7 Tips on What to Include in your Artist Portfolio

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(additional reporting by Lama Aloui)

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1. Make a mindful selection of artworks for your portfolio

You do not need to include every single project or piece of work, choose wisely and mindfully.

Having a general artist portfolio website for your work and career is really important as it can give you much-needed exposure and help you define who you are as an artist. However, that’s not enough when you are targeting a specific college, grant, artist residency, art gallery, or collector. 

This is when a separate, physical or digital portfolio in the form of a pdf or an online link becomes vital and is usually requested as part of the application process. 

Making mindful and thoughtful selections of artwork for your online artist portfolio is essential. This should be driven by research that helps you understand what your target audience wants from you, so you can tweak your portfolio around their requirements. 

If you are using vPatina, creating, experimenting, and tweaking portfolios is easy, fun, and quick because one artwork can be quickly added to as many portfolios as you want. Art portfolios remain private until you publish them, giving you a safe space to trial your work and create the best online artist portfolio possible. 

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2.Consider quality over quantity when choosing art for your portfolio

Having one really good piece of work can yield better results than many fairly good ones because most people will have limited time to review your portfolio. This technique ensures your finest work will live in their memory. When considering what art is best to put in your portfolio, choose art that will blow them away.
 
In particular, whatever you do, avoid jamming all the projects you have ever done into your portfolio, as this makes it much more difficult to understand and navigate your work. People don’t usually spend a lot of their time viewing a single web page, so having a precise yet effective artist portfolio is always the best option.
 
The problem is figuring out which mix of artworks will deliver the right result. vPatina helps with that by making it super easy for you to create private shareable links, so you can get feedback in private from colleagues and friends before you make your final selection. 
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3.Choosing art with the right techniques for your portfolios can help increase your reach and success

It is becoming more and more common for artists to position themselves across different mediums.
If you are experimenting with different techniques (photography, drawing, painting, sculpture), or are trying different approaches within a technique (portrait photography, fashion photography, travel photography), you can use this variety to make yourself stand out when structuring your online art portfolio.
 
Selecting artworks with the right mix of techniques and subject matters for your art portfolio is a great way to drive engagement, but you need to understand what your target audience is interested in. The secret to creating a successful artist portfolio is knowing your audience.
 
For some audiences that are interested in artists with flexibility, including a mix of art that speaks to them will help you showcase a broader skillset that gives them a sense of your range, talents, and experience. 
 
If you are looking to broaden the type of work you do, for example, moving from painting to sculpture, or fashion photography to photojournalism, then this approach can help introduce your existing supporters and followers to your new work. In this approach, the more established type of art in your art portfolio supports the new area you are moving into.
Finally, it can also be useful when introducing a new approach to existing clients who are already familiar with and enjoy your other techniques. If your portfolio is structured properly, this can help show them how your work has evolved over time.
 
If you’re a new artist and are wondering how to make an art portfolio or what your artist portfolio should include, vPatina makes it incredibly easy to start collating your work to start building a successful online portfolio. vPatina automatically organizes your artistic work by category (e.g. painting vs photography) and technique (oils vs watercolors) while also providing a searchable database of your work with relevant filters, so you can systematically make alterations and selections of which artworks to include in your portfolio. 

 

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4. Make it cohesive and consistent

When you decide to choose different pieces of work in your art portfolio, it’s vital that they are unified in the way they are presented – in the design, color, and branding, for example. Make sure you follow the same design principles throughout your website and portfolio. 
 
You want to make sure it looks professional and give the impression that it was created with effort and care which in turn establishes credibility and trust.
 
vPatina has professional art portfolio templates and designs specifically created to help you present your art in the best light possible. Guided by research of the best artist portfolios and gallery websites there are, we are always expanding our artistic portfolio template selection.

5. Align your art portfolio selections with purpose.

Try to identify your art portfolio’s purpose or the goals you want to achieve with it. For example, if you’re an artist looking for a gallery representation, then make sure that when you send in your portfolio, your selection of work matches that specific gallery’s style. It would also make a distinct difference if your application showed that you understand who they are, how your work aligns with their gallery, and what you hope to achieve from the relationship.

If you’re approaching an organization online for the first time, then consider first sending a proposal in an email that introduces you, how you came across them, why you want to connect, and why they should consider viewing your work. Make sure when you are setting up your online artist portfolio, that you are mindful of the viewer and what they are looking for.

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6. Demonstrate your intentions when you present your art portfolio

In most applications, a portfolio or a website on its own is not enough. A project proposal where you highlight the purpose of your application and your plans is crucial for the success of the application.
 
Whether you are sending your art portfolio to a gallery or with a grant application, demonstrating what your needs, plans, and intentions are is crucial, and in many applications, required. 
 
While they still often accept emails from artists who only send in their portfolio without a project proposal, artists have a much higher chance of being if they send in a proposal alongside their portfolio in which they demonstrate what they hope to achieve by creating a relationship with the gallery. The message and narrative behind the proposal along with the portfolio are really important.
 
vPatina provides a convenient space to write an artist statement, artistic project proposal, and statement of purpose that is directly connected to your portfolio so you can begin to craft a winning story.
 

7. Be prepared to update your work often

Organizing your online art portfolio can take a huge amount of time and effort, so spread the load. Updating your work as you go along is a must. Be prepared, proactive and do not wait until you want to apply for a specific grant, residency, or gallery.  
 
It might make sense to remove work that is older than 5 years, depending on whether it fits with what you are doing now, and whether it helps people understand you.
vPatina’s allows you to upload art to your personal database without having to add it to your portfolio until you are ready.