I’ve had quite a few portfolio reviews in the past decade. And I’ve listened to numerous podcasts with advice on how to set up a portfolio. And read blog posts and newsletters – and I’m sure I’ve read substacks on the theme, too!
Usually something in a portfolio review or podcast or article will call out to me and that’s the thing I’ll go and change. Sometimes I’ll do a huge revamp, but mostly it will be a few tweaks and changes. For the most part, it’s the things I’m already thinking of changing a bit that shout the loudest, though sometimes a particularly persuasive argument can pull me in a whole other direction.
Because, one of the things I’ve learnt, having had so many portfolio reviews, is that there really is no one right way to do a portfolio. Most reviewers will have some personal opinions that will show through, however unbiased they try to be (and some may not try to hide them at all). Some will have some actual data to back their ideas up – agents, for example, are in a particularly good position for comparing how different portfolios work. Art directors can tell you their preferences, but they will all differ somewhat.
Here are just some of the ways opinions can differ:
single page portfolio, or categories (and how many categories?)
blog or no blog
individual posts with information for each piece, or just a caption (or no caption at all)
a small curated number of pieces (what’s the magic number? anyone?), all the pieces you love, all the work you have ever created (surely not? though maybe if you’re quite new), only show the work you want to get (I think that one is super important – though even if you keep it out of your portfolio if you shared it at some point someone will be bound to ask you to create something like that thing you did five years ago and has been repinned a tonne, but in a style that you’ve completely left behind and hate)
being funny, or vulnerable on your About page, or very minimal and professional
first person, third person - or go crazy and use the second person - for your About page
include your phone number or don’t
lightbox click-through enabled or not
show process work and sketchbook exploration or not (and where? on a separate page or the main portfolio?)
where to host it (your own website, Adobe Portfolio, SquareSpace, Wix)
simple navigation or something with whizz bang
sliders or no sliders
product images (or mock-ups) or JUST the art
different pages for different markets
show more than one style, or medium - or be VERY consistent
header or no header
name your clients (and when do you start doing that? when you have one? when you have ten? when you have some BIIIIIIG names?)
I am planning a rejig of my portfolio in the next few weeks. The most recent portfolio reviews I’ve had have all said almost completely different things, so I definitely have to pick the changes that resonate the most with me. Actually, all the recent ones have agreed that my work is very consistent and that I have a recognisable style or voice – that’s definitely not always been the case, so that’s reassuring.
So here’s what I’m thinking of changing:
theme – I want a theme that will take up the whole browser space - currently it’s all shoved in the middle like an early blog; I want a nice simple clean theme that will show my work in a Pinterest-style responsive way, so I don’t have everything getting cropped to specific dimensions
categorising – I used to have a lot of categories (nine, in fact) and that was definitely too many, but I have felt that my patterns don’t fit with the rest of the pieces in my portfolio, so I want to have an illustration page and a patterns and licensing page [what I’d like to do if I can work out how, is to use post categories to decide what’s on what page - illustration, licensing, sketchbook, blog for example and then if I want to have more categorisation later down the road it will just be a case of changing the categories]
blog – I’m still wondering about this; I think the SEO of a blog is still useful and I definitely get people coming to specific posts (but are they coming and then commissioning me? Hmmm…. maybe not). Maybe I don’t need that if I make each piece be its own post with good alt text and captions and so on. I’ve been wondering about importing the blog - and maybe even the old blog – to Substack and getting back to writing properly here. I think you can embed your most recent Substack posts on your website, so maybe that’s the way to go.
profile pictures – I am wondering about switching to an actual photo - or maybe a photo embellished with my work in some way; if not, I’ll definitely do a new profile illustration because I’m not loving the current one
header – I think that might go, but I’ll keep it as a header around the social media sites that need headers, because I do kind of like it; but if I go with a clean and simple theme that would probably mean removing the header
background colour – I love pink, but I have a feeling it may well be just a little too in your face, so I may go with white or off white
sketchbook and process work – I want to put more of that up there somehow; maybe a sketchbook page
I think that’s about it for now. But I’m going to keep thinking about it and will probably be a week or two, at least, before I make any changes.
Feel free to take a look at mine and give me your own review. I am genuinely not precious about it and mostly interested in what others think might work better.
Also feel free to share your own portfolio – or others’ portfolios that you think are particularly good.
What about you? Are you happy with your portfolio, if you have one? Do you change it regularly? How often do you add new work? Or are you someone who looks through portfolios and commissions illustrators? If so, what do you like in a portfolio? Do you mind if you have to do a lot of clicking? What information needs to be included for you to feel confident in commissioning someone?
Newish work
I should probably share some new work here, too - especially since it’s been months since I wrote anything.