Art station booth at Comic-Con made me rethink my whole portfolio layout

Last month I had a table at the local Comic-Con in Portland. I brought my usual portfolio book with 20 pieces sorted by date, newest to oldest. A guy who runs a gallery walked by, flipped through it, and told me I was burying my best work in the middle. He said he only looks at the first 3 pages before deciding if he wants to keep going. So I redid the whole thing this week. Now I lead with my strongest 3 pieces, then put the weaker stuff in the back, and end with another strong one. I also dropped 5 pieces that were just okay to keep it clean. Has anyone else had a stranger's offhand comment completely change how you present your art?

3 comments

3 Comments

lily7016d ago

Portland Comic-Con, nice. Yeah that exact thing happened to me at a small gallery walk in Austin. Some random photographer told me my best shot was on page 8 of my book and I should flip the whole order. I was mad for a second but he was totally right.

kevin_west16d ago

Did that gallery guy also give your buddy an unsolicited critique on their booth setup?

pat_fisher2416d ago

No kidding, that's solid advice right there. I did the same thing after a vendor at a show told me my first page looked like filler. Now I lead with my best stuff and end with something strong so they walk away remembering it.