Chris and I just got back from CNTx and that means we looked at a lot of portfolios. So it seemed like the perfect time to review our Top 5 Comic Portfolio Pitfalls!
PITFALL #1: Asking “Am I Ready?”
People regularly come up to me at conventions, ask me to look at their work and then pop this dreaded question, “Do you think I’m ready?”
It puts me in an awkward position, because the response to the question you’ve asked is either “Yes” or “No.” One answer might give you a false sense of where you’re at when the other could be unintentionally crushing.
We’re all on an artistic journey–and we’ll all improve with time if we stay active artistically and continue to polish our skills. So instead of asking “Am I good enough?” try, “What are the strengths that you see in my work?”, “What are the weaknesses?”, “Do you have any suggestions on how I could improve?”
Not only are the answers to these questions infinitely more helpful to you, they’re more reflective of the fact that we’re all moving ever upward and pressing toward greater control of our talents.
PITFALL #2: Including Work You Know Isn’t Your Strongest.
If you ask me to review your portfolio, I am assuming that what you put in front of me is your best work. But it still happens that when I point out a weakness in a piece the artist interrupts me to say, “I know” then gives me an excuse why it is that way.
If you know there is a mistake in your work either fix it or take it out of your portfolio!
Five stellar pages are better than 10 if half of them are weak. Awkward foreshortening, perspective mistakes, and inaccurate anatomy are some of the most common errors I see.
Work until you get it right! If you don’t, believe me, someone else out there will. I don’t know what you can do, I only know what I see in front of me. So choose wisely what to include!
PITFALL #3: Making Me Work For It.
It is inevitable that at every show I attend, at least one person will ask me to review their work, then proceed to pull out a beat up, disorganized sketchbook raining loose pages like New Year’s Eve confetti.
Please be respectful of an artist’s time when you ask us to look at your work. I’m at conventions to work and make money–I love critiquing people’s work, but I still need to do those other things.
If I talk to you for a half an hour, that’s one commission I gave up just to talk to you. So just be mindful that most of us want to help, but please keep the time reasonable.
Sketchbooks are mostly full of just a few motifs, anyway–a collection of the same faces and poses over and over again. So pick a best piece that encapsulates what you’re working out in your sketchbook and show me that one. I shouldn’t have to comb through a 100 page sketchbook just to get to the 6 pieces that are indicative of your work.
Come to me ready: with organized, clean, neat, work. No pages falling everywhere!
This is also true if you send me digital work; sending a link to your entire DeviantART portfolio or your webcomic’s complete archives is not helpful.
Pull out six to ten of your best pages, create a digital PDF and send me that. Or link to one of your favorite pages in your comic, then specifically ask me to read the next six pages.
If you send me a long list of links, unfortunately, I won’t click on them all. I’ll pick three or four randomly and make my judgment from that.
PITFALL #4: Favoring Style to Substance.
Comic pages need to read easily and clearly. This means they read left to right, then top to bottom without the reader having to pause to figure out which panel is next. Trying too hard to create impressive, intricate layouts often leads to reader confusion.
Characters or objects breaking out of a panel should only do so if it leads naturally to the next panel in sequential order. Really confusing pages might show off how creative you can be, but save it for a poster or a cover. The pages of your comic should suck your reader into your story, not take them out of it!
Fun fact: I made it through DC Comics talent search with simple six panel pages with plain white gutters! And the story was just three teenagers talking in the cafeteria on lunch break! No giant explosions, alien invasions or rooftop chase scenes. The editors who reviewed my work were impressed that I took a simple scene and made it interesting.
PITFALL #5: Avoiding Difficult Things in Your Work.
Most of us can draw our favorite subjects and poses really well. But a comic book artist must be able to draw anything and everything: cars, rooms, cities, crowds, schools, secret lairs, planes, military bases, mountain ranges, coffee shops, horses and all shapes, colors and ages of people!
I always take notice of portfolios that include the most difficult things to draw: descriptive backgrounds, varied camera angles, and accurate perspective. It is pretty easy to tell when someone fudges the perspective in their drawings. I know it’s hard work, but take out your ruler and learn how to do it right.
Every panel starts with a horizon line–and everything in that panel will either be above or below that line. So draw accordingly! This is a great tool, be sure you learn how to do it. If I were hiring, I would never, ever, ever hire someone who had not mastered perspective drawing.
It’s also a guarantee that if you hand me a page without backgrounds on it, I’ll hand it right back to you and tell you to put them in there.
Flip through your favorite comics–environments are an essential part of storytelling. Learn to embrace that and use descriptive environments to bring your characters to life.
Strong looking work that doesn’t include difficult camera angles, accurate perspective, and detailed backgrounds isn’t actually strong work. And it’s pretty easy to spot when an artist is hiding their weaknesses by avoiding them.
*Bonus Tip* Don’t set your portfolio, your coffee or anything else on my merchandise.
Those comic books, prints and fliers you just set your book bag on actually cost me quite a lot of money to print. I take great care to make sure my merchandise makes it to and from conventions undamaged. If an item gets bent or stained by what you casually plop down on top of it, I can’t sell it. Please respect that and set your things on the floor, and hand your portfolio straight to me. I’ll enjoy our conversation so much more if you do!
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent article. It covers everything. I would like to add one more thing.
When you submit a portfolio in order to ask for work, make sure your material is consistent with the style/theme/genre of the publishes you are submitting to.
For instance I have received numerous times portfolios with stylized/cartoony material which may be absolutely great, but I cannot use it in my epic fantasy titles…
So if you are submitting specifically to a dynamic realism comics environment, pay attention to backgrounds, anatomy, perspective, poses and most of all… hands and feet!!! I can’t stress this enough, it’s a very common weakness.
I review all the portfolios for graphic designers who are looking for work at our firm, and the most common answer I give to folks who have an incomplete portfolio is to reschedule when they’re ready and then give them a list of certain pieces that creative directors and art directors look for.
Many times, folks who are presenting their work don’t know WHAT to show because no one has ever told them what a pro might be looking for. Arming them with that knowledge and gently prodding them along can easily turn a weak portfolio into a stronger one.
For comics, its the same thing. Reviewers check to see if you:
1) can complete your presented work – having a portfolio featuring half-finished drawings can sometimes be a tell-tale sign of lazy work ethic, limited attention span and sometimes, lack of fundamentals. It’s okay to have unfinished sketches in your sketchbook for concepts, but make sure your portfolio has completed pieces as well. Use the sketchbook scraps as process work to complement your finished pieces. (Artists love to see how things are created!)
2) Have a grasp of fundamentals – Lora talked about challenging positions, perspectives, etc. I’d also throw in a grasp of anatomy and body structures, light and shadow, and then texture and form. Having some of that versatility in your completed work, and the attempts at it in your sketchbook, show the reviewer that you’re committed to learning the fundamentals. We understand you’re not going to be the best at drawing everything – so don’t pretend like you can. But be willing to learn how and make an attempt at it and ask us how you can improve. If we have the knowledge, we’ll share it (most of us will…)
3) Have developed a style that is worthy of pursuing – everyone has a signature style, some of us just don’t know it. And that style will change as your experience builds and your interests change. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to do a million different styles as a blanket approach to showing off versatility. That versatility should come in the form of different mediums, subject matter and compositions. Worry about changing your style later – that’s more for commissioned work – when you have to adapt your styles to fit a certain set of parameters. Right now, you’re selling what YOU can do well. There’s a lot of illustrators out there who are amazing at a certain style – don’t try to be the person who is the best at all styles, because you’ll end up being the master of none and just be an imitator instead of an innovator.
That’s all I’ve got for now – I hope that helps some folks in deciding how to construct their portfolio pieces. Pick your best work, pick pieces that highlight your strengths, and have your process work to help back it up.
And please – be friendly, willing to take criticism and have a bit of thick skin when you hear things you don’t like. You need to be knocked down a peg or two in order to keep you motivated to climb to the top.
Sorry – I forgot to add – Lora – this is a great article. Thanks for sharing.
Note to self: Never bring coffee close to Lora’s things.
Just keep it in your hand.
Avast me Wingers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have missed you so much! Big Piratey group hug! *Oh, watch out for me peg leg, lost that on a bad portfolio review, ha ha!!!*
Ok, sorry that I have been “lost at sea” for so long, a lot of life had to be caught up on. I am so glad to be back and I am glad it is on an awesome post like this one, Lora!
I am not even going to go into depths that I have dropped into many of these pitfalls but I wanted to hit on the first one real hard right quick. A version of this one directly has to do with what I am facing right now. Pitfall #1 Asking “Am I ready?”
Believe it or not, I have more confidence in my graphic design work than my comic illustrations because it has been my bread and butter for more than the last 4 years.
I am an in-house designer for a manufacturing company and have started contacting new companies to talk to about moving into an agency or firm deigner position. (pretty big difference in the pressure, work variety) I should actually be sitting down within a week with the creative director of one of the most famous marketing companies in my city to have a candid conversation; what matters to them when they work with designers? I got so tired of this, “am I good enough” mentality and started to realize that I didn’t have the right perspective to gauge it. So, now I will be borrowing their time, mixing in a little of the Utz charm, and finding out what they consider strong and weak about MY SKILL SET and what they would love to see in the list of capabilities of incoming creatives.
My goal: find out what they/ the industry truly wants, find out where I truly am- then design my path to bridge that gap and be a no-brainer hire when I am ready. I honestly don’t even know if I have already reached the point that they would take me, but I respect their position in the industry enough to sit back, shut up and soak in the HONEST wisdom.
Just saying, I think this using the same mentality that Lora mentioned above for Pitfall #1 and applying it to the Marketing industry. I love how the two seem to meet in my head right now.
Thank you again for getting me thinking, Lora!
Onward to more Winger responses and their awesomeness!
As well as trying to get as many portfolio reviews myself at CTN, I was listening to the other reviews of fellow artists work. Which also helped heaps!
But what I couldn’t believe were people fighting the critiques. If you have asked a professional for their opinion and advice, take the time to respect their opinion of your work, even if it’s not exactly what you want to hear. Do not try to justify how this professional is reading your work wrong.
Sooooo much amazing feedback from the weekend, I can personally can not wait to act on it! And meeting some wingers was a great bonus!
Absolutely True, Tegan. With my work I take a “STANDS ON ITS OWN” approach. If my work can’t impress on its own, it likely won’t get me a job. It might be painful at first, but listening and nodding at critiques, and only speaking when asking for clarification or to ADD to what they said – that will be a much faster track to stimulating our own growth and building relationships!
Winger Pic! : http://instagram.com/p/SLUcsurv-a/
Thanks for posting that, Scott! My heart just got all melty.
Oh totally, if you can create a conversation off their feedback to understand the critique more, your much better off. Great pic!
Ahoy!
I love the picture, thanks for posting it too!
I am right there with you and Tegan, Scott! I spent a long time trying to explain away pieces of my portfolio and then I realized like you said, if it cannot stand alone, it was no army of one…er, I mean, awesome portfolio to begin with.
That thought process lead me to be a whole lot more stern with selecting my portfolio pieces. I mean seriously, if I can find issues with it, then I know they will jump off the page to a pro!
Now, I am pretty confident about sending out my portfolio to other designers and I have actually gotten compliments from them about how impressed they are with my illustration abilities. That means a lot after what has been put into it!
Oh, if you all want to check out my newly finished online portfolio, click below. It is a mix of both my graphic design work and my illustrations! I would love yall’s take on it! Honestly, good and bad! Peg leg here can take it!
yep, I’m a goon. Link below
http://www.derrickutz.com/p/portfolio.html
“I was listening to the other reviews of fellow artists work.”
Yup ,Tegan! I got so much out of standing next to Chris all weekend. A portfolio review for a comic is much different than a review for an industry job! I left with my mind reeling from all the new things to think about.
I think my work is improving already. I drew a page of my comic yesterday and thought, “This is probably the best page I’ve ever drawn…” and then my husband came home from work, saw the page and said, “Holy crap, what is that Dreamer page?? That’s amazing!”
Even if someone’s work isn’t exactly what you are doing, you can still learn a lot from others’ successes and failures.
Ooh Lora thats exciting getting a “Holy Crap” level of excitement!
I totally believe the more you understand about all levels of art and appreciate other’s mastery this can only excel your work, at the moment I am learning more and more about comic art and it is impacting my story telling knowledge like never before.
Yippie for the awesome Mike-Response! Those will have ya floating for days!!!
Go Lora, Go Lora!
These seem like they should be no-brainers, but I see people violating them at every con I go to. THINK, people, THINK!
The other one I see is the wannabe loudly declaring, “Hey, at least I’m better than [name of pro artist who's work they think is substandard]!” Not only is this rude and unprofessional, but in an industry as small as comics, the odds are pretty good that the person you’re trying to impress is buddies with the artist you just put down. D’oh!
That “Don’t avoid difficult things” is a good one to keep in mind in general. When you’re writing and drawing your own webcomic, it’s tempting to skew the story towards things that are easy/fun to draw. I have to really watch myself and consciously say, “It would make more sense if they were riding horses in this scene. Get out your reference and draw a darn horse”. Or “This page could use an extreme angle shot to give a sense of scale. Quit whining and do it.” My internal editor can be very mean, and I don’t always listen to him, but he’s usually right.
Oooh…never put down someone’s work…even the comic/movie they worked on…you’re so right. Positivity attracts positivity!
“Quit whining and do it.” is a great motto. It may hurt for a moment, but the results of accomplishing something difficult feels SO GOOD.
“The other one I see is the wannabe loudly declaring, “Hey, at least I’m better than [name of pro artist who's work they think is substandard]!” ”
That’s a great one too! You know, especially in comics, it isn’t always about being the best draftsman. There is so much else to succeeding in this industry. It’s why we talk so much about storytelling and work ethic/personality her on Paper Wings.
That guy who you can allegedly draw better than might be the greatest guy in the world to work with. And because of that, doors open for him.
It’s that addage about the three attributes that will aid a successful career in comics, and how you only need two of the three. Be really good (craft wise), really fast, or really nice.
Awesome Post! Every bit of advice is solid – and for anyone wanting a fun, faster route to learning perspective, David Chelsea’s Perspective! is an awesome resource.
And even though Misfit Supers is getting great reviews, I have one page where I wish I had put substance over style – but it’s lessons like these that will make my next project even better!
Can you link to that resource? Is it a book or website?
Sure – it’s actually a comic that teaches perspective – Scott McLoud recommended it in Making Comics : http://www.amazon.com/Perspective-Comic-Book-Artists-Professional/dp/0823005674/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1353949727&sr=8-2&keywords=perspective!+david+chelsea
I am in the middle of reading that book! You’re right, it is SO helpful. Perspective is definitely a weakness of mine. I love Chealsea’s comic book format. I can’t understand a thing other perspective books say. I’m visual, I’ve got to see it.
I’d recommend Successful Drawing by Loomis as well. Very visual representations for perspective, and second to none on simple to follow instructions. I’m the slow kid in class and that book barey leaves my art desk these days.
This one has been on my Amazon wish-list for a year I think…!
I could frankly brush up on any of these myself. =)
But in regards to #1, I don’t know if I’ve ever had inquiring minds at a convention drop the “Am I ready?” question on me, but I’ve certainly heard it, or an equivalent, from some of my students, in regards to the prospective letter-graded merit of their current project.
It’s a bothersome question because, especially in the midst of a work-in-progress (which all portfolios are going to be, as well), it’s basically like asking, “Is it okay if I just plateau here? Will that get me an A/a job?” If you have to ask, then it’s almost always no. And with that kind of minimalistic effort attitude, the work is typically going to be marred by a sense of slapdash haste.
(I know this question actually gets asked a lot because the inquirer simply isn’t aware of the right questions to ask, but even in those cases, they should be willing to accept a more informative critique.)
There’s no objective, no plateau, for finesse, so keep climbing till you reach that ever-rising peak of your own potential. Hint: that means your skills that were able to satisfactorily complete one project won’t be enough for the next one; improvement is perpetual, not finite!
Bonnie Lass is your portfolio, Michael. You get to skip these now.
That said, I could probably still keep in mind #s 2, 4, and 5, if I’m being completely honest with myself. ;P
Don’t we all have those pages? Way to be honest.
Oh Michael, that is a good one!
“minimalistic effort attitude”—— Yeah, been there myself. I will admit that I asked those questions out of fear because at the very least, I needed to have a job…there is that meaning again, “least”. It took a long time for me to realize that a company is looking to hire anything at the opposite end of the spectrum from “least” as long as they have a good attitude. Apparently that is what helped seal my way into my current position and I am using it to my advantage in my process of advancing myself to other companies.
Great stuff man, and truly, you are an amazing artist and an awesome teacher, I can tell.
Best be to yee!
Hi Lora,
It’s true, preparation is key and while there is a fine line betwen being humble and being extremely self deprecating. One should never approach a portfilio review with the half baked idea or portfolio. The idea behind the presentation of said work is that one should already feel they are ready, or at least confident and competent in the skillset they exhibit there in. It always cracks me up when, people start with the apologetics immediately once they give you their work to review. I always try to listen with an open mind and not jump to any conclusions, when presenting my own work. Then like you and Chris discussed on a previous show(post) evaluate myself first and the crit, second. As to the responsibilities of the Editor or recruiter, I would like to know ahead of time, if they actually had projects that they where currently reviewing for or, if they in-fact are just at that convention for promotional purposes. Either way depending upon the response I get I leave a promo piece with the appropriate url attached.
Lora, will you or Chris be posting any portfolio review highlights? I loved to see them!
“The idea behind the presentation of said work is that one should already feel they are ready, or at least confident and competent in the skillset they exhibit there in.”
BINGO.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a student showing their work even though they know they aren’t hirable. I started doing this in High School!
I’m glad I did, because it gave me three things: confidence to keep going as a result of the positive feedback I heard, a realistic perspective of my work and what it would take to get in, and tangible areas to improve upon based on the negative feedback I heard.
But you don’t need to apologize and be self-deprecating. You can be a confident, “ready to learn” work-in-progress when you show your work. People who are excited about feedback you know want to improve, and that makes a good impression even when the work isn’t ready yet.
Showing your work is definitely one of the fastest ways to progress! It Strips away bias and makes room for true vision of where we can go.
Dwight – that’s a great idea.
Lora, I think we should do this. A CTN-X “Portfolio Highlights” post. I already have a couple of folks in mind.
I feel like #4 could be renamed “storytelling, know how to do it”. The pros most would point to for interesting or experimental layouts are generally very good at straight storytelling when they do it. They experiment from a position of mastery, not apprenticeship or entry level. It’s the old “know the rules to break them” scenario. I think your artistic style plays into this as well. A tip I was given once was that the more surreal and non-reality based your style is the more concrete and readable your storytelling should be, to help the reader through it, and I think that’s accurate in many cases. A decent example is Mike Mignola, who frequently uses a white gutters layout coupled with a camera that reads the entire scene more like a stage play than a movie. Just go through and look how often he uses 1point perspective vs 2 or 3. You’ll be startled.
Additionally, even very simple artwork can be elevated to professinal status with a proper grasp of storytelling. Look at Sin City. Miller’s work is gritty, chunky, not straight-from-life proportional or even always accurate to perspective, but your eye never rests on a singe panel long enough to register that. His storytelling grabs you by the neck and drags you along. Anyway, I’ll stop going on, I could talk about storytelling for hours.
Oh, and I once got a email asking for a crit with 19(!) separate links. *grumble* Annoying. So I second that point like nobody’s business.
Jake, I agree with the “stylization:clarity” balance. Not to say that a photorealistic comic could get away with murdering the visual sequencing, but as per the examples you mentioned, the more stylized or abstract the artist’s style, the more on-point the storytelling beats have to be.
I was talking to a young Winger at Chris’s house last weekend after the last day of CTNx. I pulled out both Bone and Bryan Hitch’s original run on The Ultimates.
You know what? The only time Hitch ever broke out of a frame was on a splash page. I’m not sure Smith ever did. Both have incredibly rich worlds and characters, though drastically different styles.
Clear storytelling wins every time. I want to get lost in the story, not lost in the layouts!! Reading a graphic novel and paying attention to layout is like watching a film and paying attention to cuts and framing. You gotta do it in order to master your craft. And once you do, you’ll be surprised.
In this same conversation, we got to talking about how in the animation industry I noticed everyone was seeking perfection and the reviews were so nit-picky. In comics, it isn’t that way. Can you tell a story? Move people with it? When you dissect even great comic artists panel by panel there are duds in there. But as a whole, it’s mastery.
Absolutely true, Lora, every artist I’ve ever really followed has hits and misses in their panels. One of the ways panels are more forgiving than covers is with panesl you’ll always get another shot.
I always love looking at the ways artists use their various camera’s and the elements that make a work theirs. One of my favorite elements of Mignola’s work is the semi-constant cutaways to single panels of an item or bit of architecture. They’re not even usually plot specific bits, just little inserts to accent the mood. Great stuff.
With more realistic art there is reader tolerance as well I think. A reader may stick with highly technical artwork longer even if the storytelling isn’t all there, because the individual illustrations still engage/impress. It’s one of the balance acts you see in guys like Charest. Not the most dynamic storytelling (certainly not when compared with a Miller for example) but every panel is exactingly beautiful, so you don’t notice as much. There’s a definite interplay.
That said, clear storytelling is always goal number one. A well told story will forgive a multitude of artistic sins.
Travis Charest is one of my all time favorite comic artists. Period.
Thanks for bring him up!
Oh indeed. I’ve got me one of his sketchbooks thanks to my LCS owner. Beautiful stuff.
I didn’t know he had one! That would make a great christmas gift for my man… He’s Mike’s absolute favorite. I’ll see if I can track one down.
It may be a bit of a search. My guy takes an annual pilgrimage to SDCC to find sketchbooks and original art for his shop. It’s the only reason I’ve got mine. It is incredibly beautiful thoguh. Lots of nifty sci-fi stuff in there along with the fan work.