Portfolio Examples
Building a portfolio is an artists most important professional showcasing piece. We are visual communicators so while resumes and cover letters are important, they are often less relevant. Portfolios give employers a snapshot of our skillset and style so its important to provide the best and most representative of our work. How easily our website is navigated and what information we present all leave an impression.
Below are portfolios of individuals currently working in the industry from a wide range of positions. Taking a look at how they showcase their work will help give insight into what employers are looking for and how we can curate our own portfolio experience.
Elizabeth Fuselier
Background Designer
Features background design work on Disenchantment (Netflix) and Bless the Harts (Fox)
Portfolio site made using Carbonmade
Click to View Portfolio
David VanTuyle
Storyboard Art
Current storyboard artist for Monsters at Work (Disney)
Features storyboards for personal projects.
Portfolio hosted on Blogspot and Speaker Deck
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Click to View Portfolio
Jenessa Warren
Storyboard Art
Includes storyboards from Raya and Big Hero 6 (Disney)
Portfolio made using Speaker Deck
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Click to View Portfolio
Teny Issakhanian
Visual Development, Storyboard Art, Illustration
Features prop/plant visual development and storyboards for Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (Netflix) and other personal projects
Portfolio made using Carbonmade
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Click to View Portfolio
Michael Herrera
Story/ Development, Character Concept Design, Illustration
Features storyboards and character/set designs for personal projects.
Portfolio made using Wix
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Click to View Portfolio
Rebecca Shieh
Visual Development, Set Design, Background Painter
Features set design and concept art for Onward (Pixar) and other personal projects.
Portfolio made using Squarespace
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Click to View Portfolio
Lindsey Olivares
Character Concept Design, Visual Development
Features character design and visual development for The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Netflix)
Portfolio made using a personal website builder
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Click to View Portfolio
Miguel Jimenez
Color Design
Features color keys for shows including The Powerpuff Girls, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, and Craig of The Creek (Cartoon Network).
Portfolio made using Portfoliobox
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Click to View Portfolio
Vivien Ou
Storyboard Art, Illustration
Features storyboards and illustrations for personal projects.
Portfolio made using Wix
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Click to View Portfolio
Yuriko Oto
Visual Development, Illustration
Features plant design exploration and set visual development for personal projects.
Portfolio made using Squarespace
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Click to View Portfolio
Winnie Mai
Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, Visual Development
Features 2D character and concept design and 3D environment/character modeling, lighting, and texturing for personal projects.
Portfolio hosted on Artstation
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Click to View Portfolio
Fet-Nat Bailly
Character Design
Features character and environment designs for personal projects.
Portfolio hosted on Behance
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Click to View Portfolio
Meridian Gray Culpepper
Storyboard, Illustration
Features storyboards and character illustrations for personal projects.
Portfolio made using Wix
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Click to View Portfolio
Dalilah Lopez (Otis Alumn)
Character Animation, Story Art, Illustration
Features short animations and storyboards for personal projects.
Portfolio made using Wix
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Click to View Portfolio
Ellen Jin (Otis Alumn)
Production/Development Art Director, Concept Visual Development
Features design work from Dr. Strange and Iron Man animated features (Marvel) and the Tinkerbell film series (Disney)
Portfolio made using GoDaddy
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Click to View Portfolio
Valerie Deogard (Otis Alumn)
Character Animation, Story Art, Illustration
Features an animation reel and storyboards for personal projects.
Portfolio made using GoDaddy
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Click to View Portfolio
Rachel Perez (Otis Alumn)
Character Design/Vis Dev
Features character/prop design and visual development illustrations for personal projects and Netflix training.
Portfolio made using Squarespace
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Click to View Portfolio
Jenna Barnett (Otis Alumn)
Character Animation, Story Art
Features storyboards and animatics for personal projects.
Portfolio made using Squarespace
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Click to View Portfolio

Reel Examples
Similarly, reels present the best of our work in a short 30 second to 1 minute video. This type of portfolio piece is typically for those who's process is best represented through movement; animators, riggers, compositors, and more. Take a look at some industry professional reels below.
John Lockwood
FX/Crowds Technical Director
FX and Crowds Reel showing work from Pixar Animation Studio and Blizzard Entertainment.
Reel hosted on personal website
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Click to View Reel
Ashley Souza
Lighting Artist/Compositor
Showreel including shots from Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), lighting trainee shots at Disney Animation, Caldera (2012), and a personal project
Hosted on Vimeo
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Click to View Reel
Abraham Aguilar
3D Character Animation
3D Animation Reel showing animation work from Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Snow White and the Huntsman
Hosted on Vimeo
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Click to View Reel
Alessandra Sorrentino
Storyboard/Animation
Story Reel including work from Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon and Song of the Sea
Hosted on personal website
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Click to View Reel
Jackie Koehler
3D Animation
3D animation reel showing work from The Book of Life and Free Birds (Blue Sky)
Hosted on Wix
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Click to View Reel
Michelle Linghe Jia (Otis Alumn)
3D Animation
Holiday Karriema (Otis Alumn)
2D and 3D Character Animation

Website Resources
So after seeing all of these wonderful reels and portfolios, where do we start in the process of creating our own portfolio? Finding a showcasing website can be stressful so we made it easy! Below is a comprehensive list of showcasing sites and free music licensining sites with pricing, available discounts, pros, and cons all layed out.
Wix



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Custom domain
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Free option available
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Free option has limited usability
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Contains ads
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Cannot download resumes as a pdf
PRICING
PROS
CONS
Squarespace



PROS
Carbonmade



Vimeo



PROS
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Privacy controls
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Password protection
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Unlimited videos
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Unlimited bandwidth
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4k and HDR Support
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Publish directly to Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn and Twitter
CONS
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No free version (can get 30 days free with Vimeo Basic)
Speaker Deck



STUDENT PRICING
No student discount offered
PROS
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Free option
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Can download decks
CONS
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Only accepts PDF documents
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Free version has an upload cap of 100 decks
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PDFs cannot be larger than 150 MB
PROS
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Can download resumes as pdf
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Custom domain
CONS
No free version (free trial only)