Printed Portfolio's?

Ark

Just wondered what are peoples thoughts on printed poftfolios for taking to interviews and/or sending out to potential employers?

I plan to get my website together in the coming months, but wanted something physical that i could keep with me.

Can anyone recommend any sites that do printing?

http://www.blurb.com seems the only site that offer small quantity printing.

carlo_c

I took along a printed portfolio to the games expo recently in London. Having it on me made it easy to show the different studios my work and as a result I got an interview. While I didn't manage to get the job, if I didn't have that printed folio on me I would never have had the opportunity.

I'd say just pop along to a local printers and get it done there, they should be able to help you out. I went to one and they printed out my work at £1 a page and I was really pleased with how it turned out. Put them into some sort of A4 folder/folio case and that should be ok.

ZacD

Make sure you do large (full page) high rez prints if you do.

ericdigital

When I first graduated and was looking for a job, a lead from a studio gawked at me in disbelief that I didn't carry a printed portfolio around. Though that was the only time I've ever been asked (or expected in that case) to have printed versions of stuff /shrug

Autocon

If you go to GDC and are looking for contacts/possible jobs its really a must bring.

xvampire

have urs :P!
its very useful.


you can print it at home

as long as you put it in nice folder with transparent plastic pages ( so u can insert ur print as pages there)

killingpeople

I'd recommend bringing a flat book, sketchbook, laptop, or whatever to pass around. I just throw it in a backpack and tear it out when it makes sense. Ideally, if I have a laptop, I throw all the images in a folder and set it on slide show during the interview sessions.

pior

A must bring for in-person interviews too. It might not be required but it will really really help. What if your USB drive get lost or the internet connection is down during the interview anyways.

Also if possible use a binder making the pages easy to detach. Spreading your art on the table is the best thing you can do during an interview. It will give you presence, generate curiosity, stuff will be passed around between artists and art related questions will be asked instead of job interview 101 crap (what is your weakness, how does your boss see you and so on. The less of that, the better as it will feel as if the interview flow came from you, instead of from the interviewer.)

Ark

Thx for the replies guys, really insightful.

I've failed a few interviews before (not game industry related) for not saying enough in the interview and contrary to my post count here , im quite a shy person.
Hopefully a printed poftfolio would give me something to talk about.

Would it be a waste to include things like "the making of" or explaining your workflow on each piece? Or is this not something there intrested in?

Also again if anyone can recommened some site's that do printing it would be appreciated, as theres no local printers near me.
Blurb as a 13 * 11 inch landscape hardcover with good paper (up to 40 pages) for around £45 / $70 without any of their logos on it. Or -£10 with there logos on the copyright/final page, do this matter?

danshewan

Ark wrote: »

Also again if anyone can recommened some site's that do printing it would be appreciated, as theres no local printers near me.
Blurb as a 13 * 11 inch landscape hardcover with good paper (up to 40 pages) for around £45 / $70 without any of their logos on it. Or -£10 with there logos on the copyright/final page, do this matter?

Man, don't let some printer spam your artwork with their marketing crap. I'm sure there's some other place that can compete with those rates.

DO NOT let them put logos on your work! Cheeky bastards.

rollin

pior wrote: »

A must bring for in-person interviews too. It might not be required but it will really really help. What if your USB drive get lost or the internet connection is down during the interview anyways.

Also if possible use a binder making the pages easy to detach. Spreading your art on the table is the best thing you can do during an interview. It will give you presence, generate curiosity, stuff will be passed around between artists and art related questions will be asked instead of job interview 101 crap (what is your weakness, how does your boss see you and so on. The less of that, the better as it will feel as if the interview flow came from you, instead of from the interviewer.)

Do you print several copys and give some to the interviewer after the interview or do you have one "book" for yourself?

what kind of print / paper you've used and how you make sure the colours of an the image do look the same on paper without doing several testprings?
where have you printed your stuff? own printer, copyshop or professional print-studio ?

FAT_CAP

During my most recent job hunt after my last company went down I got 5 or 6 copies of my portfolio printed from lulu.com

It really surprised me that other people were just taking DVDs or their work with their name scribbled on the front and every tinterview I went to, having a printed portfolio went down really well. As Pior said it generated a talking point and took some of the pressure off as the book gets passed round and people could ask me about specific characters or techniques they saw as they flicked through.

Also, I figured that leaving an actual printed, hard copy of your folio with the company would mean that it would be more likely to be left lying out where people could browse through it again at their will and be more likely to revisit rathat than a DVD folio which will most likely end up scratched, dusty, found under a monitor 6 months later.

As far as I can remember my portfolios came to about £7 or £8 each for about 20-25, comic book sized pages with high quality paper, glossy cover and nice binding. They have different templates to use so you can just upload your images then drag and drop them onto each pre-arranged page. They also make for excellent Christmas presents for relatives if you have any left over after you land yourself a job!

Ark

@danshewan - Thx for the tip man, think the logo only goes on the first and last page, but you can add your own or remove for an extra £10. I will look into this further though.

@rollin - Suppose you just have to have your monitor calibrated properly.

@FAT_CAP - I'll give that lulu.com a look, thx.

ImSlightlyBored

I used blurb- v good. Will post more details when at home. PEACE

Tom Ellis

I also agree on the importance of printed work alongside digital examples.

If you have access to a Mac, check out the books you can set up and order with iPhoto.

They look pretty awesome and I'm sure you can get them without any Apple branding on. Loads of styles to choose from and the results look surprisingly proffessional providing you don't pick a tacky style.

Ark

ImSlightlyBored wrote: »

I used blurb- v good. Will post more details when at home. PEACE

That woukd be great!

@creationtwentytwo - unfortunatly i don't have a Mac.