How to Build Your Portfolio

Step 1: Find Your Spark 

When submitting your portfolio, specify whether you’re applying for Design or Illustration. Many applicants aren’t sure yet, often because they haven’t had formal design classes in school. How do you choose? 

Read the descriptions below and see which one gives you that unmistakable jolt of “yes.”  Go with that instinct. If you feel a spark but don’t have enough pieces, go to the “Prompts” section below to help fill in the blanks. If you feel an equal spark for both, get in touch with an admissions officer—we’re here to help you find the best path for you. 

• Design focuses on making things that communicate a specific message. Graphic designers use type and image to inform, persuade, and connect. If you’ve made zines, logos, murals, posters, animated GIFs, T-shirt designs, hand-lettering, diagrams, infographics, or charts, your work fits here. 

• Illustration focuses on making images, expressing concepts visually, and storytelling. Your work in drawing, painting, portraiture, character design, and world-building all fits here. 

Note: The boundary between these fields is not made of steel. Many designers tell stories and express concepts visually. Many illustrators make zines, T-shirt designs, and lettering. If you aren’t sure whether a piece fits in your portfolio, put it in! 

Step 2: Review the Illustration Portfolio Requirements 

Submit 8–10 projects that demonstrate your ability to construct images and tell stories. Your pieces should showcase: 

• Your drawing and technical execution (digital or on paper) 

• Your developing “visual voice.” 

• Your ability to relate objects and figures to each other within a defined space. 

• Your capacity to tell complex stories without using words. 

Need inspiration? Optional Illustration Prompts
If you aren’t sure what to include, use these prompts to spark an idea. They are completely optional: 

• A recent drawing or painting that you feel good about. 

• A comic or sequential piece that tells a story using images. 

• An original character design shown from different angles, or a fully completed background environment. 

• A piece that explores a subject or theme you find yourself returning to again and again. 

• A pairing of opposites: pair a tiny, intricate drawing of something very big, with a large-scale drawing of something small and delicate. 

Step 3: Illustration Portfolio Guidelines & Submission Format 

Portfolio Guidelines 

• Keep it current: Submit work that reflects who you are as a maker right now. Avoid anything that’s more than three years old. 

• Keep it original: All work must be entirely your own. While you can be inspired by others, do not include fan art, replications, or collaborative work where your contribution isn’t clear. 

• Keep it human: No AI-generated work or text-to-image elements. We want to see your authentic human eye, hand, and craft without machine assistance. 

• Mix it up: We welcome both formal school assignments and independent projects made on your own time. 

• Sketchbooks: Unfinished work, process pages, and sketches are highly encouraged to show your thinking, but they should be bundled as explanations of your process rather than counting as one of your 8–10 final pieces. 

How to Upload 

Please upload each file individually to Redhawk Admission Portal using the following standard format in the description field: 

Title, Date, Size, Category (Label as “Illustration”),  

and a One-Sentence Caption (Describing your inspiration or the assignment prompt). 

 We look forward to exploring your work!