COMIC-CON PORTFOLIO REVIEW
Comic-con is coming up and once again I am scheduled to review portfolios. It’s a strange ritual. I see the same type of people year after year. Some portfolios are good, some are far from it.
When your showing your portfolio you should really have some idea of what your trying to accomplish. Where your going with it. What is your dream? But realize that you may end up somewhere completely different and just as fun.
At comic-con most of the people want to do comics. No surprise. What is a surprise is how unprepared most everyone is. How little research most everyone has done. They all read comics but don’t actually think about them. Who makes them, how they are made and how they will fit into process.
What are you really trying to achieve and have you really looked at the big picture? Is it really your dream? I reviewed a portfolio of a young gentleman whose work was mostly pencil layouts for comics. He copied the standard characters but what stood out were his backgrounds and layouts. His characters were ok. He was more interested in designing worlds. We ended up talking about game design and movies instead of comics and what game companies he could apply too
Do you really want to write comics or do you want to write movies. Do you want to draw comics or storyboards for movies and animation? Do you want to design characters, animation, 3D or graphics. Do you want to do all of it? Open your options and don’t close doors before you even see them. There are very few real openings in the comic industry so you need to have some other options and realize that they may actually be better
When I look at portfolios I’m looking for someone who shows thought and originality behind their work. Your book should show me all that you can do. I don’ t want to see six variations of the same thing. Show me a rough and then the final peice. Where you started and where you ended up.
It never hurts to have more in your portfolio than you want to show. Have some life drawing in the back that you can show a client if they are really interested. You can even have more than one portfolio. I had four portfolios, an illustration book, a cartooning book, a graphics book and an amusement park design book.
Learn to present your work. Buy a real portfolio to show your work. If you want to be a professional, then present your self as a professional.
Ok, that's enough for now but I’ll have more on portfolios later
When your showing your portfolio you should really have some idea of what your trying to accomplish. Where your going with it. What is your dream? But realize that you may end up somewhere completely different and just as fun.
At comic-con most of the people want to do comics. No surprise. What is a surprise is how unprepared most everyone is. How little research most everyone has done. They all read comics but don’t actually think about them. Who makes them, how they are made and how they will fit into process.
What are you really trying to achieve and have you really looked at the big picture? Is it really your dream? I reviewed a portfolio of a young gentleman whose work was mostly pencil layouts for comics. He copied the standard characters but what stood out were his backgrounds and layouts. His characters were ok. He was more interested in designing worlds. We ended up talking about game design and movies instead of comics and what game companies he could apply too
Do you really want to write comics or do you want to write movies. Do you want to draw comics or storyboards for movies and animation? Do you want to design characters, animation, 3D or graphics. Do you want to do all of it? Open your options and don’t close doors before you even see them. There are very few real openings in the comic industry so you need to have some other options and realize that they may actually be better
When I look at portfolios I’m looking for someone who shows thought and originality behind their work. Your book should show me all that you can do. I don’ t want to see six variations of the same thing. Show me a rough and then the final peice. Where you started and where you ended up.
It never hurts to have more in your portfolio than you want to show. Have some life drawing in the back that you can show a client if they are really interested. You can even have more than one portfolio. I had four portfolios, an illustration book, a cartooning book, a graphics book and an amusement park design book.
Learn to present your work. Buy a real portfolio to show your work. If you want to be a professional, then present your self as a professional.
Ok, that's enough for now but I’ll have more on portfolios later
