How to Make a Costume Design Portfolio

Putting together a good portfolio is an essential part of getting costume design jobs. The portfolio will be looked at by potential employers as a representation of your work. For a designer, the portfolio is just as important as a resume and the interview itself.

Instructions

1

Choose renderings for your portfolio. The renderings should not only be some of your best, but should also represent your most creative designs. The best ones are large and colored.

2

Have photo representations of your designs. The photos should be next to accompanying renderings so that potential employers can see how your designs translate into actuality. Make sure the photos show the entire costume, are large enough to show detail and are in full color.

3

Include fabric swatches. This will show how well the different fabrics are represented in the renderings. The swatches will demonstrate how texture, dimension and feeling are incorporated in your design.

4

Label everything. Each page of the portfolio should have the name of the show that was designed, your name as a design, and the name of the character or person the costume is for. The label should also indicate whether the costume was for a play, television show, movie or anything else.

5

Choose costume samples to represent in your portfolio carefully. The portfolio needs to represent your best work. It also needs to represent the variety of work in which you are successful. In your choices, show variety of styles and kinds of work.

6

Organize the information in the portfolio wisely. Multiple designs from one show should appear together. Keep one or two designs to one page. The portfolio should tell a type of story. By flipping through the pages, there should be a natural progression from design to design.

7

Consider having multiple portfolios if the extent of your work is expansive. For example, create a portfolio for costume crafts and hats, one for fabric painting and dying, one for costume construction, and one for just straight design, They could also be separate in terms of a portfolio for theater productions, one for television, one for dance costumes and one for Halloween costumes.

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Putting together a good portfolio is an essential part of getting costume design jobs. The portfolio will be looked at by potential employers as a representation of your work. For a designer, the portfolio is just as important as a resume and the interview itself.

Instructions

1

Choose renderings for your portfolio. The renderings should not only be some of your best, but should also represent your most creative designs. The best ones are large and colored.

2

Have photo representations of your designs. The photos should be next to accompanying renderings so that potential employers can see how your designs translate into actuality. Make sure the photos show the entire costume, are large enough to show detail and are in full color.

3

Include fabric swatches. This will show how well the different fabrics are represented in the renderings. The swatches will demonstrate how texture, dimension and feeling are incorporated in your design.

4

Label everything. Each page of the portfolio should have the name of the show that was designed, your name as a design, and the name of the character or person the costume is for. The label should also indicate whether the costume was for a play, television show, movie or anything else.

5

Choose costume samples to represent in your portfolio carefully. The portfolio needs to represent your best work. It also needs to represent the variety of work in which you are successful. In your choices, show variety of styles and kinds of work.

6

Organize the information in the portfolio wisely. Multiple designs from one show should appear together. Keep one or two designs to one page. The portfolio should tell a type of story. By flipping through the pages, there should be a natural progression from design to design.

7

Consider having multiple portfolios if the extent of your work is expansive. For example, create a portfolio for costume crafts and hats, one for fabric painting and dying, one for costume construction, and one for just straight design, They could also be separate in terms of a portfolio for theater productions, one for television, one for dance costumes and one for Halloween costumes.