How to Build an Illustration Portfolio That Gets Commissions

Art directors look at hundreds of portfolios. Most get a few seconds. The ones that lead to commissions share a few habits.

Show fewer, better pieces

Twelve to twenty strong images beat fifty uneven ones. Every weak piece makes the viewer doubt the strong ones. If you are unsure about an image, leave it out.

Show the work you want to be hired for

If you want editorial commissions, show editorial-style images that respond to a text. If you want packaging work, show your illustrations on packaging mock-ups. Clients have little imagination for what you could do; they hire what they see.

Put work in context

• Show a cover with its masthead, a spread with its text, a poster on a wall.
• Add one line per project: client, brief, year.
• For personal projects, invent a realistic brief and say so.

Order matters

Open with your strongest image and close with your second strongest. Group work by type, for example editorial, character design and packaging, so a client can jump to what they need.

Make contact effortless

• Put your email address on every page.
• Keep your website fast and readable on phones.
• Add a short “about” with where you are based, your time zone and what kind of work you take.

Keep it current

Review the portfolio every few months. Replace older pieces when your style has moved on, and add new commissions as soon as you are allowed to show them.

For examples of how commissions unfold, read our case studies on magazine covers and design magazine illustration.