April AMA: Answers (Patreon)

Thank you to all of the $5+ Patrons that submitted questions! Please take all of this advice with a grain of salt as always.

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Scrubblegum asks: I Becca! I do have one question-

I have some fanart/simple stuff. It's still clean work, but those pieces aren't as high-effort as the models that took me weeks/months. I should also note that those simpler pieces are my only samples of certain styles (think animal crossing, etc).

Is it worth keeping stuff like that in my artstation, or should I cut out anything that isn't a full-on project?

Thanks!

It honestly depends on what those pieces would be communicating to the audience. Think about what skill you're trying to sell with every piece you include in your portfolio. Is it a new style? Directed to a different market, like a different context for illustration or graphic design? 

With each image or project you add to your portfolio, ask yourself a few questions:

• What strength of mine does this communicate to the viewer?
• Is that strength already covered with other projects or images?
• Where does this project fit into the production pipeline of the jobs that I am applying to?
• What parties and roles does this project appeal to?

Whether it's fanart or not doesn't matter to me as long as you're including it in your body of work intentionally, not just to get another image on  your website. Don't get caught up in the temptation to add pieces to your portfolio just to  have a bigger library. Quality is more important than quantity!

For each skill you're demonstrating, I recommend having at least 2-3 pieces in order to show consistency. If you want to show a simpler, more graphic illustration style, then go for it!  Otherwise, maybe keep those less showy pieces to the rest of your social media.

Jessica Karlsson asks: Hi Becca! I'm curious to know what an art mentorship in your industry would look like. I don't know much about it at all, but if you have any insight into it, I'd love to hear about it. :) Thank you!

Mentorship comes in a LOT of different forms, and it's a word that tends to be used in a lot of different ways. 

When they hear the word "mentorship," I think a lot of students picture a very formal structure- hopping into a call or meeting up with a professional X amount of times per week for X amount of hours, getting assignments and tasks, etc. I've actually mentored people in this format before- I charged them a few hundred bucks for 5 meetings that lasted about 2 hours during which I did paintovers, critiqued their portfolio, and answered their questions.

This is something you can certainly find through websites like the Mentorship Coalition or live classes through Schoolism, but for the most part, formal mentorships through individual companies tend to be rare and *extremely* competitive. 

What I really recommend doing is staying open minded about the meaning of the word mentorship. I had a ton of different mentors when I was a student, but never through a "formal" structure. All of my mentors were professionals that I reached out to individually, or fellow students, maybe a year or two older than me, that I forged friendships with. Mentorship, ultimately, is just receiving guidance from someone that knows something you don't! 

This slides very quickly into the conversation about networking and what it means to network in good faith or bad faith. When you network just to get something out of people, you're going to end up with selfish, ingenuine relations with folks that aren't invested in you. The way I recommend to network is not to take, but to give. Be enthusiastic and helpful and carry a spirit of generosity.  People are drawn to this- filter out the people that just want something out of you, and you'll end up in good company. That circle of people is a source of mentorship- the exchange of advice, ideas, support, and resources. 

Hope this helps!