Art - How to build a Portfolio! - Some tips & tricks!

Hey Steemers!

I hope you are all doing well?.. The weather here in The Netherlands has been awesome.. So im a bit sorry for myself as I sit inside working all day!
Ohwell.. Work now . chill later!

Last week I was asked to go to the Playgrounds Art Festival to do some portfolio reviews.. As I am a working freelance artist for the Game and Movie industry I should know a few things about how aspiring artists can improve their work and portfolio so they have a bigger chance of landing a job! .. Right?

So in this post I'll share some of the things I saw in peoples portfolio's and the tips & tricks I gave that could hopefully help you get your work and folio in order!.. So you get some work!! ;)

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Getting Started !

I started my freelance artist career about 8 years ago.. I was forced to start looking for work as my savings account was draining and it was about to go empty.
At that time I was still full-on in STUDY-MODE!.. I wasn't focussed on making portfolio pieces that would show my best artwork/qualities that could potentially persuade a potential client to hire me!

I was learning how light reacted when it hit stone.. or wood.. and how muscles take on certain shapes when moving in a certain way.

So yeah.. When I needed to get some work I drastically changed my habbit of JUST studying.. to studying+imagination!
What that basically meant was this:

Everytime I did a study of whatever it is.. I would then also do something similar from imagination.
It could've been as simple as making a study of an apple.. And then take out a few chips from imagination.
Or when I did a study of a portrait I would then make one up myself.. This resulted in .. :( Realizing I wasn't there yet!

(These are from 2010)

But what was happening through this habbit was that I was forcing myself to apply what I learned into a piece from mind.
Which improved my imaginary work tremendously!

And not just that.. I was quickly building a portfolio!

- Apply your studies in Imaginary work to improve your skill as an artist and create new portfolio piece along the way!

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Building A Portfolio!

During the portfolio review sessions I noticed that a lot of people have really cool portfolio.. they are just in the wrong order.
So this seems like a useless tip.. or perhaps sounds completely logical to you...

But if you build your portfolio to send around to Art Directors hoping to land a job..

Make sure your portfolio is in the right order!!..

So here are a few tips on how to build it:

• Your portfolio is best aimed at the company you want to work for (if you have enough work that is!)
• Make sure your portfolio doesn't become a desperate plea to proof you are good (not everything is good enough to be in a portfolio.)
  It is always better to have 6 'GREAT' pieces than 6'GREAT'+12'mehh..' pieces..
• Select 3 of your best works, put 2 of those in the beginning and 1 as last!
  The first 2 are there to make the AD want to see more, ending with another great one will make it more convincing that the stuff in the middle was also really good ;)
  
• FanArt - Don't do it.. Really.. Unless you apply your own unique design to an already existing character it comes of as cheap.
  If you want to do it showing off different styles then make a seperate little page/piece where you show off all your different styles in 1 go. But showing a 'Goku' drawing or something is amateurish.. Sorry!
• Personal work & Professional work
  It is a great addition if you are able to show some of the professional work you did for clients in the past. It gives the client an indication of what he or she can expect.. If the work is older and doesn't represent what you can now make.. Scrap it...
  Reserve a small piece in your portfolio where you can perhaps show professional work from the past with a year/date as you show what clients you have worked for.. It does show you can create work while working with an AD, which means you really are a professional! ;)

(Moby Franke sharing his wisdom during a round of portfolio reviews. He currently work for Riot games as a principal artist for League of Legends)

Reaching out!.. GET THAT WORK!

One of the very few things I ever had to do... Honestly.. I am the luckiest beep artist ever..!

I've never actually reached out and looked for work.. For some strange reason it has always come to me. Yes.. This is very very fortunate and almost defies reality really.. So this is not to show off or brag.. i am well aware that his an almost unique situation and I'm very grateful that things have played out over the years as they did! .. BUT!

I do know how to do it! ;)
I've been in the situation of hiring, recruiting artists for a whole variety of projects over the last few years,, so here's a few do's and don'ts!

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Okay.. So you have constructed your portfolio.. You are ready to send it out to the companies you want to work for.. ready to land that dreamjob! .. Right?! Let's do it!

First of.. sorry.. but are you seriously there?.. Be honest to yourself.. could you produce the kind of quality they are asking for right now?.. This seems like such a harsh thing to say.. but someone has to say it! I'm SORRY!

Last week I had a bunch of people in front of me with the dream to apply to 'Blizzard' or Riot.. but.. their work isn't at that level.. Not even close! It is not a fun thing to say and some people don't take it lightly. But don't waste anyone's time by sending student quality work to the biggest and (to most considered) best gamestudios in the world! Be Realistic!!

Some of the key artists at those studies have only joined them when they were in 40's! .. If you want to work there.. fine.. but again..
BE REALISTIC! :D

It is a goal.. that you can reach.. but you need to plan out the steps before you are there.. Okay.. so now we have that out of the way!

Reaching out to a company you want to work for!

• Make sure you know who you are mailing!
  I have in the past received job apps from people writing to the wrong company, or mispelling the company name.. If you do that.. ur out!
• Motivate WHY you want to do work for them, be honest, be real... If you apply to a studio that makes mobile games, don't tell them you love all their games and think they are the best in the world OMG!.. They aren't a bunch of idiots. Be real!
  Motivate that you would like to work in a team, that you expect to able to learn more when you are there.. not just art but how the company works, how the mobile game industry functions etc.
• Attach your portfolio in a .pdf, AD's are mostly reluctant to open zip-files or click random links.. everyone fears hacking and viruses!
  If you don't have a pdf, then link it to your website or Artstation.
• Make sure you drop in your contact details! .. I know this sounds super lame advice.. but in the past I have gotten applications from people that for some reason did not answer their mail and I couldn't get ahold of them in any other way.. bye job :(
• Give out a little bit of information about yourself.. Who is the company having contact with.
  Again sounds logical but .. people just forget.
  Who are you, how old are you, have you done work before? Yes? .. What?! Where?.. Worked in-house before? Where?.. Do you lift bruh?

Besides all these very logical normal points to take in, make sure it doesn't look like a mass-mailing.
We all want to feel a bit special, we want to see there was an effort put into the application email sent, so be sure to take your time and type out a good little mail.. no spelling or grammar issues! (i'm perhaps not giving out the best example with this article ..oops!)

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I hope these little piece of advice and some tips will help you land your dream job or get your freelance career started!

Thank you for reading!
Please let me know what you think, or what experiences you have finding work! ;)

Cheers!
Rogier / @beekart