With the launch of portfolio tools looming like Christmas, now would be a good time to start polishing those masterpieces. As promised by me two blog posts ago, here is a detailed account of the sorts of things I look for in a Portfolio:
First and formost, lets get this out of the way upfront. All styles can work. Whether you are the second coming of Kirby, a photorealistic painter, or a fast and loose indie penciler, there is a book out there somewhere that would be perfect for your style.
But! While all *styles* can work, not all *quality levels* can work… 
So here in a nutshell is what I need to see in your portfolio to prove you’ve got the quality to sustain a 22page comic.
Thing the First
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An impeccable grasp of anatomy and perspective.
This does not mean that you have one or two examples of a perfect figure or a perfect cityscape… it means that all your work is correct in these fundamentals. Some of the clues I look for is eraser marks, lines that have been repeated, or just shaky/tentative lines that suggest the artist is taking too much time thinking about it. Any of us can create a perfect composition given a week to work on it- we need perfection in a day!
If you don’t have a lot of sequential examples, you can still prove that you have the grasp of anatomy and perspective with accurate drawings of landscapes and full figure in action- just make sure you vary the camera angle! Have you ever done life drawing lying underneath the subject? Or sitting on a ladder over top? Probably not- (they might kick you out but when you are doing your sketches, don’t just plunk yourself in a chair and draw what you see… get up high, get down low, turn upsidedown… in other words, try to emulate the camera angles you see in your favorite sequentials. And speaking of sequentials….
Thing the second
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Intelligent framing/pacing in sequentials.
Pinups are great, but they don’t tell me anything about how you are as a visual storyteller. We can’t rely on the editors to tell the penciler how to set up every frame for maximum drama or we’d never be able to get through a page a day.
You need those sequential samples to prove you’ve got the speed and storytelling skills. If you want to practice, ask for a sample scene from one of the writers on the site and draw it a couple of different ways (just as rough thumbnails.) How can you vary the camera angle, size of frames, juxaposition of panels, etc. to make a page of talking head dialogue into:
a) an inimate romanic encounter
b) a tense conversation where a misspoken work could have deadly consequences
c) a light hearted chat between old friends
Not every sample in your portfolio has to be a finished piece- I’m more comfortable giving you an audition if I can see your process (and you’ll get more useful feedback from the community too!)
Thing the Third
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Wide variety of subjectmatter
Everyone has their favorite things to draw. But when I hear “I only like drawing rocketships and space armies”, or “I only want to do Manga girls” it makes me wonder what they would do if the writer for their “manga girl” book sent the gang to the middle of a space battle for a panel during a daydream sequence. Would they say to the writer “Sorry, I don’t do mechanical things?”
While we do have some niche artists in our fold, a slightly less stellar artist who has versatility is the more valuable catch. Consider including in your portfolio examples of:
Futuristic landscapes
Colonial/Period cities
Forests and Meadows
Detroit slums (no, it doesn’t have to be Detroit
Suburbs
Animals (real and fantasic)
Children (doing something, not just posing for the picture!)
Old people
Army Guys
Water
Glass
Plastic
Metal
Wood paneling
Cars and Trucks
Airplanes
Spaceships
Weapons (real and fantastic)
Thing the fourth (and last)
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All of the above examples will tell me that you can draw.
Now I need to know if you can draw *fast*. You’ve got to be able to do a page of sequentials per day (some people can do a lot more, but industry standard in North America is about a page a day.)
How do you prove that? Well start by keeping track of the amount of time it takes you to do all of your work, and list that time next to your pieces in your portfolio. But the best way is just to show me lots and lots and lots of sequential examples so that I will know (whether you’ve ever been paid to do this before or not) you can do 22 pages in 30 days if you had to.
So, to sum up- While not all levels of *quality* have a place at Zeros 2 Heroes, all *styles* of art certainly do!
Look for a coming blog post detailing the process behind artist selection in the Comic Creation Nation!
