Jakub Rozalski’s portfolio demonstrates one of the most important aspects of being a visual artist, and probably the most elusive aspect to teach. Its not color or form or subject matter or any particular hand skill. Those all have their own challenges when it comes to teaching, but they also have demonstrable solutions. And, to be fair, those feel hard enough most of the time, both for teachers and students. What Rozalski’s portfolio shows, on top of a huge amount of skill and talent, is quantity. He has put the time in to master his craft.Jakub Rozalski
howling at the moon
Even though the 10,000 hours of practice meme has been disputed and clarified (it's really about intentional practice rather than number of hours) it is still a useful and very true concept. You only get good by doing. For visual communication students, this means that they graduate with a solid set of entry level skills, and—probably important for their confidence as they begin their job search—very little idea how far they are from mastery. This is true even for the best portfolios presented by graduating seniors. There is always more to be learned and it can only be learned by doing.
When I teach a portfolio classes, a theme I return to again and again is that you need to prove you can create a certain sort of piece over and over again to solve different problems. If you want to be a packaging designer, you need to show a lot of packaging. UX folks aren't going to get a job without showing how they connected the experiences they create to their users in multiple types of jobs. Illustrators need to show that they can successfully solve visual problems in a consistent way. An illustration portfolio with one water color, one digital painting, one cartoon, one pen and ink piece, and so forth, isn't going to to be successful. They need show mastery of medium and problem solving. Mastery of multiple mediums runs a distant third if its important at all. A whole portfolio of digital paintings, in a consistent style, is way more powerful than showing a lot of one off pieces. You need to prove that the piece in your portfolio that is in the style your client wants wasn't a fluke. Potential clients want to see a whole portfolio in the style they want to hire you for.
On top of that, if you want to achieve mastery, you have to be in it for the long haul. Underneath all our efforts as educators and mentors as we focus our students’ efforts on skill building, problem solving, and audience driven work, is teaching sustainable practice. What is the process that will not only turn out quality work, but will adapt to work with other people and teams? How do you stay focused on the prize in a world where “entry level” means five years of experience and a bunch of shipped or published work?
“You get good by doing” sounds good, and everyone believes it, but students (and I suspect everyone trying to learn a new skill) struggle with how much of their lives need to be devoted to doing in order to reach their goals. This manifests in a lot of ways but the warning signs of not doing are like flares to those of us who teach. Not researching audience and competitors. Visual direction research that consists of a Pinterest board that is created and never looked at again. The grudging creation of the absolute minimum of thumbnails and preliminary sketches. Students see cutting these corners as good time management—they have a lot of other work to do. We know they are sabotaging the path their career will take as well as the ability to stay on that path until they are established.
Striving to master one thing doesn’t mean ignoring all the other things you could do. It is fun to play in different styles and that may be how you discover the next thing you want to master. But a portfolio that attracts clients shows big chunks of work in each area that you are strong. Look at Rozalski’s portfolio again. Do you have any doubt that he would be able to handle concept work for a military fantasy game or movie or book covers? Make sure your portfolio, no matter what you do, makes potential clients feel as confident in your mastery of your skills as his does for his clients.
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