@tallison7 I think this will answer your questions. Its from Lee White: "I'd say this is a good breakdown for a portfolio:
Show three images from the same story. Try to highlight character interaction and get a sense of emotion and story.
Show 2 images that highlight environment. You can have some characters in there, but make sure the environment is the main thing. Will does this extremely well so poke around his website for inspiration.
For the remaining 5, try to vary the stories and how you show the story. Be specific to the type of work you want to get.
Leave room for text in at least 75% of the work. I typically put the text in there. It shows art directors that you understand the business that we are in.
Have fun! Don't put too much pressure to get 10 perfect images right away. Shoot for painting 20 or 30 and then picking the best 10 out of that.
When I was leaving school, I did two things for my work that helped get the all important first book deal. I did half my portfolio on classic fairy tales from around the world which was a blast. Then I did the other half doing images from current magazine articles in kids lit (highlights, Spider, Cricket, etc.). This worked well. On my first trip to NY I landed an agent and a book!
