What To Put in a Children's Book Illustration Portfolio

I’ve never put together a real portfolio. Even during my time at art school, I never actually needed a finished portfolio. So when I realized I would need one for an upcoming children’s book conference I had my work cut out for me.

Here’s the thing, I only had three weeks to prepare my portfolio for this event. I wasn’t entering it into any of the competitions and I didn’t have the budget to do the add-on portfolio review, but I would have to show my work while I networked and attended different sessions. So I got to work.

As a free portfolio review, I learned a handful of tips about putting together my portfolio:

• Have a character in each painting

• To balance full-bleed images with spot graphics

• Include a character sheet that showcases a single character in different poses and emotions

• Show a sequence of events

• Have a strong beginning and ending

While this portfolio (Shown in the video above) isn’t what I want it to be, it worked great for this weekend. But during the breakout sessions I learned a lot about what I want in my portfolio for next year, so here is everything else I learned that should be included in a portfolio:

• A scene with a group of children in it (actually have a few of these in there!)

• You can show off more than one medium, as long as there is an equal number of examples. I’d like to show my traditional gouache work and more digital art.

• Give examples of composition that have power to them (Ants eye view, etc.)-or images that tell a strong story in general.

• You can include the words that go with the image (you can also choose to leave these out).

• Show you skill of environments with character images and a full detailed background.

Publishers, editors and agents are looking to see your wide range of skill and that you can consistently draw a storyline. In the end, it doesn’t matter as much about the specifics as long as those skills are shown in your portfolio.

As with all things in art, a portfolio is never finished and there is no 100% right way to do it (remember there are no rules in art, these are simply guidelines!) It’s a living thing–always growing, always adding to, and hopefully, always getting better!