Plumping Your Portfolio - How to Self-Start Brilliant Pieces and Showcase Your Best Work

Written By Stephanie Broder

Yesterday, on the blog, I discussed my work to refresh my portfolio and provided tips for improving your illustration portfolio. One key takeaway is to include personal projects that showcase your strengths, especially if you are new to the industry!

But how do you self-start a project that will appeal to clients, show off your best work, and highlight your strengths and interests? That’s what we’re talking about today.

Here is my process for coming up with a self-started illustration portfolio piece:

Pick Your Audience

Remember, this is work for your portfolio. Take some time to consider your ideal client. What images would they like to see?

This is a great time to do some research on your clients AND your competition. Look at the other illustrations that your dream client has commissioned. Any consistencies? Do you think they gravitate toward a particular style or subject matter? Don’t just copy what they already have - never forget you are being hired for your unique voice! Just look for inspiration. Vibes, if you will.

Research illustrators you admire, too, who get work in the area from which you want freelance commissions. What do their portfolios look like? Look at several artists so you don’t feel compelled to copy one person's portfolio!

Choose Two or Three Skills to Highlight

Your portfolio should have a minimum of ten pieces, so remember that not every piece needs to highlight every skill. Of course, you always bring your whole repertoire of skills to your work. But think of skills your clients might like to see on display and go all in!

For example, the expression of characters is really important for book illustrations. Choosing to highlight expressions in a piece would be a good idea. In other words - no neutral expressions or tepid smiles. An illustration where a character cries, screams, cowers, or swoons would be much more exciting! Pair that with moody colour work; two skills will be on vibrant display.

Address Your Weaknesses in Advance

We all have weaknesses as illustrators. If you know what yours are, devise a plan to minimize them in your portfolio work.

For example, I tend to jump right into the characters in a piece before composing a scene. The problem is, when it comes time to add the background, it can appear as an afterthought or not quite fit. To address this, I’ll remember to thumbnail my work before starting the sketch. Don’t be scared of your weaknesses!

To help me compose a full scene, I sketched out really rough thumbnails of my ideas before I started illustrating them

Treat It Like Client Work

Imagine that you are doing your work for a tough client with the potential for a big payday. Give yourself a deadline, specifications, and high polish standards.

When you put the finished work in your portfolio, clients will see the best of what you can deliver! And you know, too, how long it reasonably takes you to make a work to the highest calibre.

Sit With It Before Posting

It can be tempting to upload a new piece to your portfolio immediately. It’s done! You worked so hard on it!

But I think sitting with a piece for a day or two is better. This gives you some distance from the relief of finishing the work to look critically at it. Are there any areas that need adjustment? Does it meet the goals you had for the work?

Don’t be discouraged if, after a few days, you decide the work is not portfolio-worthy. That provides you with critical information! Spend the time to process why it is not going in your portfolio and start on your next piece with that information handy.

Here are my two finished pieces! While I enjoy both of them, I think the one on the left is much more dynamic. It’s going in my portfolio and the other one can appear one day on my Instagram!

Stephanie Broder
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