From Pencil to Portfolio

Planning and Illustrating a New Portfolio Piece

On My Desk

First up, thanks to everyone who reached out about my Dad. He’s doing really well. Thanks for the support! 💕

I’ve been working on some personal pieces lately, and for once, I had the presence of mine to document the process a bit.

I knew I wanted to include these new pieces in my portfolio, so I did a little planning up front. I try to add new work every year, and if I don’t plan, I usually find myself scrambling to add something-anything, but that’s not always the most cohesive approach. So much of the work I do can’t be shown for well over a year, so my available stuff ends up being something I made for a random challenge, or possibly a one-off for a competition.

That’s where the planning comes in.

I like to make a list of things I want to include, just to get the pistons firing. This time around my list was too long and open-ended. I think it’s better to focus on a few things you really want to showcase. The first time I did it, I think I had light, perspective, action, and maybe a few other things, and I believe that was a better approach.

We’re often given a long list of what to include in our portfolios, but you can’t practically put everything in there. At some point you have to let go and trust the agent/art director/whoever to read between the lines.

After making my list, I sat down and did a whole bunch of thumbnails. I noted which ones I wanted to take to final by adding dashed lines underneath. I think I have about a dozen thumbnails. Who knows when/if I will get to them all. My goal for this summer was to do at least four. I’m happy to report I succeeded.

I drew the line art in Procreate and printed it out on Strathmore 400 Series Colored Pencil Paper. I like the paper a lot, because I use watercolor pencils and it holds up to my water brush. What I don’t like is that it only comes in books, so I have to punch each page out along the perforations. I suppose I prefer that to gummed blocks. Seriously, those things are evil. If you are the type of person who somehow manages to extricate your precious art without tearing it to shreds, then you are surely a witch and I need to know what spell you use.

All that is to say, I’m currently accepting suggestions for 80-ish pound paper that prints nicely, takes water, and doesn’t require making a pact with something nefarious in order to remove.

Pro tip: I keep my set of Pan Pastels in my Ikea Alex cabinet, toward the top. I’ll often reach over and swipe a bit of pastel, so it kinda expands my desk space…

Which get's chaotic quickly. Who else here justifies buying the fancy yogurt in order to “organize your materials?”

I keep my pencil shavings in the mints tin. I got it in Amsterdam. It makes me feel very cosmopolitan.

Work in progress.

I have developed a (bad?) habit of dabbing my tools on the border of the art. I used to use a scrap of paper, but then I got this easel, and there’s not that much room for anything else. For some I’ve convinced myself it’d be weird to have my scrap paper at desk level. I should try it though.

The easel is called an Art Sphere. I got it because it lifts the art and allows me to draw more ergonomically. You cant see it, but it swivels on a wooden ball, which means it can rotate in any direction or be perfectly flat, when needed. Gotta protect our backs!

Also the chaos can now spread BENEATH the art!

It has just now occurred to me that I could take my checkbooks and office supplies out of the two draws and put art supplies there, too. Art supplies everywhere! It’ll be like that episode of Mr. Bean where he hides the steak tartare in everything. Water brushes in the vase! Erasers in the butter dish!

Here’s the piece almost done. Just needs to get scanned and moved back to good ‘ol Procreate for some touch up. The more I use traditional materials, the closer I get to a traditional-only process, but I’m not there yet. At least not with pastels. They’re just so delightfully messy!

Et voilà! here’s the finished piece!

On my Radar

It’s almost Folktale Week!

It’s almost that time! I’ll be announcing the prompts along with the other hosts on October 21st. Keep an eye out!