The Portfolio: An Artist's Best Friend

To become a creative professional, you will usually have to prove your skill with a portfolio. A portfolio can make or break an artist's chances of getting a job.

The Oxford American Dictionary defines a portfolio as "a set of pieces of creative work collected by someone to display their skills, esp. to a potential employer" or, interestingly, as "a range of products or services offered by an organization, esp. when considered as a business asset".

A portfolio can take the form of a CD or DVD, a booklet of reproductions, or a case of original works. It is a good idea to research the company to which you are applying to see what format they accept as well as what type of work they are looking for.

To answer some of my portfolio questions, I asked Russell Smith, a professional artist and former Arts & Technology teacher at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Q: Are there any basic rules for portfolios that artists should follow, regardless of the job they're applying for?

Russell:

• A. Put your best piece first
• B. Tailor it to the job you want (For example, if you are going for modeling, no need to put in the graphic design logo you created in computer imaging).
• C. Don't use techno music. If you can, have someone compose the music for you. There are plenty of music students. Or, find one and have them do a custom. Plus they can put it in their portfolio.
• D. Give credit where credit is due (for example if you worked on a group project and all you did was the textures, don't say you did the modeling).
• E. Have people take a look at it before you send it out (professor, artist that you admire, friends, heck, even Mom will have an opinion).

Q: Should portfolios be targeted to a specific industry/employer or be broad to show off all the artist's skills?

Russell:

• See answer B. No they should not be broad. If you graduate and don't have enough pieces, work on pieces for the type of job you want to get after graduation. The only exception is if you are applying to a small house that may need you to be more than just a modeler.

For more information, check out Russell's blog at atec2industry.blogspot.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook:
twitter.com/russell_smith
facebook.com/russellmania

The Life and Times of the Creative Individual

This blog aims to give you the information you need to start down the path of becoming a professional in your chosen creative field.

I will be collecting information from those I know across the creative spectrum. If you want to become a visual artist, filmmaker, game developer, author, graphic designer or musician, you’ll find useful info here. I’ll be interviewing art directors, independent moviemakers, video game designers, editors, and other creative pros to find out how to get into (and stay in) the creative industry.

For our purposes, a Creative is defined as anyone who makes money by generating creative content (with the exception of counterfeiters and people who make fake IDs. They have other sites). If your creative profession isn’t getting attention here, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to research it and put up a post.

Yes, it is possible to make money as an artist. People have done it for thousands of years, and they’re still doing it today. It’s all a matter of knowing where to look, knowing the right people, and knowing the right skills to practice. If you have talent and knowledge of how the industry works, you can make it a career.

New posts will come out about once a week. If you have any questions (or answers, or corrections to any dumb mistake I might make), feel free to leave comments—especially if you happen to be Orson Scott Card, Dave Matthews, or Steven Spielberg. Your opinions are (almost) as valuable as mine.