I'm looking to get contracts as a 2D artist for video games. In the past I have been a full time artist and a freelancer but I never really had to search for work because I had a handful of regular clients. These clients don't really supply me with enough work atm so I have to hunt down work again. So I'm asking a for a favor, can you people have a look at my website and let me know if it turns you off, what you would change and what is missing. I'm thinking of making a 'why you should hire Qitsune' section that would list the advantages of working with me but I'm afraid it would sound pompous. It might read something like this:

Quote: Why you should consider Qitsuné for your 2D assets needs. Experience In my 7 years in the industry, I have worked on 8 PC, 2 mobile & 3 Flash web games and have contributed on many other projects. Some of the games I have worked on were published by Vivendi Universal, Emme & Comedy Central. Flexibility I have worked on both original IP & sequels & spin offs. While I'm highly adaptable to the style you already have, I will create also create the style of a new project to your specifications. Technical understanding I can understand your technical needs and meet your specifications. I'm proficient with low-res art (palette swapping, pixel art, sprites) and will supply you with assets that work.

Here is the link to my homepage http://www.qitsune.com And a link directly to the art part http://www.qitsune.com/folioframeen.htm Would you hire someone like that? I'm eager to read what you have to say. -edited for typos and syntax- [Edited by - Qitsune on February 20, 2007 9:06:57 AM]

looks pretty good,
It could have more content,
on the plus side its very good at showing you arn't fixed on one style, definite a plus if you want to get hired

It was surprisingly difficult for me to recognize the 'Q' in the main Qitsune logo. Perhaps this is partly because it's not a word I recognize, and thus cannot use context to fill in ambiguous gaps, but it's partly that it's very tough to tell that the 'Q' is even part of the title. Overlaying 'itsune' on the right part of the Q might help (of course, you would need to change some colors or increase the size of the outline for the overlapping bit).

Is it really important to show the version number? Also, the 'VERSION' text is English-only.

Your English pages should have <title> text in English, not French.

The justified text is awkward. It just doesn't seem to work well for websites; forcing readers to constantly readjust their understanding of your kerning is just unnecessary.

Add some spacing between the October 14 text block and the South Park image. Just keep them from butting into each other.

I feel like the option for changing languages isn't obvious enough. Perhaps throw a couple of small flags in (like the ones at famfamfam)? At the least, the language option should be separated from the rest of the menu, either by font style, by using an image, or by adding white space.

I like the art page. Fix the spacing among the images, and it should be fine (the first row has larger spaces between images than do the other rows. Either spacing is fine, but there needs to only be one).

My only suggestion for the individual art pages - keep everything centered along the same point. Right now, it seems that the <P> is set for a fixed window width (500px).

I would suggest you make your hyperlinks stand out from regular text. Right now, there is absolutely nothing to differentiate them, except on rollover. You do have vlinks (and alinks) turn a darker color, which is good, but we need some sort of color or underline difference for regular links.

Do you need separate Contact Us and Our Team pages? The Our Team page should probably include mailto: and email addresses and then scrap the Contact Us page completely.

Set the Our Team page text to the same font as all the other pages.

Make the last updated information less noticeable by making it smaller and a less eye-catching color (that is, something closer to the yellow color of the background).

Remove the period after Our Products. on the Our Products page. Can you antalias the "Qitsune's Billions of Phony Phaces" logo? I would force the text to flow around the right of the phone image, instead of having the phone completely break the text (actually, I would set the phone to the right, and have the text flow to the left). Add some hspace and vspace around your two phaces/faces at the bottom of the page so that there is more white space.

It's a little strange to have no thumbnail art image on the left navigation bar when on the art page. I understand why this is, but there's really no reason not to have it. For that matter, I feel that each of these thumbnail images should link directly to the page with the full image instead of linking to the overall art page.

The whole site needs some (English) copy-editing. It's very close, but there's really no reason not to have it looked over. For example, the very first sentence on the site is off:

Quote: Qitsuné Studio produces graphics for video games on small platforms, like web of mobile.

What is web of mobile?

All that said, I like the site!

I think a "Why You Should Hire Qitsune" page would be a good idea. Right now, I don't even know that I can hire you! Certainly, I think that would be a great addition.

Also, I really wouldn't use any ampersands in the text. I'll grant that it's not necessary to follow strict grammar guidelines on the internet, but few organizations make such use of the & (here, I'm looking mostly at your suggested 'why hire' text).

Thank you! That was quite nice of you to give such detailed crits.

I have started implementing some of your suggestions.

I was a bit upset with the way my columns behaved so I dumped the css altogether and started from scratch. I have removed the links to the side and fitted most of the info on the main page. Some stuff was just useless so it was dumped (or it will be included as an art page.)

I hope the language option is now more visible. I have also made the version and last updated info more subtle (btw, version is the same in english and french.)

You were right about the centering of the art pages, I had done something dumb with the css, I don't know why I never noticed.

Next step: Copy editing, then implementing all that in the french version.
(atm if you look at the french version, you'll see what it looks like stripped on css, what an ugly bugger!)

Tentative version

Wow, that's a great redesign. As it turns out, I guess there really wasn't a need for the whole set of navigation and page structuring.

It's much easier to find everything now!

You probably still need a link, somewhere, to the list of projects you've worked on, and the new page doesn't tell me who Chantal actually is. You could replace that link with one that says "Contact Studio Qitsune" and have it mailto: your address, or link to a new page that lists off the team and contact info.

I wouldn't be hesitant about adding another identical contact link to the vertical bar on the right (probably at the bottom). For that matter, you might linkify the "Contact us for a quote." Speaking of which, it should be quote, not quotation.

I'm not sure you need the "Home" text any more. At the same time, you might increase the size or bold the descriptor sentences (...produces graphics for...).

The alignment of the columns is a little off (FF 2), and I haven't looked at the source to see why. Hopefully, it's something simple [smile].

The language option is great!

The last updated is much more subtle, but still readable. You might add a little more padding to the left, but otherwise, it's good.

Vast improvements on the site design, and it's looking even better than before. Keep it up!

Hi there. I'm also an artist (2D&3D) and I really think you need more content, variation is a very important thing too. I still did not create a website for me because I dont have much content :( but I think I'll have soon. I'm not a web designer and Avatar God has already given you enough constructive comments so I'll not say anything about your webdesign. But for me, it is good ;). good luck

I just realized that the columns' horizontal spacing is only incorrect in Firefox (2.0.2) and not in IE 7. That may take some doing to figure out. I often just have to grab code from somewhere like glish if I don't want to troubleshoot every single little - and horrendously aggravating - CSS error. Or I'll use tables, but I don't recommend repeating that particular shortcut of mine [smile].

The new version has now replaced the old. Thank you for your feedback peeps (esp. Avatar God)
I still have a few details to iron out (eg. spacing in firefox, since it works fine in MSIE and Opera..grr) some formatting in the individual art pages, the South Park one is particularly clunky. Maybe a link to my blog.

All in all, I decided it looked better than the old one so it was fit to be put online. MORE... link lists some of my achievements. I just hope it's visible enough. I'm also wondering if I should remove the fine art part since it has nothing to do with games.

Next step is adding more content (that takes a little more time but I'm working on it.)

I like your work. I like it more the more I see. The colours, layout and overall feel are very nice.

Unfortunately I use firefox only atm. So the web design is askew. Nevermind, that is a little thing.

But there is one thing I would agree with that a previous poster has mentioned. The logo/title isn't immediately clear. The "Q" design only becomes obvious when you already know what it is.

I personally believe that a good illustrator (like yourself) can always be a good graphical designer. I don't believe that a good graphic designer will always be capable of being a good illustrator though.

Either way, the title is a pretty important part of the page. When it was done I suspect you were thinking like an illustrator, not a graphical designer. (That is just a guess though!)