Questions about portfolios

Zachary Drenski

Hi, so my goal is to create a brand new portfolio starting next month (maybe I won't be joining in the inktober fun, after all) and I was wondering if you'd all be so kind to answer a few questions I have.

How many pieces should I include?
Should the domain name be my name or something catchy and easy to remember?
What do you think makes a remarkable portfolio?

You don't have to answer all three and I'm mostly curious about question number 1 Thanks!

braden H

@Zachary-Drenski said in Questions about portfolios:

How many pieces should I include?
Should the domain name be my name or something catchy and easy to remember?
What do you think makes a remarkable portfolio?

1- I've heard around 12 or so of your best pieces is good. If you wanna include sketches and doodles, have a separate section.

2- yournamedotcom or yournameillustrationdotcom is always a safe bet. Clever website titles are never as catchy as you think they are

3 - There's an awesome course in the subscription called 'how to perfect your children's book portfolio'. They give you a laundry list of things to include that'll hit the bases that art directors are looking for.

Good luck! I still bite my nails over what to include in my portfolio

Zachary Drenski

Thanks @Braden-Hallett !
12 does feel like the magic number to shoot for. I will check out that class. There's a ton of useful stuff I've come across and I've only been subscribed for a couple of weeks.
Your work is solid. Best of luck out there.

Nyrryl Cadiz

Here are my answers rapid fire questions style:

In my opinion, strive for 20. Anything above 10 is good too.
Use your name for the website. Don’t confuse yuor clients.
This is a hard one. Show kids of a vriety of ages. Show you know how to tell a story. Show that you kn0w how to draw consistent characters. As @Braden-Hallett mentioned, @Will-Terry has list for the things that you should include in your portfolio. Better check it ou.

I hope this was helpful.

Heather Boyd

@Zachary-Drenski

I agree with 12 though I did here Lee White once say in a podcast that 3 really good we’re better than having a lot not as good. So I’m starting with 3 but absolutely hitting 12!

arent-draper

@Zachary-Drenski
What kind of portfolio are you doing?
The reason I ask is because I've just started my new portfolio for children's book illustrations (its still in the thumbnail stage) and plan on submitting it to a number of SCBWI conferences. Maybe we can team up and critique each other...it always helps.
And Will has a great podcast about portfolios, so maybe take a peek and see if that helps you.

Zachary Drenski

@Nyrryl-Cadiz very helpful thank you! I hadn't considered showing a variety of ages

Zachary Drenski

@Heather-Boyd I am going to aim for 12 but do them one at a time to make them as high quality as possible. I look forward to seeing your future work as well

@arent-draper I'd love that. Send me a private message on instagram @zachdrenski. And please don't judge the current posts on there too harshly actually you can if you want

Elinore Eaton

There is a great class for this!
https://courses.svslearn.com/courses/take/portfolio-and-self-promotion-with-james-yang/lessons/1038590-portfolio-and-self-promotion

Zachary Drenski

@Elinore-Eaton thank you!

Jad Bautista

@Zachary-Drenski I recently listened to the 3point perspective podcast about building a strong portfolio and here is Will Terry’s list (i just copied from the show notes). Hope this helps!:

Portfolio Perfection

100+ Things you need to include in your children’s book portfolio.

Formats and sizes: spot illustrations, vignettes, full page, spreads, room for text, covers

Color schemes: full color, black and white, monochrome

Ages: adults, teens, children, baby

Gender: girls, boys, men, women Race: asian, Indian, Hispanic, Caucasian, African

Groups Activities: families, friends, classmates, co-workers

Character Consistency: animals, humans, creatures

Animals: anthropomorphised: amphibians, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, birds

Creatures: robots, dragons, monsters, aliens, ghosts

Vehicles: cars, trucks, busses, boats, planes, construction equipment, submarines, space ships Props: household items, garage, kitchen, farm, office, food, bathroom, attic, school, games, toys

Environments: interiors, exteriors, modern, vintage, ancient, houses, apartments, land, sea, earth, outer space, dessert, forest, tropical, arctic

Seasons and weather: winter, spring, summer, fall, rain, lightning, wind, snow, fog, cold, hot Lighting: morning, noon, evening, night, spotlight, fire, ambient, on camera, on camera hidden, off camera

Surfaces: shiny, matte, textured, furry, translucent, rough

Action: falling, breaking, sliding, moving fast, running, jumping, flying, rolling, skidding

Emotion: anger, excitement, happiness, sadness, fear, confidence, curiosity, love, sleeping, pain

Scale: huge objects, tiny objects

Camera Angles: establishing, close ups, medium, distant, high angle, low angle, profile, dynamic, POV.

Complex Images: multiple figures, multiple objects

Heather Boyd

@Jad-Bautista

Basically a little bit of everything done well lols

Jad Bautista

@Heather-Boyd that’s right haha!

Hey Zachary,

I'd recommend you get a domain name but try to keep all your profiles online the same as your website. Like my website is lovetherobot, as is my instagram and twitter.

I usually pick the strongest pieces that you feel most confident about yourself and you are happy showing to everyone. Then I'd ask 3/4 fellows creative or non creatives to view my selections and see if its a decent cross section of my work and my style.

You could always set up a Tumblr or a Behance project which would be like an Image Dump of work that you didn't end up using or that you haven't shown to the public...even rough sketches or development drawings because its good to shoot those to a potential client if they ask for them.

Zachary Drenski

@Jad-Bautista thank you! I copied this for later reference. I also started checking out the videos that people have been talking about here. It may have taken a little while to stumble upon them myself, there's so much content. But anyway, time to get busy working on this list.

Zachary Drenski

@lovetherobot thanks for the suggestion. I know personally I have a hard time remembering all the names of the artists I like but can look them up by project names. Then on the other hand, it seems like most professionals use their name-dot-com. I'm kind of up in the air about which is better and think it probably doesn't matter much anyway (as long as the work is compelling).