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If I am questioning a piece, then don’t include it, only show the highest quality.
Don’t put in subpar work even if I think I haven’t got enough
Review each to see which is the easiest to work with while looking professional.
Interactive PDF: links to videos etc, these can be showed in an interview. Incase I have books or publications. Any packaging design
STRUCTURE THE P O R T F O L I O : Consider beginning, middle and end!
‘less is more’ – the design around the illustrations themselves should be minimal, don’t detract from the work itself. MAKE SURE ENDING IS STRONG
KEEP IMAGES BIG: Focus on the work rather than the design (both in pdf portfolio and website)
Could create an ‘Illustration’ and ‘Graphic Design’ section on my website portfolio, while having separate types of PDF portfolios.
Could include WIPs or alternate outcomes if applicable or good enough to show creative process.
PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION: Leonardo Santamaria - Very simplistic design, the images are very large on the screen and stand out - The large design definitely works well for his editorial style and scenic illustrations. - Clear sense of colour scheme running through. - Tightly spaced images, suits the style and looks like a curated gallery, each piece still stands out from eachother. - Images reveal the info when hovering over - I want to space and size my work out similarly to Santamaria in my own website. - I also want my images to reveal the info when hovering over them.
PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION: Leonardo Santamaria INFO PAGE: - A small bio about myself, the type of work I create and the types of clients I have had (in the future). - Could include UCA Education - Include relevant contacts, email, Instagram, behance etc.
PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION: Anna Ginsburg - Large displays of each piece of work, very clear sense of design - (Not all pieces are illustrations, a lot are projects she has directed) - I personally find this kind of website slightly hard to navigate and may not be best for my type of portfolio/ what my portfolio would be used for, to get employed. - While it works very well for job and looks interesting, I think I should focus on displaying more work within one scroll of the page.
PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION simple + bold title
small icon links to Instagram posts
Moving gif thumbnails help make pag e more interesting
C O HESI V E S T Y LE + C OLOUR S C HEME
I like the font and styling of Ebsworth’s page, I think it would be easier to keep my website with the title and headers in one line at the top to leave more room for the images.
PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION: Jess Ebsworth - I love the way that Ebsworth has structured her website, where each thumbnail represents a different project/commission – which is definitely something I’d like to do for my own website, this would mean having to choose the best piece for a thumbnail on the homepage. - I do need to consider the size of the images on the page, as some of Ebsworths’ piece are harder to look at and appreciate as you cannot see the piece fully on the computer screen. I will make sure that you can at least see enough of each image on the screen at once.
PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION: Jess Ebsworth
I love Ebsworth’s style and way of designing. The bold shapes and colours paired with the bits of line pattern and some repeat designs work really well, especially for the projects Ebsworth’s worked on. I would love to design for an Asian restaurant, and so my portfolio should reflect some of this.
PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION: Jonny Wan - Clear style and colours. - The thumbnails display a variety of things from the illustrations themselves to the applied illustrations on products – I could do so too to make the user experience more exciting on my website. - For my own PDF PORTFOLIO, I should also make sure I show the applications of the illustration, such as product designs or mockups etc, when applicable, especially for graphic design jobs. - Very neat and clear layout. - Each thumbnail also links to a page about the project.
HOW TO DO INFO PAGES
Wan’s info page has more detail about himself, whereas Ebsworths’ is a lot more simple, I would like to make my info page a slight cross between both, or split the info between an ABOUT page and a CONTACT page. Info: About me, where I’m from/based, the type of work I like to create, a little about me. Contact: Email, socials, phone number?
Quite casual language
I love Hos’ abstract artistic style, especially the bright colours, and bold patterns she creates. I would love to work in a similar way more, rather than just creating scenes, I’d like to work with more abstract shapes within my portfolio, and create more patterned pieces as I feel that this style has more commercial use.
I could try to create more simplistic yet refined designs in my own portfolio. I especially like the display of festival and commercial product work, such as Calvin Klein and Nike product illustrations/ commissions. I want to strive to work for these kind of clients also, luxury fashion or sports fashion.
I love Hos’ style and I hope to create an illustration style using bright colours in a similar way as I already love to use these types of pinks, oranges and teals in my work. I also hope to create designs with similar bold shapes and patterns.
Look into illustrator postcards, and look into art directors to send my work to.
Make sure to keep my INSTAGRAM up to date.
Keep in the know about these events, take any opportunities to get seen.
EMAIL WORKS BEST: Especially for directors in different time zones.
EMAIL IS THE EASIEST TO USE,
PROMOTIONAL EMAIL: Introduce yourself, “this is my work that I wanted to share with you” – KEEP IT SIMPLE
Look into the type of work they have and find the specific aspect that I’d fit into, eg portraits, editorial etc. Say what I’d be interested in working in. - Send work that’s specific to this.
Just because it’s published work, doesn’t mean it’s the best, I DON’T HAVE TO SEND PUBLISHED WORK, it can be personal work. As long as it’s THE BEST work, and what I’d want to do more of.
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P R O F E S S I O N A L P R A C T I C E TA L K S . I L L U S T R AT I O N P O R T F O L I O TA L K . KEY NOTES: • • • • •
CONSISTENT STYLE – this is very important to show in your portfolio, however INHOUSE ILLUSTRATORS can be without consistent style, they can be FLEXIBLE COLOUR PALETTE + MARK MAKING – People should be able to get a feel of how you choose colours and how you make marks on the page through your work. VARIETY OF CLIENTS ORIGINALITY VARIET OF SUBJECT MATTER – You’re not going to be hired for work that you don’t show you can do. Show a variety of
SUBJECT MATTER EXAMPLES Characters Scenery Typography Animals Food and Drink Children’s Conceptual
Repeat Patterns Maps Botanicals Infographics Objects Likenesses Science/Technical
• Showing a variety of work is especially good for a portfolio website, and also a PDF portfolio, unless the job is very specific in which case I could pick out the most applicable subjects to showcase. •
HAVING A WEBSITE IS VERY IMPORTANT – Along with sending a PDF portfolio, it is also very useful and important for employers to see your own professional website.
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P R O F E S S I O N A L P R A C T I C E TA L K S . I L L U S T R AT I O N P O R T F O L I O TA L K .
KEY NOTES: M ANAGI NG YO UR WEB S I T E: • • • •
Youname.com Info/hello@yourname.com @yourname Recommended domain provider: iwantmyname.com OR godaddy.com
• KEEP IT SIMPLE AND FUNCTIONAL • MUST WORK ON MOBILE/TABLET • CLEAR CONTACT PAGE • Recommended web host: Cargo Collective / Squarespace • Try to show work in context – e.g. in a magazine layout, on a website etc. create mockups • Build your portfolio with personal work too • Always start with a client + brief in mind – see how your work can be applied commercially etc. • QUALITY IS IMPORTANT: Delete anything that isn’t brilliant.
PORTFOLIO SITES: • Leave a good impression by first 5-10 seconds. • Is the work hidden within a complicated layout? • Is work hidden in different sections? • C L E A N + S I M P L E D E S I G N L AY O U T • Consider the scroll experience, e.g not all thumbnails/ icons are the same size/ • Could show sketchbook work separately. • SEO: Tagging pics with easy to find words + filename.
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P R O F E S S I O N A L P R A C T I C E TA L K S .
I L LU S T R AT I O N P O R T F O L I O TA L K .
KEY NOTES: M ANAGI NG YO UR WEB S I T E: • • • • •
ABOUT SECTION: Short bio Client list Expertise Contact details
PDF PORTFOLIOS: • Corner labels rather than headers? - more room for the images • Can tailor PDFs for each client – sometimes better to keep it precise • Tell/Show impact had on past clients – how the designs helped the client or company.
SOCIAL MEDIA • Instagram can be used to show culture + creative process • Shows a little more personality • Can include sketchbook work. NOTES • Design studios + animation studios + Ad agencies: can work in many styles, so you don’t necessarily need to show consistency. • Campaign magazine: search Top 100 ad agencies. • Design Week: job Board (keep updated) • Siteinspire.com – portfolio inspiration. • Can use Cargo, Wix. E X A M P L E S F O R I N S P I R AT I O N : • Tatiana Boyko • Dan Woodger • Katie Scott • Alva Shog • Jonny Wan
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REINFORCING ONLINE PRESENCE
I N S TA G R A M (FROM CAREERS TALK) • Instagram can be used to show culture + creative process • Shows a little more personality • Can include sketchbook work. To make more use out of my Instagram I definitely need to keep updating it more often. I should also be more open to posting more of the creative process such as sketches, to give something more to the page than a website would have. I also need to refine the content I have already out up so that I can show more of the distinctive style I will be developing as I go along.
As my research has shown, art directors keep on track of illustrators through Instagram, so it’s important I show that I am continuously doing exciting projects. Updating regularly would then mean I stay fresh on art directors minds.
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REINFORCING ONLINE PRESENCE
I N S TA G R A M : S TO R I E S Using Instagram stories to promote myself and keep myself relevant to my followers
By making my account a BUSINESS ACCOUNT, I am able to see insights into how my posts are doing and being interacted with. I find that Instagram stories are a great way to generate more engagement with my work, especially as I am able to freely post works in progress without having to officially put them on my page etc. Regularly posting stories allows people to keep up to date with what I am doing, and generally keep people interested.
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REINFORCING ONLINE PRESENCE
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The Dots is a creative platform that was recommended to me by alumni and others online. It is a good way for me to share my work while building connections with other creatives and professionals. It’s a good way to see projects that may not be posted on mainstream platforms, but the biggest benefit is getting to see creative work associated with specific companies and brands. I also get to see each person involved in each project, and see what different roles there are to get into in the industry.
MAKING MY OWN DOTS PROFILE EXAMPLE OF A PROJECT I’VE SHARED EXAMPLE OF HOW I’VE MADE CONNECTIONS THROUGH THE P L AT F O R M
REINFORCING ONLINE PRESENCE
BEHANCE • I think Behance will be an important platform for me to use, a lot of people including tutors have recommended to make a profile to use as a way to show people my work. • I find most of the best projects and creative pieces I have seen, on Behance. • The platform allows you to tag work so that it can be found by other people. • It also allows you to design the page when you post a project which should give me a slight bit more creative freedom of how I present my work.
BEHANCE On Behance I can lay out my projects in a thought out presented way.
STUDIO IANUS ANDREA BAX
It’s also useful to include parts of the design process as I’ve seen often (I could do this for my own projects when applicable)
ISSUU is a very popular and well used platform for professional portfolios. It is a good platform to use as it automatically displays your portfolio as a digital book and so is an effective way for people to look through your work.
It’s important to consider the design of the cover also, as this is the first thing someone will see, but also gives a sense of the work inside.
HOWEVER: This means that I should consider the design of the ISSUU portfolio differently to a PDF version that I would attach to an email, this is because those PDFs may be scrolled through as single pages down the screen, rather than a page flipping experience like in Issuu.
I also consider using an illustration on the cover, however since I don’t have enough of a developed style, it may not represent the portfolio work well enough. THINGS TO INCLUDE: Name, timespan of work, profession/field. This is the small bio/cv section mentioned in the professional practice handbook, however I feel that this may be unnecessary for me as I have not had much work experience yet. It may be best to keep my portfolio AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE which is what I have been advised in career talks.
I COULD INCLUDE COVER PAGES – however if I’ve not got a lot of work, then it may not be necessary to split things into sections.
VERY SIMPLE AND CLEAR LAYOUT: I’d like to do something similar.
THINGS TO INCLUDE: TITLE, type of work, client unless ‘personal artwork’, date of piece, short description.
I like the varying formats of thumbnail and description pages paired with full width image pages. The contrast is very stylish while staying simple and doesn’t detract from the work. I could do something similar – while playing around with various page sizes to see what displays my work in the best pay.
The varying sizes of images definitely works nicely in his portfolio, but I may have to make sure that things don’t fluctuate to much, and that any sizing/design choices make sense. TYPOGRAPHY IS SIMPLE: The font is very clean and doesn’t detract from the work.
PDF EXAMPLE, not Issuu
This could be a good way to design my portfolio cover if I have a relevant landscape illustration to use.
Could keep contact links simple in the bottom like Scholz.
A MUCH SIMPLER LAYOUT: Which could also work for me better, as most people advise to keep portfolios as simple as possible.
MUCH SHORTER DESCRIPTIONS OF WORK: I could find a middle ground between Legawa’s organised decriptions and Scholz’ short ones. (use Legawa’s headers)
CONTACTS TO INCLUDE: • • • •
Address (?) Phone (?) EMAIL website
LAST PAGE OF SCHOLZ’ portfolio: I could also include a similar ‘About’ page in my portfolio at the end or at the beginning – this would keep the rest of the portfolio contents as simple as possible, avoiding using much text within it.
INITIAL PORTFOLIO DRAFT: • • • •
Made on PowerPoint (left to right) Fairly easy to navigate as a PDF that opens up on google. Images are clear and large which work well. I may need to reconsider the ordering of certain images/projects.
INITIAL PORTFOLIO DRAFT: •
From my research, the beginning and ending have to be strong.
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It could be better to use the ‘Into The Melting Pot’ illustrations first, as these are stronger pieces of work than my initial editorial piece on the first page.
I also need to redesign the front cover into something more thought out.
These pieces could go first instead as they’re stronger and more refined.
PDF PORTFOLIO SEPARATE FROM ISSUU PORTFOLIO •
I will need to redesign the format slightly for an issuu booklet, and perhaps consider the layout in a wider format, as the Issuu portfolio will be viewed in double page spreads
THINGS TO CONSIDER: •
How well things across a double page spread work together, both things on each page must be RELEVANT TO EACHOTHER to keep it cohesive.
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The typography and page design could either spread out or I’d have more freedom to use spaced out designs for text.
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The size of the double page spread should be easy to look through, not too wide – the powerpoint pages as they are may be too wide in double page spreads.
• I much prefer this revised order and layout for my portfolio. • The front cover and contacts page also work a lot better than the previous layout. • The double page ‘iSoju’ project page also works very well, with the variety of image size, yet consistent brand style.
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• In reviewing this layout I think it works very well, however if I had more work of this quality, I would be able to spread out the pages and designs into a more exciting/interesting portfolio. • The descriptions and overall layout are very simply and clean which is exactly how I had researched portfolios should be, and so I’m happy with the simplicity of this layout. FEEDBACK FROM GEMMA • The main feedback from Gemma, was that my PDF portfolio did not necessarily display the ‘motion graphics’ skills I had mentioned in my career plan, and so it may be better to create an interactive PDF with video or hyperlinks showing these pieces.
IN ORDER TO DISPLAY MOTION GRAPHICS/ANIMATION SKILLS
Now, when posted onto Issuu, the animations show play buttons and allow you to click and play them directly on the sire.
May need to reconsider my front cover, however I may not have an illustration of the right style and quality for the front cover.
I could include a contents, page however, since we’ve been advised to create around 12-16 pages, I may not need this, and I don’t want to put in subpar work to fill the portfolio up, and bring the overall quality down.
For my own portfolio I could perhaps create more landscape double page spreads like this? Perhaps with my iSoju billboard poster.
I perhaps have room to make my font a bit smaller to make the design of my portfolio neater, like Ramdani’s
INITIAL LAYOUT
FINAL LAYOUT Larger images, descriptions laid out on right page to leave more space for billboard poster (more impact)
INITIAL LAYOUT
FINAL LAYOUT •
Rearranged to allow more image showcasing of ‘The Next Stop’ animation
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This gives the portfolio a little bit more life while staying very simple.
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The full page image was inspired by Legawa and works very well.
I was struggling as to how to arrange my logo and branding designs for Manah Farm. So I looked at a graphic design portfolio to see how logo designing could be arranged on a page.
FINAL LAYOUT: I found that this was a very good way to format the page, and allowed for me to showcase the chocolate packaging most.
SCHOLZ’ PAGE
EDITING MY FINAL PAGE: Inspired by Scholz, I turned my final page from a blank contacts page, into a more full About page, to give my portfolio a little more personality. MY FINAL PAGE
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I think I’ve been able to critically select my best pieces well as I’ve managed to keep within the hand in guidelines for portfolio size. My portfolio is 14 pages long and 5MB, so is a great size.
During our careers events we were told the importance of having your own website as an illustrator and so I wanted to find which was the best platform to use for me starting out.
KEY NOTES: • The most friendly website builder to use would definitely be Wix. • Wix allows you to easily move and place things on your page • Allows you to save before publishing live. • Allows you to play videos directly on the site, rather than having to embed videos. • Wix has greater SEO. • Squarespace has automatic responsive web design, which helps with different screen sizes. • OVERALL: As I am just starting out making my first website, it would be a lot easier to use Wix, as this will allow me to make the website making process a lot smoother.
A lot of people consider illustrator websites to be portfolios in themselves and so it’s equally important that I make my website just as high quality as my PDF portfolio.
YOU NEED MORE THAN JUST BEHANCE – you need a BESPOKE website
Depending on whether I choose to use a gallery format or a more layered format – I could consider using a cover image for the homepage. However most illustrator portfolios I have been shown in professional career talks se the gallery/ grid format so that viewers can get a better impression of my work straight away.
I think big images are very important, especially for my work, considering their detail or atmospheric style. However I think my work may be best presented MORE SPACED OUT, as the variety of different subjects may seem cluttered when put together in this collage format.
ANIMATED GIFS WILL BE IMPORTANT: Keeps the page exciting to look at and my animation skills are important to showcase.
By using the homepage as a menu page to look into the full projects themselves, like Ebsworth and Wan, I could make the website even more interesting, and display more thought out projects.
IN THE FUTURE: When I have a more developed style, I will be able to choose a more suited ‘cover image’ for my website, as currently I don’t have work that embodies my style so much.