Portfolio: https://bradleygake.format.com/

I chose to review Bradley Gake’s portfolio. Gake is a background designer who has worked for Disney XD, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. He has been involved in many well-known, popular cartoons such as the Fairly Odd Parents and Monster High.

From a visual and design standpoint, the portfolio is simple but to the point. The frontpage displays samples of his background art in a grid-like, organized structure. There is almost no text aside from the navigation menu, allowing the work to speak for itself. Visitors of the site can click on each of the drawings to enlarge the image and better appreciate the details. Additionally, the black and white minimalist website theme goes well with Gake’s black and white detailed background art.

Content-wise, Gake includes all the necessary components for a portfolio. He displays his finished artwork and showcases different art styles; while some of his background designs are in color, others are in black and white. He also includes a blurb for most of the backgrounds that describes what project the background was used for. Under his “All Sorts” page, Gake includes some of his sketches to illustrate his creative process; most of these sketches feature people, demonstrating his ability to take on a range of subject matter. Gake also showcases his work on animated shorts and includes a quick caption under each one (when the viewer clicks on it) about what the work is and his role in the project. The website also has an “About Me” page, where Gake provides a simple description of what he does—“I draw backgrounds”—and a list of the cartoons he has worked on, such as Futurama, Rugrats, and Fairly Odd Parents. Finally, the portfolio includes a “contact” page where a visitor of the site can leave their email address and send Gake a message as well as a “share” option where people can share the site to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest.

It might be beneficial to include a quick description for each of his sketches under the “All Sorts” page to provide the viewers some context (some of them do, but not all of them). Also, Gake could include the date that he completed each design to clearly highlight the progression of his art over time.

Keep it simple.
Make the portfolio easily navigable and accessible.
Let the work speak for itself.