Art Portfolio

[Tomato]

Crossposting from Meshmasters forum, thought you guys might have some input.

To put a very long and convuluted story in as short a space I can: I want to go into digital art as a career. Preferrably I'd want to transfer to a college to learn higher-level techniques, but I know I'll need to put together an art portfolio. I've never actually done anything like that before however, so I'm a little lost. Any "Idiot's guide to Art Portfolio"'s out there I should take a look at?

As for what I was considering including (any critiques on this list will be welcomed)...

Several of my finished Drawings, including My Darek Redesign, and The colorized versions of Tomato and Sai which are currently in-production

Skins using my own bases, such as Chnybe, Mahty (female on the right) and the "Young Heroes" avatar I'm working on

My Most Recent Tomato rendition

Several of my sprite works

And finally my logo designs, such as Tomato Vs. Headquarters(old humor site), Influx (my current site) and finally the new one for the Freedom Reborn Mod

Now, a few of these things aren't complete yet, but I'm still going to be completing one more semester of CSM (Maryland's community college) and I expect all of them will be done by the end of november.

Also, what are the proprieties when it comes to using other artworks? Several of my sprites (I was just grabbing links, so I couldn't really seperate the ones that are mine from the ones that were based on other artworks) and This revamped image use base art from official work or from work from other artists. I have permission from the non-official artists, of course, but my concern is more do I put them in the portfolio, and if I do what all do I have to tack on?

[zuludelta]

Never having applied for an art program myself, I'm not sure what goes into those particular application portfolios but I can give you some general tips on making a portfolio, whether you're doing it for a job application or whatever else reason you need one:

- Make sure you know what your prospective employer/school is looking for and focus your portfolio material on their interests. Filling your portfolio with material they're not looking for will only serve to dilute their interest in your pieces that do fall under their purview.

- While variety is good, it's best to focus on your strengths so as to create a good initial impression, but don't mistake focus for monotony, change up techniques and media so you don't risk looking like a one-trick pony.

- Be realistic with your expectations. A lot of novice artists have a somewhat skewed estimation of their abilities and their work, so be prepared for rejection (although I imagine this won't be too much of an issue when applying to a school compared to looking for paid work as an artist... after all, the school wants your money and will likely take the path of least resistance to get it).

Good luck!

[Cardmaster]

Now, as someone who just finished up the whole applying to art schools thing, lemme tell ya, it can be a tricky business at first...
It really is so important to look at what each school is looking for and tailor your portfolio to meet their interests and needs.

Now, this is by no means an insult to your work, but some schools won't accept comic book or cartoon art in applications; believe me, I learned this hard way with CalArts...

Most art schools in this country still uses outdated methods for their application review process, and so what they want to see is lots of "fine art" pieces.. Unless they're an incredibly new and accepting art school, I wouldn't show them your skins or your sprite work.. they'll just poo-poo it snootily as "video game stuff."

What I would do, if possible, is enroll in a drawing or painting class; not because I think your skills need work, but simply to give you a body of work. The average Drawing 101 class at any college will spit you out at the other end with a solid portfolio.

The average "rule" you want to shoot for is 20 pieces in your portfolio, and you want them all to be the best examples of stuff you can find.

In my experience, some surefire point-winners to put in your portfolio would be some of the following:
-Charcoal value drawings of still life setups
-Gesture drawings of people (again, usually charcoal)
-Ink drawings of still life setups
-Some sort of drawing just oozing perspective
-Technical drawings of an object like a bicycle (or anything with lots of little parts)

Again, this all depends on the art schools you're applying to; got any ideas as far as a list of schools goes?
If you're looking into digital art as a major, Savannah College of Art and Design is FANTASTIC for that, as is Art Center College of Design. They're pretty much seen as the top two schools as far as digital art (for concept art and whatnot) is concerned. The other nice thing is they've both got fairly "easy" applications (Savannah doesn't actually require you to have a portfolio in their application, but if you have one and it's good it can get you a lottttttt of scholarship money)

So, I hope that was at least a teensy bit helpful, and I hope nothin' I said's got you bummed.. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about the process in more detail.

And good luck, mate! :D

-CM

[captainspud]

Some random tips from my experience:

1. Don't put anything in there you aren't proud of. If you look at a piece and say, "I guess I'll include this", then it doesn't belong. You should love every piece in there. You'll probably find it necessary to go back and clean some of them up-- even something made a year ago can probably be improved by applying what you've learned in the meantime.

2. Give some thought to presentation. There are two ways to do a portfolio:

a) A simple portfolio that lets the work speak for itself. You pick a flat background (a physical portfolio would use black, an online one can use any color you like that doesn't really draw the eye) and matt the pieces with a decent margin of dead space. The idea is to avoid having the portfolio itself stand out and distract from the content.

Or...

b) You make the portfolio itself a portfolio piece. This is primarily used if you're going into a design as opposed to an art field. Basically, you demonstrate your good grasp of design rules by applying them to the portfolio. If you're a Flash developer, you go jimmies-out with the most insane ActionScript-fuelled site you've ever done. If you're a traditional graphic designer, you frame every piece in the portfolio with a contextual border and background. This kind of portfolio is time-consuming and risky-- if you don't do a spectacular job, it's just distracting and screams of "I try too hard". But if you do it right, it's an instant way to set yourself apart from the pack.

My portfolio is probably a good lesson in what NOT to do-- I was unintentionally trying to mix both approaches, and ended up with something that's not interesting enough to elicit a "Hey, that's neat", but bright enough to distract from the art. You should really pick one approach and go whole-hog into it.

3. Labelling is also important. Seems kinda obvious, but I've seen portfolios with no information, and they're kinda confusing to look at. Title, date, and medium are the standard bits to include. You can also put a text blurb beside your pieces, which can add important context to your work, but be careful about what you say. Be professional-- not stuffy and formal, but don't put a 200-word rant about how high you were when you painted this. Explain what the piece is, why you made it, and any insights you feel would help to understand it-- for example, "When doing this piece, I discovered...", or "I tried a new technique here, by...", or whatever. The blurb is especially important with hi-tech pieces, as many portfolio reviewers won't know what a skin is, and your explanation can help them understand what they're looking at. This is another thing I did wrong in my portfolio site-- my blurbs are way too casual. Like, to the point that an interviewer MENTIONED it. Look at mine, read my blurbs, and don't do what I did.

4. Be aware of what you're applying for. If you're applying for an art position, include drawings, paintings, sculptures, etc. This is the most common kind of portfolio that students have. But be aware that there's another kind-- a design portfolio. I made this mistake when I was applying for university. I was asked by two schools to give them a design portfolio, and I gave them one full of art. A design portfolio contains things you've designed-- a character whose costume you invented, a website you did the layout for, and even things like a room you decorated. I submitted the wrong kind of portfolio because I didn't understand the difference between the two. If what you're applying for doesn't specify which kind of portfolio you're supposed to submit, try your best to guess based on the information you have about the position; and in the worst case, if you really can't tell, submit a mix of both. Even if they're specific about what they want, it's often a good idea to submit, say, 10% design work in an art portfolio. Even in a pure art position, good design foundations are a big help, and if you can demonstrate that you can give substance to your art, that will often be counted for you when they select candidates.

5. Make sure you show a good range of work. Don't give them 20 charcoal drawings-- show them charcoal, pencil, ink, paint, sculpture... anything you've ever done. Most employers/schools would rather have someone who can apply themselves to different tasks than someone who rocks at one thing but is useless at anything else. If you DO rock at one thing, then of course make that the bulk of your submission. But always include a good variety of other media (constituting, let's say, 30% of the portfolio) to show that you're not a one-trick pony. If this means you have to sit down and pound out a few new pieces just for the portfolio, then so be it.

6. This one is a little weird, but I've seen people do it. THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU COULD DRAW WHEN YOU WERE SIX. I've seen people my age submit work from over a decade previous, when they were in grade school. Their justification for this was usually one of two things-- to show how much they've improved, or to show that their body of work stretches over a long period and that they're not just switching into art/design in the recent past. NEITHER OF THESE ARE IMPORTANT MESSAGES. All your employer cares about is how good you are NOW. This is yet another thing I'm guilty of on my site-- I've got pieces from several years back that really don't show me at my best, but I leave them there because I like them. This is a really bad idea. Most visitors to your portfolio site will only click on 3 to 6 pieces, and you REALLY don't want 1/3 of their visiting time to be spent looking at a crappy, smudgy pencil drawing you did in math class nine years ago. This is kind of a repeat of rule 1 above-- don't put anything in your portfolio that doesn't reflect what you can do TODAY.

Sigh... I really need to go clean up my site now. :(

[Tomato]

Thank's for the input guys, I appreciate the help more then I can say. It's an honor to have so many of you guys giving me advice  ^_^

Zulu- I completely understand what you mentioned about not diluting the interests. My intent now, expecially in the case of the sprites(if I even include them), would be to pick one or two of the best examples of that genre and focus one what I'm applying for. Preferably that's my 3d work, because that is the major I'd like to go into, but I can show enough examples of my other works depending on the application (If nothing else, I have my large sketchbook and charcoal from art 101 to go that route, as well as a few of the better drawings.)

Card- Thank you for the advice, it's nice to have someone just coming out of that field giving me some pointers. I hadn't actually decided yet which college to go into (there's an "Art Institute" in DC, but it doesn't appear to be specialized in anything that I would want) mostly because I didn't know which ones would be better for my particular field. The Savannah College of Art and Design looked nice however, and it's not actually that far from where I live now (I live in Bryan's Road Maryland, about an hour south of DC.) I'd still have to move of course, but it's close enough I wouldn't kill myself going home over breaks. Plus, if it is one of the premiere colleges for Digital Art, having gone there might be a good addition to a job application.

I've sent for a Catalog already, but just to ask... If I were to apply to that particular college or to the "Art Center College of Design", what should be my focus on the application and the portfolio? I realize the portfolio is not "nescessary" but putting in the extra effort early makes a better impression, and I could always use the Scholorship money.

Spud- Now that I've stopped laughing at #6, thank you for the advice. The advice, particularly about making a design portfolio, was really insightful. I agree about not including older works... I have several dozen old drawings that I considered just tacking on to the post, but I decided against it. I think you also have a point about tweeking old works... I had an old drawing of one of my characters that, through simple manipulation (no fancy brush techniques or anything), ended up looking 50 times better. Not good enough to fit with my newer works, but definately better.  :P

I was looking through your art portfolio, and I came across your "Smiles, Everyone!" comic... I hope you got an A on that, that thing is awesome. The idea of making Joker out of "HA"'s is absolutely the coolest thing ever.

I'm still curious though, what's the process for including collaboration works? I've worked on a few projects with other artists over the years, usually where I've taken a sketch and eithor colored it or turned it into a sprite, and I'm curious about how to go about it... Do I include the original sketch and the new artwork, and make a note that certain pieces were done by other artists, or is it better not to include anything like that at all?

[captainspud]

A couple more things since you mentioned you're looking at a 3D program:

-You'll definitely want to put life drawings in the portfolio. A common complaint from 3D hirers and teachers is how crummy most modellers' knowledge of anatomy is. Assuage their fears with a few good pictures of people-- preferably nudes if you're old enough to get into a life drawing class, but even just ask someone to stand still for ten minutes. I can't stress enough how important good anatomy is. If you've learned your anatomy purely from comic books or medical illustrations, it shows. You need to demonstrate that you can draw the full figure of a real person.

-If you're submitting a printed portfolio, you might think about including a CD with some of your work in it. Turntable rotations of your best models (well-lit and with the CAMERA moving, not the model), either as a movie or as a Quicktime VR, are more helpful to the viewer than just a single shot from a good angle. You might also consider giving a .OBJ export of your best model, but be very careful here. Only do this if the model is basically flawless. They're gonna be able to tumble it around and zoom in, so make sure you didn't take any shortcuts. Personally, I don't have any models I'm happen enough with to do this... I'm just not comfortable with any of my work being given THAT level of scrutiny. It's just not that good. But if you've got a piece that you're really proud of and that you think shows off your best work, then by all means, toss one on the disc. The disc should be clearly organized with well-labeled folders, and some sort of readme (preferably on a nice html page) to kinda frame everything and list the contents of the disc.

-Pay some mind to poly budgets. You'll probably want to list poly counts for any scene renders you submit. And if you've done both, it's a good idea to show both high- and low-poly models in your portfolio. An attractive model with a shockingly low poly count is a great way to impress people.

[Tomato]

A few things on the topics brought up both in the posts and the PM's I've gotten (since they all tie together anyway)

-Part of the reason I want to start taking classes in 3D modeling is because I am only mildly experienced in that particular field... about all I'm currently capable of is small pieces, such as Tomato's leaves or Syn's Headdress. Meshing more complex segments such as a human body, complex bone attachment, and animating in general are capabilities currently alien to me. I'm still learning of course, but it would be some time before I'd be prepared to include 3d works as a premier demonstration of my talent.

Because of that, would I be better off avoiding the 3D route when applying and focus on the 2d textures instead? Ch'nybe, Tomato, and Mahteyah all were done using my own bases, as will Young Heroes' avatar (whenever I finally finish it >.<) and for the most part (though I might have to tweek a few things on the older Ch'nybe and Mahteyah skins) are solid examples of my ability.

As for what I'm thinking to include right now... I think I'm going to avoid the sprite route entirely, because not only art they not accepted by most schools, several of the best ones were done with official art or requested by other artists using their own art and characters. I'll probably include 3 or 4 of the all-custom skins, the finalized version of the Cartoon-Tomato (It's a good example of perspective, and from what I've done sofar it's likely to be one of my better works), and possibly a few sketches from the last few years.

The rest I'll buff up with sketches from my Art 101 class two years ago. I plan to take the Art 102 next semester, so I'll have better works from there as well (Where I'm going now if you have 101 you can take other classes, and 102 was the next in the series of the more contemporary art styles. I find contemporary to be incredibly boring, so I moved on to design and digital art).

Finally, what about the logos? They're good examples of design, but I don't think they fit with some of the other works. Would I be better off leaving them off the art portfolio and maybe using them for a design one?

[MJB]

Captain Spud... being... HELPFUL?!?!!

*dies*

-MJB