There are a bunch of different questions that you need to consider when you design your professional portfolio. How many art pieces should I include? What skills do I want to showcase? Should I include art pieces from multiple genres or should I demonstrate that I’m particularly skilled in one particular genre? What’s the best way to present my artwork in order to make an impact?

There is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions because every professional portfolio is a little bit different. One strategy that I recommend is to take a look at other online portfolios to get inspiration and pointers. You obviously shouldn’t steal anything from other artists, but seeing what other professionals are doing can help you gain a better understanding of what separates a good portfolio from an ugly one.

1. Stay Organized

The Internet is full of poorly organized websites that send users on wild goose hunts through cyberspace. Don’t create one of those sites. Artist Vuk Banovic keeps all of his pictures carefully organized in neat rows, and each picture has a succinct title to keep everything nice and orderly. A well-organized website will make potential employers perceive you as being more organized, too.

2. Add a Personal Touch

You don’t want it to look like you downloaded a basic website template and uploaded your pictures into the empty picture slots. There’s nothing wrong with using a website template, it’s just that selecting overused options can make your online portfolio feel generic. CG artist Johan Steen added a stylized ninja to greet people who visit his home page. Mousing over the ninja causes it to fall back into a combat-ready position, and clicking on the ninja causes him to do a lethal ninja kick. This subtle touch will leave a lasting impression on visitors.

3. No Bells and Whistles

Remember that users are there to see your art, not your website layout skills. If users want to be impressed by awesome slideshows and embedded videos, then they’ll go visit a website of a layout artist instead. Think of your website as a blank white canvas through which you can share your art. The more bells and whistles your website has, the more it will distract from your presentation. As you can see from the previous examples, 3D artists tend to stick to neutral colors and minimal layouts. In fact, that seems to be the golden standard for computer artists. Just look at these online portfolios: grey, grey, grey, grey, black, grey, grey-blue, grey.

Apparently, grey is in!