What freelancer need to know before posting portfolio online

 Is freelancer’s portfolio anyhow different from a portfolio of a regular job
seeker? Let us see here is what freelance gurus form Elance Blog recommend for
freelancer in order to present portfolio online.

If you’re a freelancer and want to make sure your Portfolio is optimized for client searches, here are some words of wisdom from the sages of search:

• Be sure to upload your latest and greatest samples to your Portfolio.

• Edit all samples (new and old), giving each a unique tag, description and title (remember, these are the search terms clients will be searching for).

• In your description, describe your role in the project as well … be specific about what part of the project you worked on how you tackled the assignment.

• Review samples to make sure they look great (we’ve automatically created thumbnails, but you can use the simple editing tool to adjust as needed).

We think that everything what is listed above is relevant to any portfolio. So these tips are very useful to any art/design job seeker when posting portfolio online

source:”Introducing Portfolio Samples Search … Explore Away!” Hire Freelancers and Find Freelance Jobs Instantly. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

how to draw pleated skirt in Adobe Illustrator

summary of steps
1. Create a graphic element of a single pleated, repeat it for a few a few times to create a structure of a pleated fabric. Duplicate it as necessary.
2. Group all elements together.
3. Apply *arc lower*effect ( Effect//Arc//Arc Lower).
4. Tune arc lower effect’s setting using *vertical* and *bend* sliders. Adjust as needed using selection tool.
5. Apply expand appearance ( Object//Expand Appearance)

Create a graphic element of a single pleat,repeat it for a few a few times to create a structure of a pleated fabric.Duplicate it as necessary.

Group all elements together.

Apply *arc lower* effect (Effect//Arc//Arc Lower).

Tune arc lower effect settings using *vertical* and *bend* sliders.

Apply expand appearance ( Object//Expand Appearance)

textile design concept by Bri Sharpe

This is a photo-generated textile collection, inspired by micro chips. 

Micro Chic Collection

 

This is a Contemporary collection of separates for juniors. 

Collection consists of 

• shorts,
• jackets,
• dresses,
• halters,
• pants,
•  tunics. 

This collection focuses on the principle of line, which is manipulated with seaming.

fashion illustration by 8 year old fashion illsutrator Addi Harrison

Hi! My name is Addi Harrison and I am in the third grade. I have loved art ever since I was a little kid. I have been drawing in notepads and doodle books since I was three. My mom has been teaching me how to use croquis and I love it. Soon she will teach me to sew too! One day I would like to become an artist and an art teacher. For right now I am hoping to go to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. I really appreciate my mom for putting me on the right track and always encouraging me.” – Addi Harrison

“It’s great to see kids find a passion for something they love to do so early on. I’m happy that I’m able to share in both my kids’ love of art.” – Ayme Harrison

Fashion Illustration in Progress

Click on the images to see Adiie’s illustration enlarged

Addi Harrison Fashion Illustration 8 yrs old

Fashion Illustration in the works

10 social networking tools for fashion professionals.

Web2.0 toolbox for fashion professionals: 10 social networking tools which could be effectively used for professional networking in fashion industry.

Social networking became a fact of life and it offers a huge potential for professional networking.

The topic of this post is selection of the best way to use social networking site by a fashion professional for self promotion.

This posting is not an overview of social networking and blogging sites in general, there are plenty of such very comprehensive and thorough overviews on the web today and there is no need for another “dissertation” on the topic.

It is, however, a common sense overview of online social networking tools for fashion professionals whose social networking experience and web experience overall could range from nonexistent to some use of social networks as a personal hobby.

Thus the focus is: services applicable for

• “real people”, not Internet geeks who ” know everything”.
• fashion professionals who want to promote themselves on the web in order to get a job, expand customer base or just advance or expand personal/fashion brand.

read about 10 social networking tools for fashion professionals.

Fashion portfolio: brand it!

The rule number one for effective fashion portfolio: brand it!

Branding is essential for fashion industry. And there is a reason for this. Brand is a way to identify and differentiate them. Not branded means generic. Do you want to be treated as a “me too” fashion professional? Hopefully not. The only way to not be treated as a generic entity is to establish, articulate and promote your personal brand via clearly and robustly branded portfolio.

Digital textile design portfolio by Narishdath Maraj

This is an example of well branded portfolio ( textile design) by Narishdath Maraj (AIFL) selected for posting at art design fashion.com portfolio gallery

Four reasons to keep fashion portfolio concise.

Portfolio is a summary of your professional achievements: be selective, concise and to the point. Do not include entire body of artwork.

Think of portfolio as a visual resume.

Same as your biography is not a resume, all your projects together are not a portfolio, even if perfectly organized.

Would you consider it as appropriate to send your full life story to a potential employer instead of your resume? Hopefully not. Similarly, it does not make any sense to throw the cumulative weight of all your projects at others instead of making a relevant and meaningful selection.

“Selection” is the key word for portfolio. No selection: no portfolio, plain and simple. Portfolio is a creative, visual resume. It has to be concise, compressed and to the point.

Here four reasons why you should not include more than it is necessary in your portfolio:

a)      concise portfolio is a sign of your ability to focus: by selecting your best you demonstrate your ability to think analytically and be focused on a goal. Your ability to be focused on the main aspects of a project is crucial for your professional success.

b)      concise portfolio is a sign that you understand what your portfolio is for: By keeping your portfolio focused and concise you demonstrate understanding professional goals of people who review your portfolio. They are not going to evaluate you as an artist or as a person. They are making their decision to offer you a job (a project, a commission) or not. You are helping them by keeping your portfolio concise. You are making their job more difficult by overwhelming them with unedited and not condensed gathering of projects.

c)      concise portfolio is a sign of professional respect to a reviewer: Focused, concise and well organized portfolio is a sign of respect to those who are looking at your portfolio. You demonstrate your understating that they are busy people and have no time to dig through all your artwork. By keeping your portfolio concise you are showing that you value time of people who decide to see your portfolio.

d)     concise portfolio is a sign of your realism: Reality is that probably nobody will ever go through your portfolio in a thorough manner, page by page, project by project. It is very possible that your portfolio will be scanned at glance instead of being thoroughly reviewed. Therefore the more concise your portfolio is the more chances that you will succeed with making your case in the limited amount time. By compressing your portfolio you show your sense of realism and professional humbleness. Your ambitions should be reflected in quality of your work not in quantity.

Fashion design portfolio by Natalia Pelicotti..Concise and to the point.

What is a strategy for your fashion portfolio?

Fashion Portfolio Gallery by Emerging Fashion Professionals at http://www.artdesignfashion.com

Fashion portfolio: strategic approach.

No good fashion portfolio could be created without a strategy. Have a strategy of achieving your goals and shape your portfolio as a part of your strategy.

Metaphorically speaking: fashion portfolio is just a visible tip of the iceberg, while the invisible part is your strategy.

Practically speaking: fashion portfolio is a powerful tool of your fashion career development. Thus, to get started with such strategic planning, identify the type/types of jobs you are looking for.

Even if you are looking for any job whatsoever, still make a list of these “whatsoever jobs” in order of your priorities.

There is no such thing as a “good portfolio” per se. Portfolio which is perfect for one job is disastrous for another. Portfolio is intended to manifest your professionalism.

The starting point of your professionalism is that you know what you are looking for. Do your “homework”, decide what you want to achieve and build your portfolio based on these decisions.

• Are you looking for job in a niche market or are you targeting a broad spectrum of fashion industry jobs with your portfolio? How broad?
• What should be excluded from the spectrum of your objectives and what are your essential apparent priorities?
• Are you interested in children’s’ fashion? women’s? men’s? urban? formal? sportswear? what is your main focus?
• Nobody can do everything and you should not try to make a portfolio which fits all areas of fashion industry. Make your priorities and build you portfolio following your priorities.

Bottom line is that portfolio is not a goal. Fashion portfolio is a tool for achieving your goals: know your goals first.

Knowing your goals is a condition of creating and using fashion portfolio  tool properly.

• Why do you need a portfolio in the first place?
• What purpose does your portfolio serve?
• Do you know what your goals are? Can you write them down in a concise and well articulated manner? Do you have them written down?
• What problems are you planning to solve with your portfolio? Get a job? To be recognized as a professional?
• What kind of a job are you looking for? What kind of recognition would you like to get?

In other words, think beyond a portfolio, think of your strategy.

You have to clarify that to yourself:

• The goals which you are trying to achieve with your portfolio
• The message which you are trying to convey with your portfolio
• The image of yourself which you are trying to create with your portfolio

Have a strategy and make your portfolio a tool for achieving your strategic goals.

Fashion portfolio: uniqueness and standards

examples of fashion portflios

The main paradox of fashion portfolio is that your portfolio must be unique and, at the very same time, done according to very strict standards. Portfolio is a paradoxical fusion of rareness and mass appeal. It is a symbiotic combination of rarity and relevance.

The less unique your portfolio is, the less ambitious are your aspirations. However if your portfolio is so unique that only a few people can appreciate it, then you are narrowing down effectiveness of your portfolio to these few people. After all, your ambitions and your uniqueness, as much as they are important, are not the only factors that make you employable. Your professionalism and your understating of “how fashion industry works” must be reflected in your portfolio as well.

Fashion Portfolio must be unique. Portfolio is incarnation of your personality and, as such, it is unique “by definition”. It is your portfolio and it is a reflection of your professional self. Portfolio is intended to reflect your professional personality in a crisp and clear way.

there are three main aspects of making your portfolio unique:

1. Authentic uniqueness: creating truly unique portfolio requires a lot of “soul searching” and relentless creative experimentation. But most importantly, you have to be actually unique to have a unique portfolio. Nothing can be worse than trying to fake uniqueness by making it “different” just for the sake of being unusual. With such approach you are running a very serious risk of being perceived as a phony instead of unique.

2. Know what your uniqueness is: It is complicated to make an unique portfolio. It is not enough to trust in your uniqueness and to feel that you are unique. You have to know precisely what makes you unique. Do you have a unique skill/skills, is your style what makes you unique? Do you posses some unique experience? What is it that makes you unique? Analyze it in the thorough way, do not rely on how you feel about your uniqueness, know what makes you unique.

3. Express your uniqueness. you need to articulate in a clear way what your unique qualities are. Have your unique selling proposition spelled out in a form of a clearly articulated statement reflecting your unique features, which makes you, not other person, best fit for this job. Write down what the unique features are and be sure to reflect your uniqueness in every part of your portfolio.

Uniqueness of your portfolio is a key. As much as possible, your portfolio has to be so memorable that even those who did not hire you would remember you because of your portfolio.

Portfolio must be done according to industrial standards. Portfolio is not your goal, it is your instrument. Therefore, a portfolio which reflects your personality only and nothing else may be a masterpiece of fine art or editorial graphics but it will not be …a portfolio.

You are presenting portfolio to professionals and you expect them to react to your portfolio in a certain way (e.g., to offer you a job, to commission a project, accept to school ). So you have to see your portfolio “from another side of barricade”, with eyes of those to whom you are going to present your portfolio through the prism of your goals and objectives. Therefore, the real life standards, professional requirements in your niche of fashion industry must be very important consideration in the process of portfolio development. Do your homework: try to understand what reviewers are looking for in your portfolio and what you have to deliver to make it work.

neither, nor:

Neither uniqueness of your portfolio nor industrial standards in the portfolio by itself are enough to make your portfolio effective. The key is to integrate both, to create a portfolio which is unique and professionally sound at the same time.