Lydia Hill’s illustration portfolio is a lovely variety of projects. Small thumbnails for each project makes it easy to get an overview of the portfolio and navigate between projects. A header and logo that matches Lydia’s art style is also a nice touch. I especially adore one of her animations looping on the homepage, it adds so much life to the portfolio, I’m also a sucker for animations so it could just be that.

“My current portfolio has been made during the course of my BA in Illustration. Throughout the course I took care to write myself briefs which showcase my illustration applied in a series of different ways and also experiment with real world applications showcasing my work in an intended context. 

For instance, I wrote a brief that included creating a series of editorial illustrations for a fictional copy of the New Scientist. I created the illustrations and also designed a series of magazine spreads to showcase the work inside, allowing potential clients to see how my work would appear in an editorial setting. I find that this also allows me to demonstrate my skills and understanding of graphic design and page layouts as well. I took care to base my self-initiated briefs around real products such as children’s story books, a cookbook and book cover designs. I think it’s important to not only showcase your illustrations but show how they would appear in the real world too.”

– Lydia Hill

Patrycja Podkościelny portfolio utilizes images with full-screen width in a lovely way, as soon as you enter her portfolio you’re presented with a huge illustration. Also, the individual project pages have plenty of full width and high-quality images of her work, and it looks fantastic. Each project page is also creatively displayed and every page is presented differently, which makes exploring Patrycja’s portfolio a great experience.

Linn Warme has a clean and light online portfolio that does a great job guiding the visitor through her projects with the help of a layout that’s clearly categorised and structured. This is another portfolio that has a lot work to explore through, there’s plenty to discover on each page, which I’m a huge fan of.

Jennifer Xiao portfolio site is a fun treat to visit, which perfectly suits her art style. When entering the homepage you’re greeted with an animated menu & buttons (in her own quirky style) that really sets the tone for the whole experience. After the initial meny it’s more of a traditional portfolio, filled with Jennifer’s work to explore. For me, this is a perfect example of a portfolio that matches and complements the work.

When an artist has a very consistent style it’s often the recipe for a good looking portfolio, and I’d say that’s the case for Evangeline Gallagher’s portfolio site. A simple portfolio that’s easy to navigate through. I also enjoy the self-portrait on the About page. Another nice little detail is that the meny and text color often matches the illustrations, it’s not an easy task for all creators to do, but a lot of Evangeline’s work follows the same color scheme.

Another excellent clean portfolio where the illustrations get all the spotlight. The portfolio’s black background create a distinct frame for the images and gives the site as a whole an expensive and luxurious feeling. Each illustration has it’s own project page with a few images, process pictures or just detail shots of the work.

“I’ll be 100% honest with you, I use this design because it came free with my Adobe subscription and is automatically linked to whatever is uploaded to Behance, hahaha. the era of flashy websites is over and the more basic the better, people usually find you on social media anyway.

So just a simple black background and the art front and center is all that’s necessary I guess :)”

– Teo Skaffa

Francesco Pirini has a simple beautiful portfolio that lets the work of the artist be the main focus. I’m especially a fan of Francesco’s logo, a fun logo featuring a hand-drawn bird. The logo also takes a significant role in the portfolio and pops up here and there on the website.

David van der Veen’s portfolio is a pleasure to look at, almost all the work in the portfolio has the same colour pallet which makes the portfolio feel so coherent. As mentioned before I’m a sucker for animations, and David’s burning heart logo is just fantastic and really helps contribute to the lovely atmosphere that this portfolio has.

Susann Hoffmann’s online portfolio is simple and easy to navigate, with a nice personal touch from the hand-drawn logo and the red coloured titles throughout the website. There’s also a nice “About page” with a picture of her studio space which is a nice addition. Her projects are packet with additional images showing the work process, good looking product pictures and other content that makes the portfolio a treat to explore.

I especially love how this portfolio pulls off such a minimal header & logo, with such a tiny space up top you’re presented with the actual illustrations right away. Iris van den Akker’s whole site feels like a sleek business card with it’s coherent color and font choices.

“I’m always adjusting my website because I think a good portfolio should always be updated. I work in Wix, which is very user-friendly, so it’s not hard to do! I see my portfolio as a shop window for my business, so I always try to make it presentable. Lately I’ve added a blog which I intend to update as often as I can. This way, people can see what I’m up to, and it’s also nice for myself as well, to journal my time as an illustrator.”

– Iris van den Akker

It’s hard to not get mesmerized by Seung-Pyo Hong’s illustrations, and when you enter the portfolio it’s like all the portrait’s eyes are on you, staring at you. The portfolio layout doesn’t overcomplicate things, it’s simple squared thumbnails you can click on if you want to have a closer look.

Essi Kimpimäki has a big collection of illustrations to cover in her portfolio, but she does a great job giving the visitor a good overview of all her illustrations. I’m also a big fan of when artists have a bit of fun with their headers and logos, and on Essi’s portfolio, you’ll find a cute cat laying at the top of her site, I think details like that add a charming personal touch to an artist portfolio.

“I think people nowadays don’t have much patience to spend time navigating a complicated website, so I wanted to keep mine very clear and simple. Also, I’m not a web or a graphic designer, so I don’t feel it’s necessary for my website to be anything flashy. The most important thing there are the pictures, so I want the visitors to be able to get good an overview of my illustration work as soon as they enter the site.”

– Essi Kimpimäki

When you open up Nicholas Little’s portfolio you’re going to be overwhelmed, in a good way! His homepage is filled with short .gif animations that are continuously looping, everywhere there’s something going on. The portfolio’s design itself is very minimalistic, which I can appreciate when it’s so much going on with the animations.

Sarah Gonzales has a minimalistic portfolio that perfectly suits her portrait illustrations. The portfolio is a great example of a portfolio with a great layout that makes it so easy to browse through her work. She also has a blog which I can always appreciate, even though it’s not that active I still think it’s a great way to make your portfolio more personal.

Matt Chinworth’s portfolio has these huge thumbnails of his work immediately when entering the homepage, it’s a great first impression which always is important if you want to keep your visitors interested. Just because of these big thumbnails you can pretty much browse through all the work on the homepage, making for a great user experience.

And you cannot love an animated logo, right?

Browsing through Lily Snowden-Fine’s portfolio is a wonderful experience, there’s a big variety in her work which makes it a lot of fun to explore and get surprised by her many projects. She let’s her work get their own space and it never feels crowded even though there’s a lot of work on the site. She also mixes up the layout and design in which projects are presented, adding to the great visitor experience.