Types of Portfolios By Angela Kluesner

So we’ve made a digital portfolio before, even a website to promote ourselves, but what other things can we use for portfolios and what are the pros and cons of them? That’s what I’m gonna talk about in this presentation.

First of all, the obvious two things we know is that there’s the online portfolio and the physical books. 

Online portfolios can range from self promotional websites and even social media. Most of the time people link the two, or even some websites double as a portfolio like artstation. Some website builders I’ve seen people use for portfolios are weebly and carrd, spelled with two r’s, that is not a typo, I promise.

weebly.com and carrd.co

These websites are free, which is one of the pros of having an online website. Others include easy access, easy to update, you don’t waste paper, and you don’t have to worry about losing it unless you forget to save the link.

Cons of websites and online sources is that you’re limited to how much you can edit with free sources and you have to pay a premium to gain access to taking away those watermarks and to do what you really want with it. And while it’s not really a problem currently, you still need access to the internet and if someone’s internet craps out, it can hinder the access.

Here are some examples of really cool promotional websites that caught my attention with some short videos showing some cool features:

The other type is physical. Usually with physical books, its more for photographers or traditional Illustrators. There are online sources listed here where you can order printed books online to get quality prints for them.

blurb.com/portfolio-book and zno.com

The pros of physical books is that with some illustrations there are features and textures you want to show off but you can’t really do that when its digital. Theres a different feel when you can ACTUALLY feel it in your hands if you get what I mean. And for photos, usually people hire photographers for how well they print and you’ll be able to see how well they print with a physical book since the RGB is going to look different than the printed version.

Cons of physical books is that you could ruin the book somehow, or lose it. It’s harder to switch things out depending on how you do it and they can be expensive. You’re also restricted to the size of the book and items in your book can be too small to see the details.

All in all, though, you can do some pretty cool stuff with them, as shown in these examples:

These videos also have examples of some pretty cool portfolios and some tips in how to set your physical book up.

To finish off, I want to say that really, the portfolio you make should be unique to YOU and only you. After all, you’re selling yourself as the creator, not just the art itself. Although that’s pretty important too.

Thanks for reading!