Please don’t get defensive.
OK, in that case, I would say your web page accurately communicates your style and aesthetic.
Srsly? My resume’s right there, dude. I have an AS in Graphic Design and a BA in Art, with a Graphic Design focus. (okay, it’s not on the resume, but it’s on the about me page) From CSUCI, which has a GOOD art department. Yes stuff was critiqued. You can’t get through school without stuff being critiqued. By Luke Matjas, who is fucking harsh (and I love him for it.) I was better than many of my classmates (which is a sad state of affairs). Not all. But many.
I want to work in Nerdy. I want to do toys, comics, book covers, etc. People get work in that. You think the Four Horsemen aren’t nerds? Yeah, I’m going to walk into the Mattel offices and go ‘yeah, I want to design packages for them action figure things, but I know nothing about comics or cartoons or any of that shit’.
Do I know how to use Illustrator? Did you fucking look at my work? EVERYTHING IS ILLUSTRATOR. What I need to work on is my Photoshop skills because I can’t make it sit up and dance like I can Illustrator (skillwise, InDesign is slightly behind Photoshop. I haven’t had many chances to use it.)
I have all of one piece of fanart in my portfolio (okay, and the Thunderkitties stuff, but I needed something to put in there and I don’t have model sheets done for my superhero stuff yet.) (And yes, one of the business cards have an allusion to the Riddler. Gimme a break, I needed a name.)
Fair enough (and I know that, but, y’know, they’re symptoms…). But I’m not working someplace that doesn’t have a time clock again. Two bad jobs, I don’t need a third, thank you all the same. (and srsly, I don’t want to be stuck at my desk for breaks and lunch. And I know, I could go outside, but if it’s cold or raining or whatever?)
OK, here’s one other piece of advice. Don’t limit yourself to the fun, nerdy stuff. My brother and his wife are both graphic designers. They love nerdy stuff. They’d both love to do nerdy stuff full-time. My brother’s current job is doing graphics for a sports network, and my sister-in-law does home decor stuff. This is to make a living, mind you. They still both do the nerdy stuff on their own time, as well as real painting that stuff like that.
I know you have a vision for what you want to do, and that’s great, you’ll never get anywhere without it. But I hear you limiting yourself over and over in what you write here, and I think in a very competitive field that it’s a mistake. If you can support yourself doing any kind of graphic design instead of waiting tables, that’s an awesome thing, take advantage of it.
I don’t know, eat at your desk? Seriously, this is your problem, where to eat lunch?
And the time clock thing…the most interesting jobs, the ones with responsibility and freedom…won’t have time clocks. You’ll do what you need to do to get the work done, even if it’s not a 9-5 schedule. And when you’re starting out, that’s part of the game…you work long hours, you work the bad shifts, you work whenever. I don’t mean to get on your case, but it’s the sacrifices you make at the start that determine where you’re going to be in the future, that’s just the way it works.
First, please realize everyone here is trying to give you constructive criticism. We are not attacking you personally or saying you suck. You have a degree and experience already - that counts for a lot. Plus, you seem strong in logo design, which is actually incredibly difficult to do (I couldn’t design a decent logo if my life depended on it). I was just throwing out some ideas.
Re: the website, simple does not mean boring or not-individualized. You want it to represent you, but you also want it to appeal to others and get them to stay on it and picture their own work in that style- and that means staying current. And you don’t have to learn flash or code, it just widens the pool a bit; It’s just something to consider. If you ever get a job where you have to use Indesign, I think it’s by far the easier of the Adobe suite to pick up, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it especially since you already are familiar with Adobe products.
Here’s a really popular LA designer: http://thefoxisblack.com/ Check out his friend’s links for some other good websites. He is a bit “hipster,” but no matter if you’re into nerd or corporate or hip, all design shares the same elements so it’s good to explore.
I also like: FPO: For Print Only
http://www.manystuff.org/
my love for you.
http://blog.drawn.ca/
http://www.booooooom.com/
http://www.geek-art.net/
Please keep in mind these represent the blogs I read so they are focused on my personal interests. I’m sure there are TONS of nerdy design blogs out there, too. If you want to aim for geek-centric, definitely hit up companies that cater to that, but any experience is good experience. There is a pretty strong indie-comic scene in California, and I’m sure there are tons of little companies that sway toward what you want to do. But you will probably have to do a lot of stuff you don’t care about while you work your way toward your goal.
There’s being salaried because that’s the kind of job it is and then there’s no time clocks. (The one place I was salaried, I still punched in). I’ve been burned on it - the first time, the boss’ wife didn’t want to deal with it so everyone was salary. And then they fired everyone two weeks after I started working full-time. And then tried to take it back (I didn’t go back. I’m not completely stupid.) The second time, we tracked our own time, everything about the place was really disorganized, they had no breakroom of any sort (and I need to get away from the computer some times and I’d prefer to working or writing or drawing or something instead of surfing the net while I eat, besides, then no one knows you’re at lunch).
There’s having bad hours and then there’s not being able to eat because people dump work on you while you’re trying to eat. Eating is important and I have a problem with putting it off or not doing it. Like I said, it’s a symptom of a bad place, along with high turnover, disorganization, etc.
I know. It’s just after spending however long working on that and banging my head against a wall trying to get it to do what I want (and not quite succeeding, thus the pop-ups) to hear that’s it sucks (not me - I never got the sense y’all thought I sucked), I’m a bit upset, y’know? But I’m not saying y’all are wrong, just that I don’t want a boring boxy site and I’m upset.
Right. Thus why I’ve done freelance design for the the company that wasn’t paying me, despite them doing tool stuff, and did a business card for a hypnotherapy place, and… but if my style is a certain way why shouldn’t the site represent that even if the portfolio is filled up with other stuff?
Besides, simple math. Me = Nerdy. My Portfolio = Mostly Personal projects, therefore, My Portfolio = Nerdy. 
You may not want a “boring” site, but you have to compromise between your own style and the style that people want. People like simple and boring. People looking to hire a graphic designer aren’t gonna look at a cluttered page with animated gifs. Really there’s no way to get what you’re going for without learning flash.
And think about it, the most simple, boring website in the world also happens to be the most successful.
I’m curious to know any websites you draw from for inspiration or other designers you like the work of - do you mind linking to some?
I just looked at your personal site, and it’s leaps above your portfolio, so you obviously can make a nice site. You can still take the main idea elements (space, suit-girl) and incorporate them on an easier to navigate portfolio. With all the graphics and motion, it makes it hard to find and to focus on your work, which should be the main point anyway.
Also, just for general job-advice, I would also try to tweak your resume a bit to be more detailed about what you have actually done in your graphic jobs. Also, I would add in your actual major/focus/degree in the education section - it is not obvious you have art degrees.
If you are into toy/nerd stuff, maybe try to visit Kid Robot or Giant Robot? They are both nerdy, toy-oriented art and design shops in LA. You might be able to ask them for advice more specific to your locale or schmooze at openings with other graphic artists there that can held you build a network.
Would you rather we hadn’t been honest about your website? That potential employers would have been the first to critique? I know how it is, I think we have all probably been there before- Working hard on something only to have someone point out its many flaws. This will help you be that much better in the end.
Don’t hate us. 
I thought you were going to say, boards.straightdope.com :).
[quote=“Silver Tyger Girl, post:22, topic:581720”]
Srsly? My resume’s right there, dude./QUOTE]
I think that might be a symptom of poor web design rather than somebody who can’t find a simple link. I think you’d agree that the writing on the asteroids are essentially illegible.
This is slightly off-topic, but I’m so sick of web designers who imply you’re dumb because you can’t navigate their sites rather than thinking that possibly they set up a confusing site.
But, to return to your present difficulties, I would also suggest that there’s a LOT of middle ground between your first effort and boring boxes or whatever. That Lounge Lizard site is pretty cool-looking. But, do you see how clear everything is on that page? There’s no guessing.
I do like your business card section. Some pretty cool work.
Best of luck with your career. My advice is to find the thing that seems closest to making you some money while putting you on the path to a career that you might love. Sounds like graphic design might be that. Maybe slow down on the web stuff and plunge more deeply into graphic design? I don’t know, this is way out of my knowledge pool.
Find the sites of people that have the jobs you want. Find sites of those that are sucessful and you admire outside your dream job realm too.
Pick some favorites and try to make a site in the style of those people. This is not your site but if you can make one in their style you’re half there. Now modify the site to be your own using elements of their style. Go through a few iterations and a few styles and you’ll have a winning site.
Yes it’s a lot of work, but yours is a field that’s hard to break into. Maybe you can somehow schedule 2 hour blocks 4 days a week and give yourself some deadlines so you can’t slack during those times too much. I wish you luck. Several of my closest friends are making or trying to make a living in creative fields.
I’m not learning Flash right now. It’s been established that my current sight sucks beans and I’ll be making some sketches to change it tonight.
Google’s a bad comparison. It’s not meant to show off. Portfolio sites are.
Airshipentertainment.com (their site isn’t exciting, but I love their work)
http://www.redwombatstudio.com/ (I could spend hundreds of dollars on her art.)
http://www.goblinscomic.com/
http://www.lackadaisycats.com/
http://www.lfgcomic.com/ (although I liked the old design better)
http://erinptah.com/
http://www.schlockmercenary.com/
http://lileks.com/ (although the top thing is way too big)
I kind of just threw it up there. I wrote that version to try to go to Japan.
Never said I hated you. Just upset to waste all that time on crap.
Oh, here’s a wip of my OLD site. The titles on the post-its turned blue when you moused over, but that was it for bells and whistles.
I’ve seen your old site and fwiw I think it looks a lot more professional than your current one. Just speaking as a layperson.
“I don’t want to…”
“I can’t do…”
“I only want to…”
These are things you can’t sit there and keep saying if you want to be successful. Graphic arts jobs are not exactly thick on the ground, and there’s a hell of a lot competition for them. You need to be willing to put your nose to the grindstone and burn the candle at both ends to even get a look in. You NEED to be willing to take corporate, mind-numbing jobs before you get recognition enough to do the “fun stuff”. You NEED to work long hours, accept that your social life will suffer, work through distractions.
If you can’t do that, you don’t have what it takes to get a good position in graphics arts. You might get a few low-level jobs, but you’ll never make a career out of it.
I don’t say this to be unkind, but that is a horrible, horrible website. Which is unfortunate, because it clearly took a lot of work to put together. Having seen it, though, my advice would be to steer clear of web design altogether. You clearly aren’t someone who loves all the technical aspects that go into building a modern page or who follows all the design trends, both of which are required to be successful.
Instead, rather than trying to be something you’re not, focus on your strengths. Your logos and business cards seemed quite good to me, for example. So just make a clean, generic website that puts all the focus on the work itself. No animation, no huge images (lose the girl on the rock), no starry background image. No popups. Just a nice basic page that opens with a simple text blurb about your interests and career goals, the usual sidebar of links (with a nice subtle highlight rollover, maybe) to each section of your portfolio. If possible, let people click on each image to open a larger version in a new tab/window as some of them are hard to see in their current sizes.
Apologies for the criticism, but I think harsh realism is kinder than gentleness in this case.
Forgot the link.
To me, it’s still a bit busy, BUT in my opinion it’s much, MUCH better than the stars-n-asteroids you’ve got going on now.
The thing you need to remember is that until you get to be a Big Name, you aren’t doing what you want. You’re doing what the client wants. And the client wants google, they want facebook. They want something simple and striking, that’s instantly recogniseable. You are only useful to them as long as you can give them what they want.