Do you Need a Curated Portfolio to Pitch your Surface Pattern Designs?

For the longest time, I thought I needed a curated portfolio to be able to pitch my work and in turn license or sell my designs.

This was a bit of a road block for me because I was spending too much time crafting something that would change as I developed more work and pitched to different industries. The amount of time and effort it takes to build a portfolio can be overwhelming.

What I found was that I was not asking my self the right question. Do I need a curated portfolio instead became: how can I best show my work to my ideal company?

The short answer is no. You don’t need a curated portfolio to license or sell your designs, but you do need to a have a place where a potential art buyer can view your work such as a website, Instagram page, or Spoonflower shop. I have been able to get licensing opportunities without sending a portfolio.

When pitching, what’s more important is that you have a strong body of work (even if it’s just 10 designs) and style or styles that fit with your ideal company. Once you have that, you can to send a few sample images of your designs and a link to where the art director or buyer can view more designs if they are interested.

Here is an example of what you could attach to your email pitch:

There are some instances where a company would request a link to a portfolio. It’s more professional to have a website dedicated to showing your work, but again is not essential especially when starting out. You can also set yourself apart by presenting product or company specific portfolios, but you have to assess whether that time spent is worth the effort.

As you begin to accumulate a lot of work and become more advanced in the industry, setting up a website dedicated to showing your work will help you keep track of what designs you have available and provide an easy and professional way to present your work to potential buyers.

The most important thing is that you are pitching your work and the easier you make that task the more likely you will be able to accomplish it. Happy Pitching!