Promotional Sites (Illustrators/Animators/Designers)

Before designing my own promotional portfolio site I looked into what other illustrators and designers produced to advertise their work. Personally I want to make something very simple to allow for my work to speak for itself but with enough of my personality to give it a Jess flair.

Abigail Halpins page is the one of the portfolio sites I really liked, the sites front page - its a lovely illustration that displays both name and style and I like the idea of using that as a sort of intro into there rest of the work.The work itself has been placed within a simple grid shape (when work is clicked on the square expands to show the whole pice) which I think works incredibly well - easy to understand navigation occupies the side of the page which separates the work into various categories. An additional hand drawn name remains the constant logo within the design which is once again a personalised element but it also ensures that both name and style are iterated clearly.

Again Sophie Joyce has manipulated a similar grid system although her heading is not as illustrative as some of the other sites researched.

Im not sure if this detracts from the site because theres a lot of colour and line evident within her work and the name has been hand-drawn it just feels a little bland in comparison to the others I have looked at.

 Briony May Smith's work is one of my favourites to look at- I really love her style which is both playful and dark. Her site in particular is one that I aim to aspire to, I like the illustrative heading (unlike Halpins page there is no opening page its all on one) the simple grid to display her work and the top line navigation keeps the site professional and fully keeps her work centre stage. Each image when clicked on takes it to a new page where the full comic/story can be read.
I definitely plan on using a bold heading and grid layout- since its a common element to the portfolio sites I have looked at. I am actually very excited about making a top banner header - which is essentially going to be my own personal branding.