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Art Portfolios; does the
modern artist need one?
Madeleine Jacobs
www.ArmChairPaintClasses.com
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Creating a Professional Portfolio
How to Create a Professional Looking
Portfolio for Impressive Results
Does today's modern
artist need a portfolio in the new digital age? Yes, you still do. In
fact, many prospective employer's or potential buyers of your work are
either very traditional, or very savvy concerning the new digital age
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and will almost like to see a bit of work in a
traditional form and a digital form.
While it's true
that the standard for printing in many places is still the photo, and
often the artist will be asked to produce prints, proofs, and negatives,
many more are allowing very high quality digital images as the quality of
the cameras they come from increases.
What kind of work should you put
in it?
It's hard to know how to guess at what
someone might want to see of your work....The best summation would be to
put your best work in, and a wide variety of what you do. If you do only
landscapes, then select a variety of your best ones. Maybe some of
mountains, some in a vignette style, some in a long landscape width, some
in portrait mode, some with only a lone tree, maybe some focusing on water,
some large, some small, some in color, some in black and white, maybe some
in pencil, and some in another medium. Just don't pick a single subject
only.
What if you are asked to
leave it with the potential buyer?
That in itself will never be a
problem....as long as you make sure you NEVER leave your master portfolio
with anyone. Always make sure that you make copies of your work and leave
only the print portfolio with the potential buyer, investor or gallery.
Should personal things go into
it?
The only thing personal that any one would
need to know would be how to contact you. Anything else would be, well,
too personal. Don't include anything else unless it's business related. If
you've won awards in your work, juried shows, created artwork for the
White House etc, have other documents etc, include those in a binder
(remember, no originals!) in the portfolios. In fact, many portfolios come
with sheets that you can slip these documents and your printed work into.
Keep your work and your portfolio up to date. You don't want to show
something to a prospective buyer or gallery owner that is years out of
date. It shows that you are out of touch and that you are not business
minded.
Here are a few reasons
why using a portfolio might help you
- Not as many people use them as you might
think. When you walk in the door with a well thought out, creatively put
together portfolio, you'll definitely stand out and be remembered.
- You'll be able to create and design a
portfolio the way you want it. And change it and rearrange it over time
as your needs change and as your career changes.
- It helps organize your accomplishments
and talents as well as creativity in a business-like manner.
- You have visible proof of your creativity;
not just your word alone.
A portfolio may start small, but it's
always a start. And there is no better time to start one than now :)
Madeleine Jacobs
Comments on this post?
Visit ...http://armchairpaintclasses.blogspot.com/
Rubin's vase is an
optical illusion in
which the negative space around the vase forms the silhouettes of two
faces in profile.
m.(moth)Spaces Between Moth is
another example of the optical illusion where the faces and arms reveal a
moth in the white.
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