I am an illustrator and a lettering artist with big experience. I made all the lettering for the movie POOR THINGS!
I am a portrait artist as well, and I do retouching of portrait photograph focusing on facial expressions. I have THE EYE for it! There are not many people who see it as useful, but I belive there must be some use for it, somewhere where small changes are important.
You can find more of these in my portfolio on behance, Vladimir Radibratovic
I’d appreciate your opinion and suggestions
Yes, your talent in drawing, writing, and enhancing portraits is very useful, especially in jobs where paying close attention to small details and making tiny changes is really important, like in ads, movies, books, and online content.
In my opinion, your strengths are in illustration and lettering — considerably more so than with the portrait retouching. You’ve done some nice work in the illustration and letting categories.
My suggestion would be to create two separate Behance portfolios. Have one portfolio focus entirely on illustration, and have a second portfolio focus entirely on lettering work. That way, you are highlighting your strengths and a viewer won’t have to wade through work samples that are irrelevant.
Not to discredit your talent, but is photo-retouching really a niche skill? I’m not saying there there isn’t a use for it, I kind of assumed it was more of a foundational skill
Thank you for your answer, it confirms what I know that most of the people find … an ordinary work. My retouching is not the standard one, I think. I do not make people look younger, thinner, with unreal baby skin! My retouching focuses on facial expressions, I try to enhance the psychological image of the person. @ of my friends who do retouching asked me HOW do I know what to correct. I told them that there is no recipe, every face is different, and to do that good one has to have the passion for facial expression and has to know the anatomy…
Your suggestion is very logical and … clever! I’ll probably do that!!! That is my problem, I do not focus on doing one thing, I get bored doing the same thing all the time… I should grow up! :)!
Years ago, in the era of film cameras, darkrooms, and prints, photo retouching with airbrushes was an in-demand skill. I had a job way back then where airbrushing photos was part of my daily routine.
Fast-forward to 2024, everything has changed. Most graphic designers can do basic retouching with the standard tools in Photoshop, which has greatly reduced the need for professional retouchers. The specialized facial expression retouching you’re describing might be useful on occasion, but my guess is it’s such a small niche need that a career couldn’t be built around it.
Anyway, with artificial intelligence already on the verge of these things (for example, Photoshop’s neural filters), the future for it seems even less promising. Photoshop’s neural filters (and similar AI enhancing) don’t do a very good job yet, but give it two or three years, and an average graphic designer will likely be able to realistically change facial expressions in just about any way needed by adjusting a few sliders.
AI already took my place as an illustrator in the biggest daily newspapers in Croatia. Still, AI is not good enough in details like hands…but it is getting better, so…we are doomed!
