Concept Art Portfolio Advice Checklist

Portfolio Advice I’ve gotten over the years and how to start a good art portfolio

• List 3 portfolio pages that inspire you. (suggestion, add ones from artists already working at the company you are applying for)

  • (Bonus Point reach out to said artists and ask for critique)

  • Focus on the quality and analyse the work they do. How do they help the next person in the pipeline?

• Show your best piece as the first forefront image and the second best piece last. Start strong and end strong.

• UI IS SO IMPORTANT, Keep portfolio to one page scroll and make sure to test how others will view your portfolio

  • Don’t put too many barriers between the personal

• Create professional work and show if there is a 3d model made of your work. put your work into context and give credit wherever possible

  • This helps employers envision what it would be like to work with you. What files do you provide, what are your sketches are like and it reaffirms how you would fit into their team, how much training it would take to get you to work within their pipeline

  • If you are aiming to be a 2d game artist, show your work in a final game screen shot, if you are doing more environmental concept art, state that you are doing preproduction art to help inspire the team. Give context to your work through words, anything that would clear up why you are the right person for a particular job.

• Show more than one style but within the same vein. (if you’re doing semi stylised do two styles that are semi stylised but in different ways. )

  • You can do one style too if thats what you’re interested in, but more often than not there will be different projects with different art style requirements, in my personal opinion its better to show your versatility rather than being a one style person.

  • Don’t just follow trends, keep that in experimentations if you need to. Incorporate elements from an art style you’re interested in so that you can develop your own unique voice. Art directors go through many portfolios and many will follow the newest trend. For example I remember hearing from an art director when spiderverse came out he was so sick of seeing spiderverse style work when reviewing portfolios he would automatically reject those portfolios. Don’t be that person.

• Project based work over one off artwork

  • You want to show the employers that you can work within a style and you understand the style well enough for different scenarios, having too many one off pieces makes it hard for the employer to brand you as a vcertain type of artist which decreases the likilihood of getting hired for the job

  • anything that is one off illustrations can be kept in a separate page called experimentation.

• Make sure that all work is NDA approved to show to public or add to a password protected webpage if need be

Additional

• You can have your portfolio on artstation or your own website

  • I chose to have it on my own website because it gives me the control of creating a UI that works best for the client

  • I get to explain more about the project in an organized manner.

• Focus on the company you are applying for

  • if they have requirement for how they like to see their portfolios make sure you give them the exact experience they want.

• Link all portfolio website on all socials

  • You never know when or where a client finds you so make sure to link your portfolio everywhere so you can seize every opportunity

• Personal Opinion: Have an art blog

  • If you want you can add writing to describe how you curated the style and why you decided certain things, this gives context to your work and helps prospective clients interested in your work to ask more questions during interviews

  • Some people will read it and most people won’t, it can also give you a clear indication on how much a client wants to work with you.

Guide for establishing type of work

Finished painting= shows clear material indication, fully colored piece, conveying final mood.

Line art- serves to show ideas quickly, can be a part of a finished look but generally served as a process piece.

Sketch : Doesn’t have clear material indication, can be messy, made fast black and white, great for showing iterations of a piece.