Brochures - Page 3

Mary Sparrow · 02-14-2002, 08:52 AM

Thank you for sharing your brochure information. I am in the middle of making up a new one and you have been a tremedous help!

Debra, I agree with Peggy your prices are WAY too low. Your work is beautiful.

Thanks for starting this thread Renee, it has been very helpful!

Peggy Baumgaertner · 02-14-2002, 10:38 AM

In putting together a portfolio, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

Whose body of work do you most like? Who are your idols? What kind of paintings would you like to be doing in ten years? Think about what kind of portrait you would like to be painting. This is the critical question. Do you admire loose brushy work, or wish you had the time to spend developing a more nuanced portrait? Decide what you want to be doing in ten year, and do it NOW!

THE PORTRAITS IN YOUR PORTFOLIO WILL BE THE PORTRAIT YOU WILL BE COMMISSIONED TO PAINT.

Decide what you want your career, your body of work, to look like, and start NOW to fill your portfolio with that work. The sooner you have that portfolio, the sooner you will be commissioned to paint that work.

I suggested painting kids because that is the easiest way to fill a portfolio. If you want to do corporate commissions, paint a bunch of exquisite 3/4 corporate portraits. Society portraits? Paint those. Your portfolio is the single most important selling tool you have.

One additional thought.

You will be judged by the weakest piece in your portfolio. Eliminate all but the very best portraits. Be brutal. If you only have one good portrait, show only one painting.

Peggy

Steven Sweeney · 02-15-2002, 05:53 AM

Peggy Baumgaertner writes that "You will be judged by the weakest piece in your portfolio", and I think that's an enormously valuable bit of advice. The portfolio isn't what you'd show yer Mum, who would love to see any progress in this goofy profession you've chosen instead of accounting or law. Leave the kitchen sink pieces out of your professional presentation. You're asking people to look at the very best that you can do, and you're saying, I can do this for you, too. Any "intermediate" grade work, no matter how pleased you were with it at the time, isn't "portfolio" work. (I happen to have a few things that I was thrilled to accomplish at the time and that I'm not ashamed to show [and that I've displayed ad nauseum to friends and relatives]. . . but they are not pieces that would market my current skills and attitudes and determination as a portrait artist.)

Your next piece is about 90% guaranteed to be better than the one before it, no matter how enamored you were of that earlier work. Show people your best work, and then present them with something even better, if you can, but at least equal to your best. It's all you can do. And gosh, post an image here and get some feedback if you need it, before you deliver the final. It's a great deal of fun for the rest of us to watch and learn from people doing the hard work.

Cheers,
Steven