Making a Portfolio, where to start?

Visceral

Hi Polycount, i have been hanging on theese forums since i started with 3D as a hobby. Since then i have evolved alot and eventually i decided to make this my profession. now that im allmost finish graduating for a 3D art school and starting to look for jobs a portfolio is in order.

Now to my problem, how does a artist go about making a portfolio. Im assuming many of the artist here have no prior experience on HTML coding such as myself. And i just wanted to look for answers.

How do i start?, do i have to learn HTML?, Does companies spit on people using blogspot, where do i look to get a nice webhotel?

Post your thoughts on the subject, maybe it can help others out aswell.

Arcanox

Learn a bit of HTML and CSS. Probably one of the better things to do is to download a free CSS template off the web (just google it) and customize it to your liking.

It doesn't have to be overly fancy, just as long as it's easy to navigate and you show your best work ASAP. No flash or any funky galleries. Ideally you just want to go with a bunch of 1000 pixel wide images placed in a column. You can try lightbox if you want, but just as long as it's lightweight.

achmedthesnake

I'm with Arcanox - the portfolio is your portal to potential employers - any slowness/loading/flashy anims that delays the time it takes for the viewer to see your artwork works against you - keep it simple stupid (k.i.s.s.), optimized and able to cater to even the lowest common denominator (i.e. neanderthals with IE6 and small monitors sizes..)

I'm a bit of a stickler for strict validating coding (a throwback from my code-nazi uni tutors) - so I avoid even lightbox. If learning a bit of html/css is out, i'd go for the easy to use blog thing (wordpress/blogger etc) and use a completely non-blog template on them.

I'm sure if you do a search in the upper left pc search bar - you can find heaps of stuff previously discussed on this subject...hint hint nudge nudge.

Visceral

I wouldnt be worried about that, i regulary check other peoples portfolios for design ideas. The problem is execution. Would dreamweaver be a good option for me thats a bit moore visual than programmer oriented?

Saman

Yes, Dreamweaver is good. I think you're alright as long as you can show your work in a good and easy way. I think carbonmade is good too in case you don't have time/don't want to bother with making an entire site.

Bibendum

HTML isn't a programming language and dreamweaver isn't worth it. HTML is just script, it's much easier to learn than anything programming related.

You could literally build a better portfolio page than half the people who set out to design a "website" by just repeating this in your entire page:

<a href="http://url.com/big_pic_1">
  <img src="http://url.com/small_pic_1" />
</a>
<br>

Saman

I guess you could. Look at adam's website for example; http://www.adambromell.com/
It's really simple but looks very good and professional.

sltrOlsson

I hate HTML/CSS and want to put as little time into it as possible. Atm i use tumblr with a custom theme that i changed a bit. Looks like this. But a friend of mine started up hes portfolio at cargo collective. So i started one to, i i think i'm gonna switch to that one now.

It's super easy to add stuff, it's just clean and nice. Everything just works.. My cargo site is http://cargocollective.com/vnyhlen

I think it invites only-ish. But you can register someway around it to. If you'r interested i'm more then happy to give an invite

Visceral

Im following along this tutorial series.
http://www.youtube.com/user/thenewboston#p/c/D40B34A54F171E2A/45/cqszz_OfAFQ

Basicly CSS for dummies, like me.....*cough* let me know what you think about this series.

Ben Apuna

I'm surprised no one mentioned http://www.w3schools.com/ yet.

It's great for learning all those web languages HTML, CSS, etc...

Minos

Ben Apuna wrote: »

I'm surprised no one mentioned http://www.w3schools.com/ yet.

It's great for learning all those web languages HTML, CSS, etc...

This.

Learn CSS and HTML, you can do that over a weekend! (At least for simple sites like portfolios)

Damytria

Here's a great article on the dos and don'ts of making a portfolio site:

http://www.thejonjones.com/2005/10/07/your-portfolio-repels-jobs/

Jon Jones

Damytria, gosh, thanks for posting that. It floors me that people still link my article nearly six years later.

EarthQuake

Shine: Man, post the full size shot of your avatar.

I need to compare it to this: http://web.archive.org/web/20030710085637/http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/cottages/frankie/crash/md/

Damn it's a shame the proper url doesn't work any more.

Jon Jones

haha, dude! Going through that page brought back CRAZY memories. Wild!

Also, fullsize pic: http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2144/166/99/575925708/n575925708_2529310_8113.jpg

Kwramm

Visceral wrote: »

Does companies spit on people using blogspot

lol no way.
we spit on people who have bad art and show no regard for neatness, quality and attention to detail (spellcheck your page, make sure your links work and that we see how to contact you.)

Jon Jones

Agreed with Kwramm. You could have had a Geocities page for all I care as long as your art is good and it's presented well. Having an actual domain and Wordpress blog set up on it or something certainly can't hurt, but it's not like I'll pass someone over just over their site URL. Well, as long as it's not something obviously gross like coprophilia, but who would do that?

Eric Chadwick

more advice...
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryPortfolio

Rick Stirling

Keep it clean. Spell check.

passerby

all you need to do is think about a few things your site needs to accomplish upfront.

like your name and contact should be clearly viable on all pages, there has to be a quick way to look threw all your content preferable just a list of images to scroll, and linking the images to a page with a high-res version plus additional info texture sheets wires etc is good.

nice thing about portfolios is that it doesn't matter if you spent a weekend learning html/css or are a expert at php js and work with CMS systems the quality can be the same since th objectives of the site are so simple and don't require much tech.

also i don't know if it's just me, but i like it when people put enough money into it to at-least get there own domain, shows they have confidence in there work if there willing to spend money to present it, and memorable site names can help people find your stuff again if it caught there eye and they need to find it again.

maze

Man I wont really advice you to learn css, html, javascript...etc and do your own stuff, for the sake of doing something professional. I am a professional web designer as well, trust me on this. You'll spend a lot of time trying to figure out all that stuff, time you could be using creating new assets for your folio itself. And even with that time you'll probably wont end up with something proffesionally looking (not to add you'll probably want a CMS to control the content). Maybe yeah but again...time you could be using doing other stuff...

If you need something fast try carbonmade or my favorite all in one Cargo collective. you'll get nice output without spending a lot of time, both with easy CMS features.

here is the link

eld

Bibendum wrote: »

HTML isn't a programming language and dreamweaver isn't worth it. HTML is just script, it's much easier to learn than anything programming related.

You could literally build a better portfolio page than half the people who set out to design a "website" by just repeating this in your entire page:

<a href="http://url.com/big_pic_1">
  <img src="http://url.com/small_pic_1" />
</a>
<br>

All if what this man said, anything more complex will not improve ones chances of getting a job and is most likely better spent on working on ones skills.

Mark Dygert

Yea +1 to carbonmade. Art Directors don't care about your web coding skills, no one does a "view source" on your art portfolio. Keep it simple and easy to update.

Hebs

honestly? A plain page with your work, contact information and resume is all you will ever need. This is one of those less is more situations.
Let the work speak for itself dont get too bogged down in trying to create a fancy page, no one really cares about that (unless you are applying as a 2d graphic designer of course)
H

sltrOlsson

maze wrote: »

Man I wont really advice you to learn css, html, javascript...etc and do your own stuff, for the sake of doing something professional. I am a professional web designer as well, trust me on this. You'll spend a lot of time trying to figure out all that stuff, time you could be using creating new assets for your folio itself. And even with that time you'll probably wont end up with something proffesionally looking (not to add you'll probably want a CMS to control the content). Maybe yeah but again...time you could be using doing other stuff...

If you need something fast try carbonmade or my favorite all in one Cargo collective. you'll get nice output without spending a lot of time, both with easy CMS features.

here is the link

This -^ And again, i will give you a invite any day..