Transcripts
1. 5 Essential Elements of a Pitch Perfect Portfolio for Art Licensing: You dream of seeing
your art come alive on real products in real stores? Well, I am here to tell you
that it is entirely possible, and the way to make it happen is with a pitch perfect portfolio. Hi. My name is Carrie Cantwell, and I'm an Illustrator
and surface designer. I license my art with
companies like Target, Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Bed Bath and Beyond,
and many more. Do you want to know how I got my foot in the door
with these companies? That's right, with my portfolio. I also got my art
licensing deals without the help of an agent, my portfolio and me pitching it. In this class, I
am going to share the five essential elements
to a pitch perfect portfolio. I will share the elements
with you and then explain why each
one is so valuable. It's really a great
way to help your art stand out and really let
you shine as an artist. You can build your portfolio in Adobe In Design in
Microsoft Word, in Canva. You can even build it directly
onto your own website. In fact, some people even use their social media accounts or even their spoon flower
shops as their portfolios. So are you ready to make
your art shine and become irresistible for art licensing with major brands?
Let's do this.
2. #1: You: Show The Artist Behind The Art: Number one, one of the
most important things that every portfolio needs
is you. That's right. The person behind the art is becoming more and
more important in this day and age of AI generated art and impersonal
products out there. If you can share
that you genuinely are the person who
actually created this art, you are a valuable commodity to all of these companies
that you want to work with. Companies are more
and more looking for the person behind the product and the artist behind the art. Do not underestimate
the value of showing yourself
in your portfolio. So here is my actual portfolio. So this is the second
and third page, other than the cover
page of my portfolio, and this is what anyone sees when I send them a
link to my portfolio. Notice what is on the
very first page. Me. It's about me. I share
a photo of myself. I introduce myself. I share my artist's mission
and why I love to create art. It is so important to show
the person behind the art. Show yourself as the artist who creates the art that is in the portfolio because this is becoming more
and more valuable. You are not just a
machine creating the art. You are a real person, and you should show that off. I want to show you guys
something really quick, too. This is really important. So, you do not have to have
a fancy photo shoot that you pay a ton of money for
to get a nice picture. So I did use a digital camera, not my phone for these photos, but I just took a bunch of photos in front of a little
backdrop that I made. You may recognize this
shirt that I'm wearing. It's the same one I'm wearing in this video because this is a
pattern I'm really proud of. But basically, you know, you could do this with
a cell phone, too. So just take a bunch of
pictures of yourself. Outside in natural light
is also really awesome. I happen to have some really
good interior lighting, so I use that. But I just took a
bunch of pictures in different positions to kind of see what I felt
like looked best. And then I chose
my favorite one. I made sure that it was centered and I adjusted the
brightness a little but, you know, just take a
few photos of yourself, take a little time, but you don't have to
spend any money. You can even use
your cell phone, and just try to get a
decent picture of yourself so you can really show
yourself off as the artist. I even make sure to share myself front and
center on my website. This is my homepage. So you'll notice that I share a photo of myself really big. I am bragging and I
should be bragging about the fact that my art was
created with human hands. Again, this is so valuable. And I also share what I love creating and a little
bit about my story. Of course, I have
an about page on my website that gives a
little bit more detail. But I make sure that I am what is front and
center on my website, which also serves
as my portfolio. And check it out. This is my spoon flower shop. This is just one of my
print on demand websites where I have my art online
for the whole world to see. And notice what is on
the left hand side. That is the same photo of me. I am showing myself that I am a human being who has
created this art. And I know that may
sound a little silly, but trust me, in
this day and age, with AI and computer
generated art, human created art is going
to become priceless. I also share a little
bit more about myself. So even if I were using this spoon flower
shop as my portfolio, I'm still putting myself
front and center.
3. #2: Your Art: Show Your Best Work: Number two, the most
important piece, of course, in any
portfolio is your art. But you want to
make sure to curate your art and only show
your best pieces. You don't have to show every piece of art
that you've ever made. And here is an important tip. Only show the art that
you want to make more of. Just because you can make something doesn't
mean you want to show it if it's not something you want to keep
making in the future. Be very often companies may choose a piece of
art from your portfolio, and if it's not something
you enjoy making, they're probably going to
want you to make more of it. So just be very careful to only include your favorite
and best pieces. Also, you want to show
a bit of a variety. If you're an illustrator and
a surface pattern designer, make sure to show patterns
and illustrations. Do you design greeting cards? That is awesome, especially if you're pitching greeting
card and gift companies. But make sure you show some greeting card designs
in your portfolio. They don't have to be already out there in the real world. You just want to show
that you can design what you are pitching to these
companies, what they produce. You also want to show within each category a
variety of motifs. So if you're showing patterns, for instance, you have
a lot of opportunities. Do you do floral patterns, and you also do food
and maybe animals? Well, if you do all that and you enjoy creating patterns
with those motifs, make sure to show a
variety of those as well. You don't have to have
a ton of art or be a prolific artist to put
together a portfolio. Really, a good number is anywhere 10-20 really
high quality pieces that are your best work. Quality is way more
important than quantity when it comes to
putting your art in portfolios. You definitely don't need to show everything
you've ever created, and you don't want to share
things that are redundant. For instance, if you
draw animal motifs and you have five or six different animal
elephant illustrations, maybe just pick the best
one and share that. That way you are saving art directors time
because remember, art directors have
very limited time to look at your portfolio, so you want them to be able to glance at it very
quickly and get a great idea of what you are capable of creating
with your art. So I have both a printed
magazine style portfolio that I use when I visit
trade shows in person, and I also have an online
portfolio on my website. I'm going to show
you a quick walk through of my portfolio, so you can see what
kinds of art I show. The online portfolio
that's on my website, that is the link that I send in every pitch email I
send to art directors. Alright, so I'm just going to
do a quick walk through of my portfolio as of the
filming of this class. So this is actually the
same as my printed book, but this is what
people see online. So that is my cover page. And then you may recognize my
first and second page here. So I have myself
front and center. I also have some publicity
and select clients listed. But when I think about the art that I want to
show in my portfolio, what I am showing here is a
lot of first up illustration. So I want to do a lot of custom illustration
work these days. And I've been doing a lot of art licensing with illustration. So I put that first up, and I'm putting some of
my best projects first. So I have right here, you know, some examples of
different styles of art. And also, I'm showing
that I can do groupings of things
as an illustration. I have a couple of
little alphabets here. I also have a landscape
illustration. I did this little funny
feline wine poster. I have some
informational graphics. This is a recipe, some
food illustrations. But basically, I'm trying
to show a variety, but also still kind of
have a cohesive look, which is my bright color palette and kind of simple
a simple style. I'm continuing on with
some illustration. So I have these group together. These are different pages,
but on the left hand side, I have some cat illustrations. Underneath each one,
I have a title. And then on the right hand side, I have some kind of trending
illustrations that are the, I guess, cowboy trend
that's going on right now. So I'm trying to show
that I can follow trends, but I also love drawing cats, so I made sure to include that and some of my
funnier art there. And then I'm kind of continuing on here showing
some more animals. I'm keeping a few pieces
together in a series, and I'm also showing
that I can do groupings of animals
and then a map. And this is a slightly different style than
what I normally do. This is more of a softer style. But I'm kind of showing
that, you know, I can do this style, but it still involves
a lot of animals, and, you know,
it's kind of cute. Again, I'm showing some
more illustration. And then I get into my patterns. And really, what
I'm showing here is I have these
grouped just kind of, you know, by, like, this
is some animals here. I'm showing some of my
newer stuff in the front, and these are some of my art pieces that have been licensed. So I know that
they're in demand. So I'm actually showing these because I know people
are going to like them. And but, you know, I'm
only showing, like, a couple of dog illustration
or patterns here. I'm showing a sardine
pattern, some bows, some cakes, a couple of
cats because I like cats. But I'm trying not to
be super redundant, and I'm trying to
keep a cohesive look. Then I'm kind of continuing on. I have some more
nerdy patterns here, like some math cats
and some fursis. This is dogs and physics
and cats and math. But then I'm showing
some simpler styles, some more bows, some food, a food pattern, floral. Some dinosaurs, a little
cowgirl theme here. And then I am rounding it
out with some collections. I have a few mini collections. So on each page, I just have each collection. And again, below each pattern, I have the pattern name. So this cute
Christmas collection has these six patterns in it, and I'm showing each one. I'm trying to one thing
you want to do with your art whenever you show
it, especially with patterns, you want to zoom in so you can
see things like, you know, the eyes on these cats or the little snowflakes
on this dog's sweater, or, like, for instance, these little cute,
happy starfish. So you don't want to zoom
out so far when you're putting patterns
in your portfolio that you can't tell
what something is. You want to be able
to show detail. You don't need to prove
that you can do a repeat. So don't worry so much about, Oh, look, I can do a repeat. See how that repeats there. You really just want to
show as much detail as possible and kind of get the gist of This is
what a pattern is. Again, I have a few more
little collections here. I'm keeping them together. And these are some
larger older collections that I did yeah, just kind of skipping
through showing a variety. I can do summer. I can do animals. I can do space. I can do. These are some holiday patterns. Holiday is huge. So I'm showing that I did some holiday fall
pattern collections. Here's some more holiday. This is a fantastical
forest collection I did. And then the very end
of my portfolio here, I have a call to action, and I also have my
contact information, and I can't wait
to hear from you. So I hope this little walk
through here gave you a good idea of the kinds of things that
I show in my portfolio. It's not huge. I'm not
showing every piece of art that I've ever
made in my life. These are not even all the
collections I've made. These are just my best ones. And with my illustration, trust me, these are not the only illustrations
that I've done. These are just my best ones
and ones that, for instance, I would love to draw more caps and wineglasses
or more sardines, more tigers, more animals. So I'm putting things
in here that I would love to create more of
because if someone sees, for instance, you know, let's say, this, you know,
Tiger illustration here, and they want more tigers I
want to make more tigers. I would love to
make more tigers. They're super fun to draw. But, you know, if I put this
in here and I didn't want to draw any more
tigers ever again, or, for instance, you
know, I had something like this floral pattern here, and I never wanted to draw
another flower again. Well, I would not
put that in here because you want
to put things in your portfolio that
you want to, you know, get people excited about so that they can see
that you can do it, and also they're gonna
want to hire you, maybe, to make more for them.
4. #3: Your Client List: Demonstrate Your Reliability: Number three, it is
totally optional, but if you can, it
is always great to share a list of companies
that you have worked with. Now, these do not have to be companies that you have
licensed your art with. They can be companies that
you did freelance work with or any kind of
work really at all, but especially if
it was art related. Really, you just want to
show that you are reliable, you work well with others, and you are a team player. Here is a bonus hint for those of you who are on Spoonflower. I teach a spoon flower class
that is also on Skillshare. You can find it
through my profile. But if any of your
purchases come from small companies that buy fabric on spoonflower
for products they make, let's say baby blankets
they sell on Etsy or maybe handbags they sell in
their Shopify store online. Reach out and research
these companies. Find out who is
buying your fabric because that counts
as art licensing, and you can list them as
clients in your portfolio. Just because they're
small makers and small companies does
not mean they're not legitimately buying your art on fabric to make their
products to sell. And you should definitely
show that off. So here's my portfolio, and I made sure to include my client list really early on, right after my
contact information. So I have some really
great clients right now because I have been pitching and licensing for several years. But before I had
this client list, I also included a lot of clients who bought
fabric from me on spoon flour to make products that they
then sell online. So Dolly Valentine is actually someone I
still leave in here. She is the sweetest lady. I love her, but she
bought she still buys a lot of my fabric to
make these awesome handbags. And so I, you know, basically included her as an art licensing client
because she is a client, because she buys my art to put on her products that
she then sells. So that is considered
she's considered a client. Now, some of these are, for instance,
Prairie Love knits. I won a contest, and they licensed some of my art
for their products. But, you know, that's not really the kind of client
that you would think, Oh, okay, you know, they hired me and paid me to do
specific art for them. I won a contest with them. So, yeah, it's
really loose here, the whole concept of clients. All you're trying to show
with your client list is that you can work with others and you're used to working
with other companies, which means that you are reliable and you're
a team player. So you're basically just kind of giving yourself legitimacy. You're not just someone who creates art in a vacuum
and has never worked with another person in
respect to your art. I also have some publicity
that I love, including. You can also include this. This is optional. I've had some really amazing things
happen to me in my life. I was on NPRs All
Things Considered. I have been in, for instance,
Uppercase Magazine. I was chosen to be featured
in Red Bubbles found. But, you know, any
kind of accolades that you can brag about,
this is like a resume. I mean, your portfolio here
is your chance to shine, and you really do want to
not be shy about bragging. Because this lends legitimacy
to you as an artist, and it is going to make companies more likely to
want to work with you.
5. #4: Your Art On Products: Real-World Photos / Mockups: Number four, it is
always great to show examples of your art in the
wild, in the real world. This is in the form of photos. Of course, ideally, it would
be wonderful to be able to show photos of your
products in real stores. But you can fake it till
you make it with mockups. I actually teach an entire class on Skillshare all about mocks, and you can find it through
my Skillshare profile. What is really valuable about including photos of
your art in the wild, whether it is through mockups or through real products
in real stores, is you are showing that
you understand how your art should and will be applied to different
types of products. For instance, a fabric
pattern is going to look completely different on a dress and be laid
out differently than, let's say, a standalone
illustration would on a t shirt or a toe bag. So by showing examples
and photos like this, you are showing that you understand how your art will
be applied to products, and this is valuable
for companies, so they know you are demonstrating you understand
how their industry works. So, I use my website as a portfolio along with
my actual portfolio. So on my website homepage, that is where I show a lot of photos of my art in the
wild, in the real world. So if you go to my website, you can actually see photos of products that have my art on
them at different stores. And I even highlighted, here's Target, for instance. Here is Pottery Barn Kids. So these are real
world examples of my art in stores through
my art licensing deals. But you don't have
to have your art on real products in the real world. To be able to
highlight it either in your portfolio
or on your website. You can absolutely fake it until you make
it with mockups. So I'm going to be
giving you three free, high quality mockups
with this class. Just stick with me
until the very end. It is in the last
video for this class. And you'll be able to use these mockups in your
portfolio right now.
6. #5: Your Contact Info + A Call To Action: Number five. And finally, probably one of the most
important elements to a pitch perfect portfolio is your contact information
and a call to action. Make sure to include your email
address and your website, as well as if you have one, your social media handles. This is incredibly
important so that whoever you're showing your portfolio to knows they can reach you. You also want to
be very direct and directly ask them
to reach out and contact you with questions
if they want to ask about collaborating or
licensing your art or even just working
together in general. Don't be shy. You want to be very direct and very clear that this is how to reach you and please reach out to
you to talk further. So I want to show you
guys the importance of having not only your
contact information, but a call to action. In your portfolio. So this is my portfolio, and the very first page here, other than the cover page, is all about me, and I make absolute sure to have my contact information
very clear front and center and I
have my website, my Instagram, and
my email address. I also have my
email address here, and I have a call to action
on the very first page. I even say, Do you want
people to experience a warm fuzzy feeling when they hold your products
in their hands? I would love to help
you make that happen. Here's my email address. Reach out to me. For
custom Illustrations, you can contact my agent. If you would like to see
my full catalog, email me, and I will give
you the password, and I even say, I can't
wait to work with you. So, I not only have my contact information
in multiple places, but I have very specific
calls to action. I'm like, Let me work with you, let me help you create products that sell that
make people happy. And, of course, I have, you
know, my agent, as well. Uh, so if I go all
the way through my portfolio to the
very last page, I even have a call to action again with my contact
information here. So I have my email address, I link to my Instagram. I say, let's work
together, and then I say, reach out to me to discuss licensing my art or other
forms of collaboration. And then I end it with I
Can't wait to hear from you. So I'm really making it clear that I want
to work with people. They should reach out to me, and I tell them how. And then also in my
actual portfolio, on the bottom of
every single page, I have my name and my email
address very clearly printed. And this is on the bottom of every single page
of my portfolio. So if someone decides to just look at one
page or, you know, print one page out
they're not going to wonder who this
art belongs to, who created it, or how to get
in touch with that person. If they like, you know,
this tiger pattern, if they print this page out, they know my email address. So you want to be redundant with your contact information
as much as possible, and you want to make it really, really clear that
you want to work with people and they
should reach out to you. I also in all of my print on demand shops online,
for instance, here is my spoon flower shop, and here is my
society sick shop. I also make sure because these almost serve as a public
portfolio for me, I make sure to have my contact
information very clearly printed and I also have
a call to action there. So I say, you know, to check out my course, and then I also am open to
licensing collaborations. Here is my email address. I also have my Instagram and
my website linked there. So even in places where you wouldn't expect to
find my portfolio, like, where I sell my art online, I still make sure to have my contact information very
clear and calls to action. Same thing with my Society six and all my other
print on demand. Uh, you know, all
the other print on demand platforms
where I sell my art, I talk about, you know, here is why I create
art. Please contact me. Here is my contact information. So, you want to be redundant. You want to make sure that
all over the Internet, anywhere your art appears, you want to be very reachable
and easy to contact.
7. Class Project: For the class project, just share one or more
images of your portfolio. I would love to see if
you're including any one or all five of the essential elements
outlined in this class. You can share a
screenshot of a PDF that you will be sending a link to when you
pitch art directors. You could share a screenshot of your website if that is what you are using for
your portfolio. You can also share a screenshot
of your Instagram grid, for instance, or even
your spoon flower shop. I would just love
to see what you are using to pitch
art directors. It is really easy to submit
a project for the class. Just below the video, you're going to see
a section of tabs. They say about projects
and resources, reviews, discussions,
and transcripts. All you have to do is click
on Projects and Resources, and then right here, you will click the
Submit Project button. And then you can submit an image of your portfolio in
whatever form that takes.
8. Final Thoughts + Some Juicy FREEBIES!: Thank you so much
for joining me on this exciting portfolio journey. I hope you feel a lot more
comfortable and confident now, knowing the five
essential elements to a pitch perfect portfolio. I have helped tons of
students just like you curate their portfolios
and really narrow down companies that
they want to pitch to. Do you want to learn
more? Are you looking for personalized,
tailored advice? Well, I have some
good news for you. I offer one on one
coaching sessions, and you can book them with me directly through my
Skillshare profile. The two sessions
that I offer are called perfect pitching
and portfolio Power. My perfect pitching session
is for anyone interested in illustration or
surface pattern design who wants to increase
their marketability. I'll show you how to curate your portfolio to make it irresistible to your
dream partners. I will review your
art beforehand and help you identify
which industries to pitch. Whether you're interested
in licensing your art, getting your dream in house art job or even
working freelance, this session will
help you identify companies that align with
your personal style. I'll give you pitching
strategy tips and even share a few examples of companies that you would
be a good fit for. That is priceless.
After our chat, I will send you a personalized
PDF with notes on everything I shared so you don't have to take notes
during our video call. And I'll share direct links and company names so you can hit the ground running
with your pitches. My portfolio power sessions
are for anyone interested in illustration or
surface pattern design who wants to increase
their marketability. I will show you how to curate your portfolio and make it irresistible to
your dream partners. I will review your art
beforehand and help you identify which of your
strengths to highlight. And I'll show you how
to adjust and curate your portfolio to let your
talent shine through. After reviewing your portfolio, I'll give you actionable advice. So you can present your
portfolio with confidence. And after our chat, I will send you a
personalized PDF with notes on everything I shared so you don't have to take
notes during our meeting. It is really easy to schedule a one on one
coaching session with me for either the pitching or the portfolio one
on one coaching. All you have to do
is either below this video or any video
for any of my classes, you will see my name
just down here. All you have to do
is click on My Name, and then that will
take you directly to my Skillshare profile. At the very top, you're going to
see something that says one on one
sessions available. Now, of course, I'm showing
here there are two of myself. But that would be, if you were looking at it, you and then me. And basically, it's saying
you and me would be connecting directly in
a one on one session. Then all you have to
do is click the book now button and follow
the prompts. That's it. If you want to learn more
about my coaching and read reviews from happy students I have done one on
one sessions with, all you have to do is go to my website that is
carry cantwell.com. Go to the Learn tab
and click on Coaching. I cannot wait to meet
you and give you personalized advice based on your portfolio and help
you with pitching. I would love to share
the companies and industries I think you
would be perfect for. I want to help you
stand out and really shine to those companies and brands you dream
of working with. I would love a class review. I personally love reading
all of your reviews, and they really mean
the world to me. Leaving a review for this
class is super simple. Below this video, you
will see these tabs. They say about projects
and resources, reviews, discussions,
and transcripts. All you have to do
is below this video, just click on the button
that says reviews, and then click on
leave a review. Trust me, I read
every single review, and they really
mean a lot to me. Say hi on Instagram. My Instagram handle is
Carrie Cantwell Art. Or you can also scan this QR code with
your phone's camera. Thank you for sticking with me until the end of this class. And here is an awesome
bonus for you. I am giving you three free, high quality mockups you can use in your
portfolio right now. Just scan this QR code
with your phone's camera. This will take you to my website where you will sign up for my email newsletter. And then immediately
you will be able to download a zip file
with these mockups. I also teach a whole
Skillshare class on how to use mockups. All you have to do is go
to my Skillshare profile, and if you scroll down, you will look for the
section that says classes right here the class is called Lifestyle Mockups to sell Art and Get Design Work
with free downloads. All you have to do is click on that and check out that class. That class also has a ton
more mockups for free. Thank you again for
joining me in class, and I will see you
next time. Bye.
Carrie Cantwell, Illustrator | Surface Designer | Teacher
