Adrian Valencia gives wonderful tips on building a portfolio, and shopping it around. These are standard, basic, important essentials. These never change. The secret is no big secret: Make the work you want to get hired for, and hit the pavement.
Twelve years ago I was very new in London and when I decided I wanted to test myself as an illustrator, I didn’t know where to start. I spent two months building my portfolio ( let me tell you…it wasn’t amazing ) and once it was ready I took notes of art directors’ contacts from the magazines I wanted to work with. My English wasn’t great and on top of that I was clueless about the industry but in a way I guess I had nothing to lose. I had a business card and a few printed pages with my illustrations to be remembered. No website just a printed portfolio. I called every single publication in London and I was lucky that most of them agreed to meet me. (via Draw Adrian, Draw!: Once upon a time…)
