What's worse for a portfolio: 10 polished pieces or 50 rough sketches?

I had a crazy good week last March where I cranked out 27 concept sketches in 5 days for a character design project. But then I spent the next 3 weeks only finishing 3 of them because I kept second-guessing the line work. My art teacher at Austin Community College said quantity beats quality every time, but a client told me they only care about the final polished stuff. Which side do you lean on for building your showcase?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby1892d ago

Oh boy, here we go again with the quality vs quantity debate that artists love to fight about like it's the Super Bowl. Honestly, both sides are kind of missing the point if you ask me. I once spent 6 hours polishing a single eyeball on a character portrait and nobody even noticed because the composition was boring anyway. Your 27 concept sketches in 5 days sound way more impressive than my 3 "perfect" drawings that still look wrong no matter how many layers I adjust. So yeah, throw up a mix of both but lean toward the quantity because at least it proves you actually do the work instead of just staring at a blank canvas.

oscarb713d ago

The same thing happens with cooking funny enough. People share five amazing photos of their best dishes on Instagram but never show the 30 failed attempts to get that sauce right. Your 50 rough sketches tell the story of finding your style, the 10 polished ones just show the end result. Clients love finished work but they also respect someone who can actually deliver on deadline. I'd say put up 10 sketches and 5 polished pieces so they see both the thinking and the doing.