Putting on my portfolio pants* 💥

The believable client briefs coming soon to illo there!

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Hi, I’m Libby, and I’m stepping out into the world of illustration, like a kid in a sweet shop, I want to try everything 🤩 This blog provides me (and perhaps you) with monthly accountability to goals and details all the things that are helping me reach them. I’m so happy you could join me for the bumpy ride…

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illo there friends!

Happy April and hello from ginger cat Pumpkin, who we’re looking after this week…

Pumpkin aka Little Helper

Pumpkin is providing lots of laughs and many loud meows as he updates us on his every move. He’s been a good home-working pal and is the inspiration for my first-ever illustrated animation!

Getting paid to draw

You may have read in my last blog, that I’m taking Mike Lowery’s portfolio-building illustration industry course ‘Getting Paid to Draw.’

I’m currently on week 3 of 8 and LOVING IT!

The course is really helping me get focused on what I want to achieve in my work over the next few months and beyond.

Before I started the class I’d been drawing daily, was brimming full of ideas but didn’t have much direction.

2 weeks in and I’m already feeling mildly confident about approaching creative directors about my work.

It has also given me an amazing community to connect with other illustrators and a forum to ask for advice and gain feedback.

I’d highly recommend the course, especially to those who don’t have a good overview of the industry yet. I’ll give more of a review in my monthly lowdown, coming out around the 21st of the month.

Putting on my portfolio pants*

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*Pants, where I’m from, is the word for underwear: knickers, underpants, panties, boxers, undies, drawers or briefs.

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I’m putting on my portfolio pants - taking on the challenge that is building an illustration portfolio.

This sounds grand. The reality is that I have one illustration that needs a couple of tweaks that will form my first-ever portfolio piece.

I’m starting completely from scratch which sounds (and feels) daunting.

I have vague memories of putting together a portfolio 20 years ago when I applied to study design engineering. This was a mixture of fine art, graphic design and design technology projects.

This portfolio will be somewhat different, tailored with real illustration clients in mind.

If I think about the enormity of the task too much, I know I will go into procrastination/freeze mode. This is something I do when it all feels too much. Is this something you experience?

Instead, I want to ride on the joy of Mike’s course and keep up the momentum when the 8 weeks are up.

So here’s the plan…

The illo there! briefs

To give myself the best chance at a solid portfolio, I’ll be setting myself an exercise every month.

These will be posted here on Substack so you can follow my process, or if you’d like to, join in!

On the 1st of each month, I’ll introduce a believable client brief. These will be inspired by real-life publications and brands, working illustrators, competitions and industry trends.

As I haven’t made up my mind on which specific area of illustration I’d like to focus on, I’m not going to limit the exercises in terms of industry or project.

This way, I can keep testing and see what I enjoy.

Perhaps you will be inspired by the exercises to investigate different areas of illustration too.

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It’s important to note - I am not a published illustrator and don’t currently work for paying clients, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere, right?

By keeping myself accountable to doing monthly work that could be for paying clients, I’ll start to exercise that muscle. Join me if you need to do the same, without judgement.

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How it will work

These are my thoughts on how the monthly exercises will run but this might change as it develops.

There will be 3 stages of each project:

• Week 1: Research & initial sketches (pencil sketch)

• Week 2: 3x concepts for the client (black line)

• Week 3: Final (colour in any medium)

In week 1 of each month, I’ll set up 3 separate Substack chat threads.

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If you are subscribing via email, chat is a feature on the Substack website (and app) where all subscribers to a specific publication can chat with each other.

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These chat threads will be free and open to anyone, to share the output from each stage:

1. Research

2. Concepts

3. Final

This way you can follow or join in at any point through the month.

For a bit of fun, I’ll initially use a random number generator to emulate the client's decision of the concept they like best and maybe throw in some generalised client comments to shape the final piece.

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Maybe chat participants could vote on the best at this stage but I have a feeling I might be going solo for a few months so the generator will have me covered!

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I’ll look into utilising mock-ups so we can consider making the work stand out in our portfolios.

So if you’re ready, hold onto your hats (and pants!)

I’ll be posting the first brief on May 1st….

I’ll also share my progress under #illotherebriefs on my libbybdraws IG account and invite you to do the same.

If these exercises sound like something that might be helpful to you, let me know in the comments to this post in Substack or by hitting reply.

Libby

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Watch out for my next monthly review of everything I’m trying and recommending which lands around the 21st of every month.

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