We caught up with some of our Art Department, to get some top tips on how to make your portfolio stand out from the rest!

Oh, em, let's hope the rest don't read this blog too! :/  

Firstly, what do Axis Studios look for in a portfolio? Quality, Quantity & Consistency.

Quality – the work has to be of an expected standard for the role you are applying for.

Quantity – there has to be a decent amount of work at the expected quality.

Consistency – the quality of work needs to be consistent across the quantity of work.

You can do this by checking out the artstation or portfolios of people in the industry in similar roles; the students of NEW3DGE in Paris are very good at putting together promotional materials, for example.

Without further ado then, here's our 8 Portfolio/Showreel tips from the Axis Art Department:

  1. Email/contact details on every page, or if it's a reel as a watermark throughout the video. 

  2. Keep your portfolio/showreel focused, with a clean page layout.

  3. Keep your artstation and online portfolios up to date.

  4. If you are not happy with a piece, take it out. 

  5. Actually make work for your portfolio/showreel: do work specifically for it!

  6. Storyboards – if it’s an action/motion heavy piece the best way to present is through an animatic. If you are presenting as 2D ‘still’ images use a six or nine panel page layout/template and show your strongest work.

  7. Keep music generic, unless you specifically want to cut to a piece of music, or reveal something about your personality/personal music tastes (generally we watch showreels with audio turned down).

  8. Be clear about what it is you did on something i.e. if you worked on a team project, call out which aspects you were specifically responsible for and, if possible, embed that info into the reel.

Can’t wait to see all your portfolios!