Concept Art Online Portfolio Website

Concept Art Online Portfolio Website

The concept art industry is pretty competitive, so you need to pull out all the stops to stand out among your peers. Here, we’ll talk about building a concept art online portfolio website that will leave a lasting impression.

Whether you want to work as a concept artist for games, films, or animation, you’ll be up against some stiff competition. The internet has made it so much easier for digital artists to hone their skills, but with limited openings and high standards for young applicants, it takes more than just talent to make it in the industry.

For a concept artist to thrive, they need to be smart about marketing themselves. So, what is the number one marketing tool in a concept artist’s arsenal? A professional concept art online portfolio website.

Instagram pages and Behance accounts are great, but they’re not exactly professional or customizable. With a portfolio, you can make a site that’s uniquely yours and that perfectly sums up everything about you as an artist.

But how do you go about creating an impressive concept art portfolio? Let’s take a look.

How to Create a Professional Digital Art Portfolio

These five tips should set the groundwork for building a professional concept art site.

1. Find Your Signature Style

Before you start applying to different companies, you should be able to distill your signature style or creative identity in a few words. While it’s good to be a versatile artist, you don’t want to be labeled as a “jack of all trades, master of none”. Having a signature style or identity (or something close to it) also helps potential employers and clients know what to expect of you and visualize the kinds of projects you can take on.

2. Know Your Audience (and What You Want to Do)

By audience, we mean the types of studios and companies you want to apply to. Different studios have different styles, cultures, even preferred software. Figure out which companies you want to apply to and do thorough research on the kind of work they put out, the kinds of artists they’re looking for, and what you could contribute to the company.

And when you put your site together, be sure to include artwork that highlights the kind of work you want to continue doing. If a company likes you for what’s in your portfolio, they’re likely to request similar from you. So don’t include anything that you’re not a hundred percent familiar with or enthusiastic about.

3. Pick Your Best Work

A portfolio site is a digital gallery of a creative’s very best work—a showcase of an artist’s talents, capabilities, and potential. Don’t include every artwork you’ve done in the span of your career. Instead, narrow down your options to about 20 pieces of artwork. Try to show a range of skills with your concept art portfolio—include images that highlights your talent at anatomy, clothing design, lighting, background painting, etc.

4. Write a Professional but Conversational Bio

Your bio is where you discuss your academic and professional background. You can also include some insight into who you are outside of art and design. Discuss relevant interests, values you strongly stand by, inspirations, and the like. However, make sure you can strike that balance between a professional and a conversational tone. It’s important to keep things professional, but you also don’t want to be too stiff and boring.

5. Don’t Forget Your Contact Information

This is the second most important part of your bio after your work! Include your email address, phone number (if you’re okay with that), and social media sites that you use to post images.

Digital Art Portfolio for Students

Just like the industry, art schools can be quite cut-throat. The very best schools only accept a select few applicants each year, so you need to be sure your portfolio site pops. Aside from the aforementioned tips for building a professional concept art portfolio, here are three more that art students should always remember.

Research the Requirements

All schools have their own set of rules and requirements for applicants. Never apply to an art school without researching the requirements first. Consider your folio as your first test. Schools aren’t just looking for people with the best images, they’re also looking for students who can follow instructions and get creative despite the guidelines.

Be very mindful of the set requirements of each school you’re applying to—some schools won’t even consider an application that doesn’t follow the rules.

Variety is Always Welcome

While it’s important to have a signature style or a “brand” as a professional, students have more leeway to experiment with different styles, subjects, mediums, and techniques in their applications. Schools want applicants who are capable and willing to explore different facets of art.

Go Above and Beyond the Minimum Expectation

In all the work that you do, and in all the images you’ll include on your website, you need to do your best. Don’t settle for pieces that feel “just okay”. If you’re unhappy with a design, chuck it.

And remember, your future professors will be able to tell if your work is uninspired and devoid of passion, no matter how technically good your images are. This is why it’s important to use artwork that aligns with what you believe in, and what you want to keep doing.

Digital Art Portfolio FAQs

Still a bit confused? These five FAQs might have the answers you’re looking for.

Creating digital arts portfolios involves five steps. 

First, an artist should build up a signature style or creative vision. This makes it easier for future employers to know what they can offer and what types of projects they can take on. 

Second, artists should get to know their audience—whether it’s an animation studio they’re eyeing or a school or college for artists.

Third, make a shortlist of their best creative work. Narrow down your work to 20 pieces that exemplify everything about you as a creator. If you’re primarily an electronic painter, be sure to include paintings. If you’re a character designer, focus on that.

Fourth, write a short bio—making sure to maintain a professional but conversational tone. Let site visitors get to know you more through this writeup. 

Lastly, add your contact details so interested studios and colleges can easily contact you.

If you’re a digital artist, you need to build a portfolio that complements your artwork. Instead of printing out digitally-made painting works and illustrations, digital artists can simply opt for a portfolio website.

With online portfolio websites, you have one place for putting all your artwork without the hassle of printing, binding, and distributing. If you don’t have the budget, your physical folio could end up looking like a bad arts and crafts project.

It would also be much easier to include new projects and even insert new pieces into existing galleries because of how easily customizable websites are compared to physical folios. To add to that, a digital folio can be so much more than a place to display images. You can use your website to sell merch and run a blog too.

Artists can display and demonstrate their digital artwork in a variety of ways—both online and offline. A high-resolution projector is one way to display their paintings at art shows. There are also digital canvasses that have memory card slots, allowing users to display their work in ultra-high-resolution.

The process of creating artist portfolios for school applications is mostly similar to that of making a portfolio for employment. A student will build an arts folio featuring their best images in electronic painting, illustration, character design, and the like, and will create a short writeup detailing their background. They’ll also have to add their contact information.

Aside from these, students should also make it a point to get all the necessary information on the application requirements of each school they’re interested in. All colleges have different processes and requirements and are pretty strict about students following instructions.

Making digital artist portfolios is easy with website builders like Format. To create a folio with Format, you first have to sign up. Next, you must find a theme that makes sense for your brand and your work. Afterward, build a shortlist of images to use in your folio. Narrow down your list to 20 to 30 images. Go for variety in terms of format (digital painting, character design, etc.), subject, and style, but again, put in the effort to create a unifying theme or signature style.

Once you’ve made up your mind on which photos to use, you can begin to edit and personalize your website. Set your site navigation so that visitors can easily find their way around your site and discover your work. Design your logo and header images, and ensure your site is mobile-responsive and optimized. Once you’re done with the site design, you can set exclusive add-ons such as a blog and an online store.

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Choose the Right Type of Online Digital Art Portfolio

If you want to find work in the uncompromising concept art industry, you need to find a way to build a portfolio that’s impactful and unique. With Format, you have all the tools to build an impressive digital art portfolio. Whether you’re a concept artist, graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, or UI/UX designer, you’ll have tons of templates to choose from that can complement exactly what you do.

Sign up now and enjoy the first 14 days for free. Once your free trial is done, you can keep using Format for just $10 a month!

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