OKAY, HERE WE GO.
First, the art director was extremely nice. I loved talking to him. He had a lot of good things to say (character design, use of color, etc), but even though I can draw, my stuff can’t really be considered illustration.
The reason for this is that to be an illustration, a drawing needs to be planned out and finished with purpose. He said that a lot of my art would be considered concept art, which is fine, but if I were to split my portfolio up into categories, the pieces I could consider illustration drops from 15 to, like, three. Which makes sense.
Actually, it was a relief to hear all of it because I had been thinking about it for a while, and he clearly knows what he’s talking about. He was able to pick out my habits and shortcomings across the board within just 5 mins of looking through the book. It was awesome. He cannot be fooled or tricked by fancy photoshop filters, no sir!
I need to finish things. They need to be polished. If I want to do illustration, I need to take my concepts and turn them into a complete piece. It’s like commercial art or graphic design… the drawings are just one element of it; the art may be good, but what is the final message that the piece is telling? Every line needs to matter.
So it was ultimately good, even though it wasn’t “omg this is amazing let me sign you up right now” – which would be ridiculous, anyway. 😉
Meanwhile, the other presenters – Will Terry and Jake Parker – were likewise amazing and I learned a LOT about illustration, the industry, etc. These guys are so talented, holy crap.
I also got the chance to look through my peers’ work, browsing the other portfolios on display. In terms of skill, I was on par with a handful of them (aside from that whole ‘oh wait I don’t finish things’), but there were some that were just… WOAH. AMAZING. Holy crap! It was going from being a big fish in a little pond to being a tiny fish in a big pond all over again…. which is good, because fish grow according to the space that they have available!
So I have been humbled, but am not crushed… I am determined! And this is a very good thing.
The art director offers portfolio critiques through his website, too… so in the future I can hit him up again once I have some good stuff to show him. 🙂
tl;dr version: He could tell that I am lazy and impatient when it comes to finishing things, and if I want to be taken seriously as an illustrator, I need to work on that. Which I should, because I am a capable artist.