Illustrators, you are invited to showcase your portfolio during the Saturday evening Portfolio Showcase. Drop off your work at the front desk sometime before 6 pm on Saturday, Sept 19th. Please pick your work up by 8 pm.
Guidelines
DO NOT include original art—the portfolios are meant to be handled and will be displayed during the evening social hour when food and drink may be present. Accidents happen! Display all work in a portfolio with plastic sleeves for protection.
Max size: 18” x 24” and thickness when closed 3”. Remember: your goal is to illustrate for children’s publishing, where the standard page size is 9” x 11”. If you have work that must be seen larger than that to be appreciated, it probably won’t be successful for the market. Most artists work at 150% to 200% of the finished size—if you do, that’s fine, but reduce your portfolio copies to the intended print size before displaying.
Identify yourself! Each page or image should include your name and contact information (email or web URL). Your portfolio must include your name and contact information in order to be displayed.
Limit portfolios to 10 images. You can find excellent resources online and in books about children’s publishing to help guide your selection of the types of images to include. The basic rule is to include your very best work and the work you want to be hired to do. Otherwise, please do consider your market. Don’t include “mature” subject matter, anything that would require content warnings, or still lifes, no matter how lovely. You are not only representing your skill, you are representing your point of view and your ability to carry a story.
- You may include a book dummy. Your dummy MUST be attached in some way to your portfolio. A ribbon sewn or glued into the binding and taped or glued securely to your portfolio works well.
- You may choose ONE takeaway to accompany your portfolio like a business card, postcard, or bookmark. NO easels, cardholders, or printed books will be allowed.
Portfolio Showcase Policy
The Portfolio Showcase Release Form can be found under the MY EVENTS tab of your SCBWI Member Home.
