Putting a Portfolio Together - Jason Minksy

The aims of this session were: to explain what's included in a portfolio, and how to impress with it. Jason studied at Glyndwr, and then sent to Manchester. He worked for several artists, then decided to work for himself, then went to study for his MA.

One of the important things Jason told us when putting a portfolio together, you have to remember that the things that interest you, may not interest the person who's interviewing you, but it gives them an insight into who you are.

Think about the order you put your work in. The order of your work, should be like a story; it should IMPACT the viewer, with a very strong beginning, a strong middle, and a strong end. Information about each piece of work should be on the back and should have a plastic cover on to protect it.

Getting your work professionally printed looks so much better than some pieces of copier paper, that you have printed at home.

Get your work out there! Whether that be through a website, blog, or twitter.

A showreel is about 'how do you show what you're about in 4 minutes?'

Think about:

• Who you're showing?
• What's relevant to them?
• What do you want out of it?
• How much time do you have? Can you plan it properly with this time-scale?

Be prepared! Be confident in what you're showing your potential clients.

Portfolios are ongoing things, you don't just stop updating them.

This session didn't prove to be as useful as I was hoping it would be, but I did gain some useful bits of information from it. I was hoping that it would show us how you would literally go about putting a portfolio together, for example, how do you choose work to go into it? And how much work you should include? That sort of stuff. Saying this though, some of the advice etc Jason gave us, was really helpful,  for the beginning of a long process I will be doing in the near-future.