Saturday, December 15, 2012

How to Build an Illustration Portfolio


Every now and again, I get asked the question, "What should I put in my portfolio?".  So, I wanted to take a moment and share some tips and suggestions you might consider when putting together an illustration portfolio. Specifically, a portfolio of illustrations catering to children's publishing; although websites and social media play an ever-increasing role in promoting your work, having a physical portfolio will still come in handy the next time you attend a nearby illustration conference or if you find yourself lucky enough to be given some face time with an art director. So let's get started...

First off, let's get the basics out of the way; a typical portfolio should contain anywhere from 12 to 15 images, bound in a nice, clean, and simple, 8" x 11" portfolio. The thing to remember is this: showcase work and talent, so the portfolio itself should NOT distract or compete with the artwork. So rule of thumb ...keep it simple! Be sure to include pocket at the back of the portfolio with postcards and/or business card for someone to take.

Now for the most important parts of any portfolio, the ARTWORK! Here are a few key points to remember:
  • Order & Pacing: Typically, a portfolio should open with a sample of your best work! The point of this is pretty obvious, you want to WOW your viewer and grab their attention right from the start. Once you have it, it's a matter of sustaining that interest throughout the entire portfolio. To achieve this, you want to space your artwork out evenly and build a rhythm between some of your good/solid pieces and some great/better pieces. And to end it on a high note, you'll want to include another one of your best illustrations. Ideally, this will leave them with a lasting impression of your work, or even better still, leave them wanting more!

    Below is a quick diagram to better illustrate this. One thing you will notice is that depending on the quality and the number of pieces in your portfolio, as well as the fact that you will be constantly update your portfolio, we will have some variations, but the basic structure should still be followed.
               
                        
  • Consistency of Quality: Your portfolio is only as good as it's weakest piece. So if you have an illustration that you are not sure about, it's best to leave it out. To a potential client, a weak piece will also have the potential of leaving a lasting impression, but for all the wrong reasons. Your portfolio should only contain your best work, so in some cases, less is more. So remember, even if it means a thinner portfolio, only include work that you are actually proud to show off.
  • Consistency of Style: Along with demonstrating a consistent quality of work, you also want to define a consistent style in your art as well. A big mistake you can make is filling your portfolio with work in several different styles and techniques. Below are several scenarios someone might decide to do this with their portfolio. In each case, first, I'll give the rationale behind these choices followed by reasons why you shouldn't.
    1. By showing a wide range of styles, there is a belief that you are showing the art directors that you are versatile and capable of handling multiple mediums and styles. Instead, what ends up happening is that you'll leave them thinking, "What kind of art will I expect if I hire you?" And this is not what is desired.   
    2. By including a portfolio with different styles, you are hoping this will help you land more jobs because you are in essence casting a wider net. Unfortunately, the downside of this is that you are also diluting your portfolio in the process. So instead of having a full portfolio of 12 solid pieces highlighting your individual style, you are only able to show potential clients 4 or 5 pieces. This will make it more difficult for them to accurately assess your skills and make them reluctant to hire you.
    3. Let's face it, sometimes you just need a filler. You might run into a case of simply not having the number of illustrations to fill up your portfolio. So you decide to round out the 12 pieces with an illustration that's different just to bulk up your numbers. The thing to remember is that any capable art director will see right through this as well, which will lead to them to question your experience. And just as bad, this misplaced illustration will stick out like a sore thumb and disrupt the flow to the rest of your portfolio.
    At the end of the day, the person looking at your art needs to be able to associate your name with your work. So the clearer and simpler you make it for them and yourself, the better.
  • Content: The next area I want to cover, I also feel is the most important, and that is the kind of illustrations you should showcase. So let's get down to the nitty-gritty...
    1. Children: Seeing that we are creating a portfolio for children's publishing, naturally, a huge majority of our time will be spent drawing and painting children. So knowing the subject matter will be crucial! From sad to happy, or surprise to shock, being able to convey children with emotion and life will be an important part to master. This means that your portfolio should not only cover a diversity of races, gender, and ages of children, but you can also cover a variety of situations and scenarios a child can relate to. 
    2. Animals: Aside from drawing children, in this business, you will also be asked to draw lots of animals. So in your portfolio, it would be beneficial to include some animals as well. This can be your more realistic and lifelike animals to your more anthropomorphic variety.
    3. Make Believe: Fairy tales and the fantastical play a big part in children's publishing, so it would be a natural choice to include them in your portfolio. However, here's a caveat for those who decide to illustrate a popular one, and that is the risk of it being generic or cliche. Personally, I feel that unless you can introduce something new to the table, or add your unique twist to a classic, I would stay clear of them. Instead, you should use the opportunity to show off your creativity, and imagine your very own fairy tale.  
    4. Storytelling: In children's publishing, a big aspect of what we do is tell stories with pictures, and so your portfolio should reflect this. Your illustrations should tell a story. The bulk of your illustrations should include work that shows a character or characters interacting with either their surroundings or with each other. You should limit posed, glamour shot or pin-up type of illustrations. In other words, focus on the illustrations you would find inside the pages of a children's book and not so much on the illustrations you would see on the cover. 
    5. Continuity: Another part of telling stories with pictures also involves being able to demonstrate continuity. So a good addition to your portfolio would be to include a couple of illustrations (no more than 2-3) that shows you can handle a series of sequential illustrations involving the same character(s).
    6. Licensed Characters: Lastly, this seems pretty obvious but you should definitely avoid using licensed characters in your portfolio. Unless you look really good in strips or bright orange, just stick to your own original work. Not only would you be coming across as unprofessional, this too, is another missed opportunity to show that you can be creative, by inventing your own original characters.  

    When deciding on the content of your portfolio,
    the best advice I can give you is to make the most of each illustration.  You are limited by the number of illustrations, so each and every selection becomes all the more important when trying to make a good impression. Be deliberate and even strategic about what ends up in your portfolio. A solid, well-rounded portfolio will show potential clients that you can do a job, and do it well.
     
  • Know Your Audience: Within children's publishing, there are a lot of niches, so it's important to know who you are showing your portfolio to. From educational, to religious, to trade publishers, each one of these publishing sectors have their own requirements and preferences. So do your homework and know what these clients are looking for, and then cater your portfolio to fit those needs.
  • Updating Your Portfolio: It's a good idea to keep your portfolio current. As your work continues to evolve and mature, so too should your portfolio. While some pieces remain staples in your portfolio, others will quickly be replaced. One thing to remember is to stay flexible depending on what's needed by the potential client. 
Well, I think I have covered just about everything! In closing, I just wanted to say that this business of illustration can be quite frustrating and challenging! Not only is the competition as high as ever, but add to that the economic climate of these past several years... things couldn't be more daunting for anyone trying to succeed in this business. Which is all the more reason you need to build the strongest portfolio possible to stand out from the crowd. And for those persistent and determined few, I hope this has helped. Good luck and I wish you much success!  

 

94 comments:

  1. This is extremely informative. I've heard a lot of different opinions on that "one-style vs. range-of-styles" debate, but your points make a lot of sense. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Kelley, I'm glad it helped! By the way, hope you don't mind but I took a look at your site...really nice work, especially the Cinderella piece!

      Donald

      Delete
  2. good information for beginner like me..thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for your information! Is it better to include handwriting sketches or digital ones?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! To answer your question; nowadays, it really doesn't matter whether something is digital or traditional as long as what you are showing is consistent. Personally, I wouldn't bother including sketches in a portfolio because that slot would be better served with a finished piece. Hope that helps.

      Delete
  4. Excellent tips, really useful. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I shared one of your tips in an article here--http://lithriel.deviantart.com/journal/5-Expert-Tips-for-a-Stellar-Portfolio-535947903

    Thanks for the insight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ashley!

      Your work is outstanding by the way! Great talent!

      Delete
  6. Thanks for this Donald! I am preparing to head to my first ever conference later this month (Cleveland SCBWI 'Magic of 13') and am planning to put my portfolio into the 'showcase' of illustrator work. Excited and daunted, but less so now thanks to your advice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the late reply, but I hope your conference was successful. I'm happy I could help. Best of luck!

      Delete
  7. Great post! I'm having a really hard time deciding what I want to add into a portfolio and a lot of my negativity gets in the way. Your post made me remember what I need to focus on. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Brittanny, glad I could help. Good luck!

      Delete
  8. Really nice and helpful post for build illustration portfolio. thanks
    Remove White Background

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your artist portfolio website examples really good. I am waiting his new design for my website thanks for share it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amazing way to build up a portfolio. its really very useful. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds interesting, thanks for sharing the useful content with us and keep sharing in future.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. i am sure you spend a lot of time on doing this site! I'm really here to appreciate that you are a good blogger!!!
    This is a really nice blog. I wanted to make a portfolio profile for me but I didn't know how to do it. Now I can make my portfolio profile. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This was very helpful by Illustrator drawn. I love very much this type of work. I would love to work using illustrator.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I would love to work on raster to vector conversion more.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Enjoyed reading the article above , really explains everything in
    detail,the article is very interesting and effective.Thank you and good
    luck for the upcoming articles

    ReplyDelete
  18. So amazing information share.
    Wonderful blog post.
    http://clippingpathindie.com/raw-image.html

    ReplyDelete
  19. Awesome and interesting article. Great things you've always shared with us. Thanks. Just continue composing this kind of post. https://illustrationstyles.net/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Self-promotion is one difficult tedious task to do especially if you are just starting. First of all, a technical illustrator needs to create an online portfolio.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I enjoyed my time spent on your lovely blog. I am appreciate. Thanks a lot for share.
    Design Service Asia | Best Clipping Path Service Provider Company.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great post I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Illustrator portfolio is important topic that you discussed about. Thanks for sharing. Clipping Path Service

    ReplyDelete
  24. No matter what age we belong to or what we do. if we are students trying to score well in exams or a professional trying hard that pending promotion or just an adult who is fighting hard to fight dementia, the idea of taking a pull to boost our brain functioning seems little appealing. Thus today it is no surprise that the use of the smart drug also known as nootropics is on a rise. In the past, the term nootropic was used to refer to chemicals that met certain criteria. However, today the term nootropic is used for any kind of natural or synthetic compound that affects the brain functioning of a person positively. The smart drug that is advancing over time is Nuvigil smart drug. People wishing to get this smart drug can buy Nuvigil online.
    Buy Nuvigil 150mg


    Buy Nuvigil 150mg

    ReplyDelete
  25. kitchen appliancesApril 1, 2020 at 10:01 AM

    Great!!!! and congratulations. It´s a pitty ’cause I don’t understand English, but if you could add subtitles, it would be easier.kitchen appliances

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thanks for sharing great information. I always love to read and spread this kind of information that is unique and really informative. scope hq

    ReplyDelete
  27. Thanks for providing such a piece of important information through your blog, kumar

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thanks for sharing great information. I always love to read and spread this kind of information that is unique and really informativ.newborn

    ReplyDelete
  29. adventureactivitiesApril 1, 2020 at 10:13 AM

    I like the helpful info you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and check again here regularly. adventureactivities

    ReplyDelete
  30. The article is very useful, I am also learning about this investment, I previously found them on the Facebook application downloaded from webste https://apkrapido.com/facebook-lite-apk/

    ReplyDelete
  31. Amazing article about Illustration Portfolio, Thanks for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Hey!! Amazing post. Thank you for sharing such a informative post.
    Photo Retouching Services

    ReplyDelete
  33. Thanks for sharing this information really knowledgeable post keep it up photo retouching services cincinnati

    ReplyDelete
  34. I haven't seen this type of article and containing unique content which is really very helpful. I am giving this service Cinconize in low price.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Nice post on How to Build an Illustration Portfolio! Thanks for sharing the tips and suggestions!
    How To Set GIF As Wallpaper On Windows 10

    ReplyDelete
  36. This is an Excellent post you have shared with us. I really like and appreciate your post. Thank you so much.
    Best Clipping Path Services Provider

    ReplyDelete
  37. Are you looking for a loan to finance your project at the rate of 2% in return or Home loan or car loan then Mr Pedro loan offer will be good for you since they offered international loan to individual or company looking for way to expand their business or personal loan because Mr pedro and his working company helped me finance my business at the rate of 2% in return in which I will be closing my loan next year on this date, I really hope to order another loan from them because they are genuine loan company with a very good interest.
    Contact Mr Pedro loan offer on E-Mail: pedroloanss@gmail.com whatsapp: +1-863-231-0632

    ReplyDelete
  38. It,s an awesome blog . Thanks for sharing a valuable blog . Clipping Expert Asia is the best clipping path service and background removal service provider in the world . This company services are clipping path service, background removal service , shadow creation , photo manipulation , image masking , image manipulation and provide other services. If you want to get these services . contact with us .car-image-editing

    ReplyDelete
  39. Your article impressed me a lot. You explained it so clearly. This is helpful especially to beginners and those who are willing to master their craft.

    clipping path service provider

    ReplyDelete
  40. INTRUST Automatic Rolling Shutter brings special benefits with each item: Transparent rolling shutter are long-lasting and ensure tall burglary security. Best surface quality and tall steadiness empower opening widths that would not be conceivable with plastic roller shutter, as well as giving tall wind resistance. INTRUST used energy saving motor with high lifting capacity.


    ReplyDelete
  41. Portfolio creation is a major issue. I learned the whole thing about portfolio from your blog. I didn't have much idea about portfolio before. So thank you very much. Looking forward to the next blog. Image Editing Service

    ReplyDelete
  42. Just amazing post you have published . I appreciate your blog . Well-done for shared.
    Drop Shadow Services

    ReplyDelete
  43. Thanks for the great list,25 06 ammo bulk this is very useful and I think it is very hard to find out this kind of list manually.

    ReplyDelete
  44. This is god tutorial post. Thanks so much for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Awesome tutorial post. Though a video might have made it easier to understand but considering the posts age it is really good.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Great article, well done! Thank you for so much link-building information contained in a single post, I found this particularly helpful. bulk ammo tennessee I have learned a lot from your post. please keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Nice tutorial. Helpful for many people. Thanks for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Awesome tutorial post. Though a video might have made it easier to understand but considering the posts age it is really good.....

    ReplyDelete
  49. This is a most informative article. I have read this article. glock 43x mos for sale I am sure that those who read this article will be learned a lot. Thanks for discussing this topic.

    ReplyDelete
  50. My 12 years daughter and me read your whole article about building a portfolio. She gets very excited to build her own portfolio. you article inspired her and she thanks you....

    ReplyDelete
  51. 79126
    ----
    ----
    matadorbet
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----
    ----

    ReplyDelete
  52. Your blog has quickly become one of my favorite sources of wisdom and encouragement

    Visit Here: 3d modeling service

    ReplyDelete