MARIA INES GUL- www.mariainesgul.com
Maris Ines Gul is an illustrator who's work I first saw on pinterest. I love her simple style which uses energetic mark making and fresh colour palette. I think her illustrations work great across many different areas, and when I wanted to make my website she was the first illustrator I looked at.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The website is very simple and has a clean layout out. The title is hand drawn and a monogram of her initials- MIG (which I love because that's Sophies nickname for me). From the message/follow/dashboard panel at the top I can tell that the website is a tumblr platform with it's own domain name, and the images on the first page are posts (when clicked on it shows how many notes/reblogs they have on tumblr.
The images on the first page are a combination of her different types of illustration, I'm not sure if she adds to these as she does new work or if she updates the separate pages she has for her illustration. Already I think her bold and delightful drawings look fresh and clean against the bright white background, it is uncluttered and the artwork draws you in.
At the top of the page we can also easily see the tabs to other pages and links to see her work.
ABOUT SECTION
I think including a picture of yourself (especially working/ in a studio/ not too posey) is a great way to 'humanise' yourself to people visiting your website, without giving away too much. I think Maria's portrait is a perfect, professional photo to use. The 'About' bit of text isn't overly personal either or written in a chummy, tone. I have seen people write in the first person about themselves ('Hi! I'm an illustrator from blah...') which I think works well in some cases I personally don't think it sounds very professional, especially if you talk in a lot of detail about what kind of work you like making/ like and interests! It's not a dating profile, keep it to yourself! (Maybe I'm just boring) The subject matter is work based too, mentioning the type of work she can do and that she has a 'variety of clients' of which are listed underneath. This shows that she has worked to a professional standard and that well known names have hired her.
PORTFOLIO
Her body of work is split into different sections which is a great way for people/ possible clients to find what they are looking for ( someone after fashion illustration might not want to trawl through load of sketchbook posts) This is easily done on tumblr as you can link to pages that has specific 'tags' eg. the fashion page shows all illustrations that have been tagged with 'fashion'. She has different pages for her portraits, editorial, sketchbook, text and fashion. These can all be easily found on the home page.
Portraits:
Editorial:
Sketchbook:
Text:
Fashion:
Each image is arranged in a kind of scrapbook feel, as in they are not lined up on the page, providing good spacing between the illustrations. Also there is some overlap with her portfolio ie. some images from portraits will also feature in her fashion page too. I think this is a good idea as some work is bound to cross over and this guarantees it getting seen- I just wouldn't do it if you're repeating a vast quantity of work so it's hard to differentiate between the pages! With Maria's work there is only a couple so it work's really well.
EXTRAS
Maria also links to her shop and Instagram, making it easy to find all her things in one place. The fact that she links to her Instagram also offers people the chance to see where she might update more regularly and to see different things that might not make it to her website (such as work in progress, other ventures etc.) It also allows an artist to show more of their personal life and the 'artist behind the art' should they choose to. This could also be done through a blog or another webpage to document things other than portfolio work
Her shop:
Her instagram:
HATTIE STEWART- www.hattiestewart.com
I first saw Hattie Stewart's illustrations at the graphic design festival 'Pick Me Up' and loved her loud, cartoon style. Much like her 'doodlebombs', her artwork unapologetically invades any space it wants to, from Vogue front covers to photographs of models and celebrities.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Hattie's homepage is super busy and colourful. Right away it communicates the kind of work she creates. It also features a 'sliding tile' game, also emphasising her playful attitude when it comes to her illustrations. I like the idea of having something different to a set of illustrations on the opening page as it shows something different and offers a flavour of whats to come without showing any illustrations.
Unlike Maria's tumblr based site this one has more structure, and the three links above the game are labelled work, about and contact- straightforward and simple.
ABOUT SECTION
Immediately we see a friendly tone in Hattie's about page, a bright blue 'Hello Cheeky' greets us as soon as we click onto the page. However the text underneath is still written in a similar tone to Maria's 'about' page- professional and to the point. Again it has a short introduction to who Hattie is and also mentions how her work can work across different mediums.
Instead of specific clients that Hattie has made work for she has listed specific exhibitions of her work/ galleries that her work is featured in, which shows clients that her work is shown in many places and she is professional.
My favourite thing about the 'About' page is the noughts and crosses (hearts and daisies) game next to the information, reflecting the game on the homepage. Again this reflects Hattie's playful artwork, and also means that her illustrations are featured on the page in a specific and interesting way. Unlike Maria's page Hattie hasn't included a picture of herself, but I think the game makes it personable and friendly just as a photo would.
PORTFOLIO
There are several different tabs when you click on the work section, split into different projects she has worked on. This is more specific than the illustrations on Maria's website that just splits them into different themes. This is also probably why she doesn't list clients on her about page, and also gives us a chance to see what she made for them and not just who they are.
Compared to the completely patterned and colourful home page, the 'work' pages are on white backgrounds. However the images are large and leave very little space in between, still giving the impression of a very bright and colour filled page- below is a sample of a few of her different pages
Apple gallery:
Illustration:
Mac cosmetics:
Covers:
It's nice that the work is grouped together as each of the illustrations go together as a set- this emphasises certain designs, as with the Mac cosmetic illustrations we can see the pastel colour palette throughout the images.
EXTRAS
The archive page on the website kind of acts as that more laid back/ blog page feel- much like Maria sharing her sketchbook images or linking to her Instagram. We get to see more of Hattie's work but its doesn't get mixed up with her portfolio pieces. It also features more GIFs, photos of her illustrations in context (photos of the magazines, clothing etc.)
Much like Instagram the images are arranged as square tiles, which enlarge when clicked on.
I also really like her page of icons:
which collects together all her sticker like images and focuses on her most popular characters she uses in a wide range of her illustrations- smiley faces and hearts.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
- Clean, minimal website or colourful and busy
- Show selected images together or different portfolios
- What else can I link to- shop/instagram/blog
- Show sketchbook work or WIP
- Layout of work, ordered or loose
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