Portfolio Prep Checklist
If you want to make comics, you’re going to need a comic portfolio. Since we began publishing anthologies in 2021, we’ve looked at the portfolios for over 600 pitches – and counting! We like to think we’ve got something to say about them.
In this Portfolio Prep Checklist, we’ll explore the must-haves and nice-to-haves for your own comic portfolio, and the common mistakes people make when pitching to us.

What goes into a Comic Portfolio?
Your comic portfolio should include comic pages. This shouldn’t need to be stated, but we’ve received many portfolio links in the past that don’t show us comics.
The pages in your portfolio should:
- Show off what you do best, whether this means your style, or skills (e.g. you focus solely on pencils and inks)
- Demonstrate the flexibility of your style, if that’s something you want to explore
- Showcase work across the genres you want to work in
- Include complete pages, where possible
Most importantly, if you’re looking for comic work, but you also produce other types of work – such as illustrations, or prose fiction – your portfolio should separate those elements out. Even if all of your work is in the realm of comics, you should have separate files or webpages for different types of work, such as:
- Interiors
- Cover art
- Character design
- Pinups
- Graphic design
They’re all different skills, and deserve their own space.
Note that this applies to everyone in comics, not just artists and colourists. Writers and letterers in particular need to show off complete pages more than anyone else. Scripts and samples of speech bubbles aren’t enough, in most cases.
At the same time, organise your comic portfolio. Collect pages together into sets. Make it easy to navigate. The more time someone has to spend trying to find pages, the less time they’re going to spend looking at them.
Tell Us About Yourself
Your portfolio isn’t just a place to dump your work and run. You need:
- A bio (written in the third person – “FirstName LastName is a Comic Creator”, not “I am a Comic Creator”)
- A headshot – photograph or illustration, your choice
- Links to your social media
- Contact details – a dedicated contact form and work email are vital
Presenting Portfolios
Not everyone can make a website, and not every website can host the pages you want it to – unpublished work can be under NDA for a while, and can’t go online publicly.
If you can post work on a website:
- Use different pages for different projects
- Set up the menu so that everything is organised properly
- Don’t put everything onto one page – it’ll be slow to load, and hard to navigate
You might also be able to use a portfolio website. The same principles apply – make it easy to navigate.
If you can’t post things publicly, or you want to show off work that should otherwise be private, make a PDF and upload it to something like Google Drive or Dropbox, with access to view given to anyone with the link. This document should include:
- Your bio, headshot and contact details on the first page
- A table of contents for what’s to follow
- Separate sections for someone to navigate more easily
Mistakes to Avoid in Your Portfolio
There are many common mistakes we see people make. Here are a few to avoid:
- Don’t just link to a social media page. This is especially true if your account is private.
- Don’t link to a store. Editors and clients shouldn’t need to buy something from you to know if they want to hire you.
- Don’t link to a LinkedIn profile. This isn’t a portfolio. It’s usually not focused on comics. The times this has happened, writing wasn’t even mentioned on the profile.
- Don’t assume the person knows your work if you’re contacting them. Titles and covers of books you’ve worked on don’t tell an editor or client enough about your work.
- Don’t make someone request access to your portfolio. If there’s a barrier to viewing it, it’s also in your way.
Go forth…
…and watch this space.
At the time of writing, we’re getting ready to announce our next anthology. This is the perfect time to update your portfolio. Put your best work forward, and maybe we’ll see your name in the credits.
In the meantime, use the Checklist to ensure that your portfolio is up to scratch.