you can explain that you did it to get more portfolio items and it doesn't represent your typical pricing guidelines.

Nonono T v T if you take a look at my DeviantART gallery and myVisual Novel portfolio , you'll see that there's very varied stuff there, not only cute stuff. T v T
Yes I've been hired several times. I don't know what's happening right now since a lot of people are looking over but not even dropping a comment. ^^'' maybe my art had regressed?

[NialGrenville]

*Thinking over your prior statement*

Prices seem fixed for you. People on Lemma, and most indie devs, are poor. At least in regards to working on their project. So they have a lot to think about, and are not necessarily up for fixed prices.

*Specifying that thought*

Do not be a push over though. I am sure you are not. Since you say you are prideful, I would expect you to be slightly aggressive. If that is any idea as to why you are "ignored" so to speak. I am not entirely sure, since I am not everyone on this planet.

*On to the point*

I think promotion from that one book is quite impressive. The only other way I can see you growing--is probably being patient.

Of course this is all theoretical, and can be completely stomped on by a lucky break. So once again, take it with a grain of salt. I just juxtapose thoughts and ideas to show character or new ideas.

*When murder looks cute ↓

[Mammon]

In terms of suggestions I'd say... maybe people are passing you over because you have a very specific art style. I would call it "cutesy and fluffy" I guess. People might be seeing that and it might not be right for what they wanted to do. You might want to try diversifying your portfolio into different subjects and art styles and also making a portfolio page or website that can display your best works.

Also, if you have never been hired for a game before you might want to consider doing a collaboration or lowering your prices until you have at least one example of game art under your belt. "Establishing" your prices doesn't set them in stone for your entire lifetime and across every project. In the off chance someone bothers you about it, you can explain that you did it to get more portfolio items and it doesn't represent your typical pricing guidelines.

Nonono T v T if you take a look at my DeviantART gallery and myVisual Novel portfolio , you'll see that there's very varied stuff there, not only cute stuff. T v T
Yes I've been hired several times. I don't know what's happening right now since a lot of people are looking over but not even dropping a comment. ^^'' maybe my art had regressed?

I haven't taken a close look to your DeviantART page (I honestly don't really know how to use that site, I'm not to familiar with social media stuff and can't really tell what's yours and what isn't), but after looking at your artstation link I have to agree with SundownKid. Even the artstyle of the man holding a gun to a young girl's head can be considered cutesy in a way, looking at the colours, face proportions etc. There is some variation in there, but most additions are of the same anime-cute art style even if they are made differently.

Your madoka magika addition is already a good start considering it's made differently and tries to adapt to the art style of others, but even that drawing is with the same face shape and eye size etc. I understand you do want to stay within the bishoujo/bishounen artstyle so don't take the following examples literally (They are meant as easy to understand examples in extreme degrees), but a good way to get more attention is to add a greater variety of styles. From chibi to realistic, from cartoon to anime, from respectable to harem-slutty. There are a lot of spectra to explore. And even within the same series there can be a massive difference in art style depending on the mood or importance of the scene.

About the people looking but not dropping a comment, this seems to be a common thing with a lot of forums. I myself have a few month-old threads with hundreds of people who saw it but none that reacted, this is pretty normal I think. Probably has something to do with bots and people browsing through everything or something. I dunno. Assuming your portfolio went from early works -> latest works, your art skills haven't regressed though.

Do not be a push over though. I am sure you are not. Since you say you are prideful, I would expect you to be slightly aggressive.

The only other way I can see you growing--is probably being patient.

Jup, the bold and aggressive are the ones who become successful in this world, letting yourself be stomped over is a bad idea if you want to go professional. And people tend to increase their popularity over time, not by being great from the start, just look at pretty much every youtuber and >100 episode anime. Quantity and continuous addition to one's portfolio can go a lot further than quality, even if that doesn't sound like the way it should be.

[SundownKid]

I can't help advertise (because I'm bad at that too) but after looking at your portfolio I can see a couple of things you can potentially improve on.

1) Proportions/poses - While your art is very detailed, there are some proportional/pose issues that keep your art from being professional grade. Could probably be solved by getting redlines from more experienced artists.
2) Art style - As said before you still have a pretty specific art style. It looks a lot like 90's anime and it might be a little dated for some people. Consider studying modern anime art.
3) Shading - The shading isn't bad, but it could use some work. It seems like it could have more tones and less every color blending into every other color. A more experienced artist could probably help with that too.

[Sayuui]

*Thinking over your prior statement*

Prices seem fixed for you. People on Lemma, and most indie devs, are poor. At least in regards to working on their project. So they have a lot to think about, and are not necessarily up for fixed prices.

*Specifying that thought*

Do not be a push over though. I am sure you are not. Since you say you are prideful, I would expect you to be slightly aggressive. If that is any idea as to why you are "ignored" so to speak. I am not entirely sure, since I am not everyone on this planet.

*On to the point*

I think promotion from that one book is quite impressive. The only other way I can see you growing--is probably being patient.

Of course this is all theoretical, and can be completely stomped on by a lucky break. So once again, take it with a grain of salt. I just juxtapose thoughts and ideas to show character or new ideas.

*When murder looks cute ↓

Thank you! You helped settle down, really. And all thanks to your comment I remembered how I used to enjoy popularity because it gave me so many great friends! I have to take these things as a priority from now on!

Your madoka magika addition is already a good start considering it's made differently and tries to adapt to the art style of others, but even that drawing is with the same face shape and eye size etc. I understand you do want to stay within the bishoujo/bishounen artstyle so don't take the following examples literally (They are meant as easy to understand examples in extreme degrees), but a good way to get more attention is to add a greater variety of styles. From chibi to realistic, from cartoon to anime, from respectable to harem-slutty. There are a lot of spectra to explore. And even within the same series there can be a massive difference in art style depending on the mood or importance of the scene.

I can't help advertise (because I'm bad at that too) but after looking at your portfolio I can see a couple of things you can potentially improve on.

1) Proportions/poses - While your art is very detailed, there are some proportional/pose issues that keep your art from being professional grade. Could probably be solved by getting redlines from more experienced artists.
2) Art style - As said before you still have a pretty specific art style. It looks a lot like 90's anime and it might be a little dated for some people. Consider studying modern anime art.
3) Shading - The shading isn't bad, but it could use some work. It seems like it could have more tones and less every color blending into every other color. A more experienced artist could probably help with that too.

I appreciate you guys' opinons the most, but I do not consider changing my style at all. I do consider getting out of comfort zone, but my identity is what makes me enjoy art and I've been developing it for very long according to what I appreciate. I would rather give up the idea of being a professional artist than giving up my style. ^^'' improvement is much welcome, though, and it will always be!

Also, I aim for being like my greatest idol, this artist http://rosuuri.deviantart.com/gallery/ she is famous for her style. She is amazing, and even though her anatomy skills fail a lot, people acknowledge her for who she is, and she gets a lot of work. Everyone knows her! But I think she is a very rare exception, and I have to work hard to reach her level. ^^''

[Mammon]

I appreciate you guys' opinons the most, but I do not consider changing my style at all. I do consider getting out of comfort zone, but my identity is what makes me enjoy art and I've been developing it for very long according to what I appreciate. I would rather give up the idea of being a professional artist than giving up my style. ^^'' improvement is much welcome, though, and it will always be!

Also, I aim for being like my greatest idol, this artist http://rosuuri.deviantart.com/gallery/ she is famous for her style. She is amazing, and even though her anatomy skills fail a lot, people acknowledge her for who she is, and she gets a lot of work. Everyone knows her! But I think she is a very rare exception, and I have to work hard to reach her level. ^^''

I already expected you wanted to keep your style the way it is, that's what I meant with not taking my examples literally. I intentionally took styles of extreme difference so that anyone could understand the difference between them, and to ensure that I wouldn't pull up a wall of text trying to explain much smaller and more technical details that are lost on most people. My apologies if this made my post more vague unstead.

If Rosuuri is your ultimate goal of destination for now, I'd suggest working on your understanding of creating more 3D depth in a 2D drawing and to study the how-to of improving color shading and how they flow over into eachother. Apparently expert artists use different colours as the shade of a certain colour like purple in the shadow of a yellow object or something (don't ask me any further, I forgot about this stuff they taught in art appreciation class years ago!), but just putting the right kind of shading everywhere and blurring the lines between these can already help a lot as well. Shameless plug; you could take a look at my CC art thread, I kept the line-blurring of most sprites separated from the sprite itself. Those blurs require no skill (which is good because I don't have a lot), but time and dedication.
And with the 3D depth, your Madoka magika would (once again) be a good example of this, as she lies in such a way that her hand is closer to the viewer and her legs further away, creating depth. Pre-drawing design like this adds a more emersive feel to the drawing as a whole. Your work already has some depth to it, but not as much as it could have at times.

Edit: I just took a look at your art thread, the first image of the guy with the basketball is a good example of the shading done better, the difference between the basketball on the left and the right is exactly what I meant. And I actually saw a few images of drawings with better 3D depth in there too. You might want to update the art folder you linked with these. And I'm not sure if you want to make paid commission drawings like the one you made of Chocolat, but that would be a good start to cover the diversity issue.

[Sayuui]

I appreciate you guys' opinons the most, but I do not consider changing my style at all. I do consider getting out of comfort zone, but my identity is what makes me enjoy art and I've been developing it for very long according to what I appreciate. I would rather give up the idea of being a professional artist than giving up my style. ^^'' improvement is much welcome, though, and it will always be!

Also, I aim for being like my greatest idol, this artist http://rosuuri.deviantart.com/gallery/ she is famous for her style. She is amazing, and even though her anatomy skills fail a lot, people acknowledge her for who she is, and she gets a lot of work. Everyone knows her! But I think she is a very rare exception, and I have to work hard to reach her level. ^^''

I already expected you wanted to keep your style the way it is, that's what I meant with not taking my examples literally. I intentionally took styles of extreme difference so that anyone could understand the difference between them, and to ensure that I wouldn't pull up a wall of text trying to explain much smaller and more technical details that are lost on most people. My apologies if this made my post more vague unstead.

If Rosuuri is your ultimate goal of destination for now, I'd suggest working on your understanding of creating more 3D depth in a 2D drawing and to study the how-to of improving color shading and how they flow over into eachother. Apparently expert artists use different colours as the shade of a certain colour like purple in the shadow of a yellow object or something (don't ask me any further, I forgot about this stuff they taught in art appreciation class years ago!), but just putting the right kind of shading everywhere and blurring the lines between these can already help a lot as well. Shameless plug; you could take a look at my CC art thread, I kept the line-blurring of most sprites separated from the sprite itself. Those blurs require no skill (which is good because I don't have a lot), but time and dedication.
And with the 3D depth, your Madoka magika would (once again) be a good example of this, as she lies in such a way that her hand is closer to the viewer and her legs further away, creating depth. Pre-drawing design like this adds a more emersive feel to the drawing as a whole. Your work already has some depth to it, but not as much as it could have at times.

Edit: I just took a look at your art thread, the first image of the guy with the basketball is a good example of the shading done better, the difference between the basketball on the left and the right is exactly what I meant. And I actually saw a few images of drawings with better 3D depth in there too. You might want to update the art folder you linked with these. And I'm not sure if you want to make paid commission drawings like the one you made of Chocolat, but that would be a good start to cover the diversity issue.

You did not! Don't worry about that ^^

I have updated my thread again, if you wanna check it out viewtopic.php?f=54&t=41030&p=433124#p433124 ^^

About the coloring issue... I have studied coloring at the beginning of the year. What you mean is basically ambient occlusion and light influence. I'm still waiting to be able to buy books about this subject, since my country is currently in crisis state and a dollar is worth at least 3 times my country money ^^'' I can't even buy the books I'm participating in, haha T v T

The concept these artists use is very simple. If you start shading with a hot color, keep on shading with hot colors and the result of the piece will be much better. In the last piece I updated, I shaded everything with the hottest tones possible. It ends with a better harmony. Also, every object emmits light as it's touched by white light. This one is a very complex concept, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be on the book I intend to buy ^^'

About the 3D depth thing, I often leave that aside since the time I have to draw is very short. But as long as I'm more free now, I will definetely make more studies. ^^ thank you again!

[King-sama]

I didn't read the whole thing ^^" (especially the long ones lol) but, in my opinion, I think you need to convince those you want money from that you can give them quality and fast art with reasonable prices. You probably have to show them that you are capable of drawing everything they will need from you, again fast and with quality So my advice is that you need to draw more and expand your comfort zone. They want to be sure of what exactly to expect from you before buying/hiring

This is just my opinion lol I have never been hired before..(not that I want to)

Also, everything is free on the internet, you can look up great tutos in it lol if you don't know Sycra he has a lot of great and simple explained tutorials, I learned lots from him

[morg]

I'm actually against changing your art style. it's a near impossible thing to develop your own let alone change it. The thing you should concentrate on most right now is improving your art style and that's something you can easily achieve just by continuing to draw.

I looked through your gallery and I noticed one thing - each drawing has an art style of its own. In the picture of the boy with the basketball, the hair is shaded simply with no lighting. Then you have the chibis which have the same lighting style dotting across the head, but then you abandon the dotting when coloring the girl with the book's hair.
You also frequently swap between crayon, cell, pencil and soft shading techniques.
Whilst it's understandable that you may be trying out art styles, people who commission tend to hire artists that have one set style so that they don't end up getting art they didn't bargain for.
also, it's not aesthetically pleasing to have an odd-looking gallery. look at this artist for example: punisama
their gallery is so harmonious it makes you go 'I want to commission them!' straight away, regardless of your style preference or the anatomy mistakes they may make.
neko-rina Is another artist with a very cohesive gallery.
One other remarkable thing about artists such as neko-rina and rosuuri and sillyselly is that their art is so recognizable and distinct, you'd recognize the artist from miles away

so, in short:
1- stick to one art style. whilst it's okay to change or try out new shading methods from time to time, you must keep in mind that commissioners prefer an artist who's fairly stable on one art style. I would also recommend that after you decide on an art style, you edit your portfolio to make it look more cohesive and aesthetically pleasing, and I think that would help improve your commission rate.
2- Do not copy other artists. You can take rosuuri as a role model but don't attempt to copy her art style, as people like originality and are always looking for new art styles. If they wanted rosuuri's art style, they would just commission her. also copying prevents you from developing your own distinct art style.
3- Developing an art style is a very long and confusing process. Don't rush it, take your time and always look for inspiration. Also, don't compare yourself with professional artists, they all had to go through that process too.

good luck

[akka]

I agree to some degree with morg. While I'm no professional myself, I've lost quite a number of potential employers in my earlier years (even up to now, actually) because my art didn't appear consistent enough in my portfolio. Developing a distinct style is very important if you're looking to work with visual novel devs, because consumers will generally look at the artwork of a game and create a first impression from there. Just look at all the games that you can distinguish just from the art style alone (Steins;Gate comes to mind).

But this, of course, is a relatively complicated topic. Work on diversity, or individuality? Focusing on diversity means that you have a larger skillset you can work with that may be attractive to customers, but focusing on individuality creates "identity"-- what is essentially branding-- which may work to the advantage of the game as a whole. In the end it could completely depend on the game developer, but I do strongly recommend focusing on building on your basics and to improve your art style.

I also went to look through your recruitment thread, and while you do have a wonderful gallery of work, you may want to make yourself more organized and presentable. Having an organized portfolio is an indicator of work ethic, and there may be commissioners who will shy away from you because the images are strewn about without having unified heights, etc. You'd be surprised by how much more attractive your art will become with a bit of effort in presentation. Deviantart has a portfolio option that looks relatively polished and presentable, along with many other websites that provide similar services out there.

I might just be tooting my own horn here; I'm far from being able to turn illustration into my source of income, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents anyway.

[Mammon]

*Looks at advice for diversity* *Looks at advice for a style*

My first thought would be to combine the two seemingly opposite advises: Create multiple portfolio's with your multiple styles, and send the developer the portfolio that would work best for what they're asking. This would however take a lot of time and effort to build up said collection of art to showcase.

Considering the pick-a-style-and-stick-to-it advice is given by actual artists, I'd say it would be best to priortise their recommendation over the ones given by among others yours truly. It would be best to show that you have consistency, and I do agree that being able to show that you can actually reproduce the same style, mood and quality multiple times is something a lot of developers will be looking for. In which case your 'narrow' range as we early-repliers called it would be a good thing. The same general face thing I commented upon would be part of said consistency that people will be looking for.