How to Make an Illustration Portfolio

If you're an illustrator, a solid portfolio can help you show off your best work to potential employers, gallery curators, and school admissions boards. Think of it as a 'best hits' collection of your most impressive work. Creating a...

Choosing Pieces to Include

Narrow it down to 10 to 20 pieces of your best work. Prospective employers and admissions directors look at a lot of portfolios, so don't overwhelm them with too many pieces to consider. Keep it short and simple, but don't go under 10 pieces and don't offer more than 20.^{[1] X Research source}
1. To help you choose, ask a friend or mentor to look over your work and select which ones they think you should include.
Rethink including your earliest work. Even if the first illustration you ever did is near and dear to your heart, give newer work priority when it comes to selecting which pieces to put in your portfolio. However, if a school or hiring director specifically requests to see older work (to see how you've grown), include the older illustrations.^{[2] X Research source}
1. It's tempting to want to show employers how you've grown, but it's better to only showcase your most refined pieces.
Adhere to any requirements of the school, gallery, or job application. If you're making a portfolio to submit to a school, gallery, or particular job, look up what they require and let that guide you. You might even look at other artists they've commissioned to see examples of the styles they're looking for.^{[3] X Research source}
1. For instance, some schools like to see older pieces to show how you've grown while a gallery may only want to see new pieces.
2. If a job listing specifically states they only want to see realistic illustrations, only choose pieces that fall under that category (i.e. don't include cartoon strips or surrealist pieces).
Take high-quality photos of larger illustrations that can't physically fit. If you have massive illustrations that can't fit into a physical portfolio, use a high-resolution camera to take a photo of the piece so you can digitally resize it to fit your portfolio and print it out. Hang the piece on the wall or prop it up and place the camera at a height so it's in line with the center of the piece.^{[4] X Research source}
1. Make sure you have good lighting that won't add too much warmth or coolness to the natural colors of the piece.
2. Natural, indirect lighting on a cloudy day will bring out the truest colors in the piece.
3. Once you've snapped the photo and downloaded it, you can use photo-editing software to crop, resize, or make minor adjustments.

Putting Your Portfolio Together

Buy a sturdy portfolio book or case that's a little bigger than your pieces. Your pieces should fit into the book or case with at least 2 inches (5.1 cm) of room to spare on each side so you can turn the pages and close it with ease. Choose a case with sturdy covers that won't bend or get scratched easily.^{[5] X Research source}
1. A cost-effective option is to use a booklet stitched to a larger outside cover. It may not be able to take a lot of wear and tear over time, but it's a good choice if you're a student making your first portfolio.
2. Feel free to get creative with the material of your portfolio book—cloth, metal, and wood covers can look just as professional and show off your unique style!
3. The benefit of using is a case is that it comes with a handle so you can carry it around like a briefcase. Some cases are padded so they can withstand weather and general wear and tear.
Use art sleeves to protect your work—don't use photocopies. Only include the original pieces in your work so the colors are as true as you intended and any textures are visible to the eye. Be sure to use plastic art sleeves so the originals don't bleed or get damaged.^{[6] X Research source}
1. You can buy art sleeves at most art supply stores and they vary in size from A4, A3, A2, and A1. Pick the right size for your artwork and the portfolio book or briefcase you want to use.
2. Photocopying may dull the color and make any textures on the piece nearly invisible.
Include only 1 piece per page of your portfolio. Make sure each piece fills most of the page and be as consistent as possible with the amount of white space around the actual illustration. If your pieces take up the entire page, consider using larger art sleeves with borders to make it look more professional.^{[7] X Research source}
1. However, if you have small pieces that go together, feel free to group 4 to 6 of them evenly onto the page. This is a good option if you did several little pieces for a single project.
Start with a strong piece and order the rest to tell a story. Start with what you think is your strongest piece to get their attention and then order the rest in a way that hints at a cohesive narrative. Look through the pieces you want to include and group them by themes to help you decide the ordering. There's no right or wrong way to do it, so play around until you find an ordering you like.^{[8] X Research source}
1. For instance, if you decide the theme of a particular portrait is geometric, you might follow that piece with another that's heavy on stark shapes and lines.
Add an artist statement and lines of explanatory text, if necessary. Write a short artist statement that touches on what you're trying to say with your art. Keep it between 150 and 200 words and include any themes, influences, or techniques that you may have referenced or used in your pieces. If particular pieces were for prior commission work, feel free to write 1 or 2 lines about who or what organization the piece was for underneath the work.^{[9] X Research source}
1. For instance, 'As an artist, I try to create work that reflects the celebration of the mundane in everyday life. Part of my process is spending a lot of time observing others in the state of boredom…'
2. You can tuck copies of your artist statement into a side pocket of the portfolio book or have it be the first or last page.
3. You can also include small graphics of any products your piece may have been printed on (e.g., tea boxes, candles, food packages) below the piece.
Make it revisable so you can tailor it to different jobs. Format your portfolio in a way that isn't too difficult to revise if you need to add or take out a piece. Make sure you can easily slide each piece in and out of the sleeves without damaging them in case you want to change the ordering.^{[10] X Research source}
1. Don't spend a lot of money getting a professional book printed and bound because you won't be able to modify it once it's set.

Creating a Digital Portfolio

Make sure your images load quickly on the website. Nothing is more frustrating to employers (or anyone, for that matter) than having to wait for images to load on a site, so optimize them for your website so there's no lag time with scrolling or shifting pages. If you're making your own site on WordPress, make sure to choose a fast host and check all the specs before your commit.^{[11] X Research source}
1. WP Engine, A2 Hosting, and HostGator Cloud are good host options for the best speed (but you only need this if you're building a WordPress site).
2. You might also consider using a content delivery network (CDN) that stores your website's files at data centers around the world so someone far away won't have any lag time downloading the image (even if it is only a second or 2).
3. You can also enable browser caching so each time the same person visits your site, they don't have to wait for their browser to download the images every time.
Organize your pieces into defined sections with 10 pieces each. If particular pieces work together by theme or by aesthetic, group those together and give it a name that represents the smaller collection. Think of this as making mini-portfolios out of the body of your work.
1. This will also help potential employers navigate your site and see if you can do what they're looking for.
2. For instance, you might have the following sections on your page: portraits, comics, posters, realistic, typography.
Put your showstopper piece on your homepage with a white backdrop. If you have a single standout piece you want your viewers to see first, feature that one on the homepage on top of a solid white background. Your homepage is going to get the most traffic, so make it pop!^{[12] X Research source}
1. Don't use any backgrounds that are too distracting (like stripes, loud colors, or patterns).
2. If a piece looks better with a black background, go for that. Just keep in mind that it's easier to read black text on a white background than white text on a black background.
Write an artist statement and have a special tab for it on your homepage. Craft an artist statement that hints at what your work is about. Let the viewer know any particular themes present in your work or any special processes you use to create. Think of it as the 'intro' to your work and keep it short—2 paragraphs (150 to 200 words) is a good length.^{[13] X Research source}
1. For example: 'For as long as I've been painting I can't escape the theme of boundaries—the self versus the 'other,' ego versus mind, gods versus man, yin and yang. I hope to ignite a sense of curiosity and urgency with my work…'
Add a mobile plugin to your site so it looks great on phones and tablets. Go to your site on your phone or tablet and make sure it looks just as professional on a small screen. Check to make sure you can easily scroll and access different section headings without having to fiddle with the page orientation.^{[14] X Research source}
1. Most website builders will give you the option of a mobile plugin.