Being a professional Illustrator can be challenging especially if you want to become independent with your artwork. Freelancing is a good option if you want to break away from the corporate working environment but isn’t really that different. If you want to be independent, you will need to have direct contact with clients and build a network to constantly get work. Having an illustration portfolio website is the other option that illustrators might want to consider. It gives you a space to display your work and connect to your clients. Illustration portfolio websites are even great if you want to give a safe space for your hobbies and passions while also having the advantage of sharing it with clients to explore new working opportunities. It’s more like a creative CV that tells the world about you in terms of your art.
Inspirational Illustration Portfolio Website Examples
One of the best ways to come up with cracking ideas for your illustrator portfolio website is to look at contemporaries in your field and take some inspiration from their work. Here are some illustration portfolio websites that will give you the creative spark to create your own.
1. Sim Mau
Sim Mau is a Portuguese illustrator and comic artist who has explored the world of comics through his captivating illustrations. Skilled in linogravure and life drawings, Sim Mau has tried to incorporate various sketching styles into his illustrations. The artist is heavily inspired by the everyday life of people and is engulfed in captivating their essence in his art. The comics are not just a means for expressing humor, but also to express his social and political ideas to a wider audience. And what better way to expand your audience than creating your own website. Illustration portfolio websites are great for building your network and growing your clientele, which is exactly what Sim Mau did. His illustration portfolio helped him leverage the digital world and receive the type of recognition he deserved.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
2. Brenda Chen
Brenda is a graphic designer with over 10 years of experience in projects from package design to social marketing. A visionary and creative genius, she has the talent to see the big picture and then piece it together one by one to fulfill the project goals.
With an MFA degree in Illustrations, Brenda began her career in graphics and illustrations. She derives her inspiration from nature and the environment which she also enjoys capturing. Owing to her links to Asia, her works also embrace the Eastern and Western cultures and bring this culture-blending energy into her illustrations. Understanding the need of creating Illustration portfolio websites, she builds one herself using Strikingly’s intuitive website builder. Using the customizable web templates, Brenda’s created a website that displays the best of technological design and creative art as an engaging illustrator portfolio.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
3. Anne Sigismund
Anne is a content artist who has worked on concept and background art for games and animation in Denmark, Brazil, and Korea. Professionally, she has pursued the gaming industry and worked as an art director and concept artist after finishing her master's degree in Game Design and Development at KADK (the Royal Danish School of Design) in Copenhagen.
Her inspiration has majorly been computer and video games which is evident in her illustrations. Not many Illustration portfolio websites give a detailed understanding of who they are and what they do. But Anne’s Illustration portfolio clearly tells you that if you need someone to design game illustrations as opposed to comic illustrations, then she’s the right person for the job.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
4. Tina Ley
Tina Ley is a freelance illustrator from Denmark. Her work revolves around and relates to children and young adults. She has worked on several projects for different danish publishers, mostly illustrating for children's books and the young adult genre. Her illustrations create a narrative that engages people of all ages. The stories are directed to give children and young adults a moral understanding of the world around them. Some of the characters that Tina illustrates capture your imagination and make the whole concept relatable.
But there’s more to her than just comics and strips. And where else to display your range of creative skills than on illustration portfolio websites. Tina’s website not only tells you what she has to offer but also allows a simple way to reach out to her.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user webite
5. Jessica Fong
Jessica Fong is an illustrator and graphic artist who co-founded the indie game studio, Lonely Egg Studio that develops artistic and deeply personal games. A champion of surreal art and imaginative realism, she is also a social advocate and a lover of everything crazy and creative; attempting to portray that which cannot be seen or felt.
Nowhere is this more evident than in illustrator portfolios. Jessica used Strikingly’s website builder, not only to showcase her works but also as a platform to sell her custom merch. Her illustration portfolio displays the best of her work from a career spanning 10 years in the form of an artist’s diary. Her illustrations speak to the soul while her narratives are inspired by personal and social experiences. The illustrator portfolio website is one of the best examples of an artist raising awareness and discussing the landscape of child welfare, education, and narratives through art.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
6. Evens Joseph
A fine art illustrator, Evens Joseph draws his inspiration from pencil sketching and combines it with the beauty of nature and the journey of storytelling. A graduate from Columbus College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration, Evens is trained in line drawing and graphic designs. His work reflects the beauty of art in simple line drawings. His works are on display on his Illustrator portfolio website. You can see how he captivates audiences with drawings made with graphite and ballpoint pen on wood or paper. Trying to leverage illustration portfolio websites, Evens set up an illustrator portfolio to showcase his unique craft and let clients from around the world experience his art.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
7. Tristan Ormfelt
A visionary artist from Helsinki, Tristan was born into an artistic family and began drawing as a two year old. His primary influences were from the Art Nouveau in Helsinki where he spent his early days. Ormfelt’s interest and ability in art continued to develop and he studied graphic design, fashion and photography at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (Aalto University). Winning numerous awards and recognitions for this art, Ormfelt expanded his knowledge into various other forms of art such as fashion and architectural design, excelling in every aspect. His illustrator portfolio website is more of a gallery than just a website. It shows you his life’s work, his influences on modern art and the versatility of the artist himself.
He continues his endeavor to integrate art into his lifestyle and currently practices permaculture, garden design, herbalism and natural building methods and spends in remaining time creative captivating life illustrations. Understanding the importance of Illustration portfolio websites and the need to market his line of print products, Ormfelt set up an illustrator portfolio website that not only displays his creative art but also sells products with his illustrations printed on them. It’s the perfect blend of an art website combined with an ecommerce store.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
8. Ingvild Marie Methi
Ingvild is a Norwegian artist with a BA in Graphic Storytelling from The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark. Though her major interests lie in creating detailed storyboards, giving birth to some of the most lovable animated characters. She has previously been nominated for a BAFTA as well as an Eisner award. She is especially skilled in bringing to life imaginary worlds that captivate audiences. Her illustrator website created on Strikingly is quite simple to navigate through. You can look at her interests and some of her most famous works.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
9. Thit Bitsch
Thit Bitsch is an illustration artist who has experience in a variety of different media to express his stories and ideas. His work gives a deeper meaning that can engage and inspire people to open their creative minds so that they can change the world for the better. With a background in graffiti, installation-artwork,music, and comics, Bitsch has a wide array of expertise in visual storytelling and the ability to link a strong story or concept with an equally strong visual communication.
His interests lie in a wide range of illustration works such as album covers, comics, background design, character design, world-building, etc. Making the best use of Illustration portfolio websites, Bitsch created a gallery to display and organise his work. If you visit his website, it would be easy to follow all his current work as he is very active on his website and posts regularly.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
10. Greg Husebye
After a 30 year hiatus from professional art to raise a family, Greg Husebye got back into the art scene to quench his creative desires. As he recalls, creating art was among his earliest memories. The real-world experiences that Husbye had through his various employments in the army, in real estate, etc gave him a different perspective of the world around him. This also helped shape his artwork, which he describes as Pop-Expressionism, with Absurdist overtones. He uses a range of different materials such as Charcoal, India Ink, and Pastel on paper, and acrylic on canvas to bring his imaginations to life. He includes representations of human figures and tries to engage the viewer's eye and mind with colorful images and settings to create thoughtful pieces that people can enjoy viewing. With the power of Illustration portfolio websites, Husbye was able to display his work to a wider audience. He also set up charitable art collections to help various social causes through his illustrator portfolio
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
11. Josephine Mikkelsen
Josephine Mikkelsen is an artist who brings balance to her art by blending cute and outrageous ideas, giving a unique dimension to her work. She enjoys creating comics, strips, and illustrations that show the balance between good and evil. Her comics are inspired by Japanese manga art and her illustrations are proof of it. Making the best use of Illustration portfolio websites, she created a range of comic strips which are on display on her website ‘Graphic Storytelling’. You can find engaging content with detailed pictures and images all illustrated by Josephine herself on her website created on Strikingly. In her own words, ‘it’s always satisfying to surprise people with stories or comics that have humble beginnings but end up taking a gory turn’.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
How to build Illustration Portfolios with Strikingly
Illustration portfolio websites are surprisingly simple to build. Here are quick and simple steps that show you how to build an illustration portfolio with Strikingly
1. Sign up to get started
Building illustration portfolios with Strikingly is a simple and easy process. The first step involves signing up to the website using your valid email ID. Signing up will give you access to the dashboard where you can check out your website’s activity and other stats. You can check out our range of illustration portfolio websites created by other artists and illustrators to get an idea of what an illustrator portfolio should look like.
Image taken from Strikingly
2. Choose and Edit the Website Template
Strikingly provides free website templates for a range of business and personal needs. Scrolling through the illustrator portfolios, you find one that catches your eye. You want to build your website based on this template. You can click on the template which redirects you to the template editor. Here you can make changes to the template as per your preferences.
Image taken from Strikingly
3. Add your Illustrator Portfolio
As an illustrator, you would have a large collection of sketches and drawings which may or may not be organised. Creating illustration portfolio websites is a great way to categorise and organize your work as per your preferences. This will also help clients understand your artistic vision.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
4. Publish Your Website
Once you’re done with all the particulars of the website like putting in the banner images, the color scheme, content and contact forms, your website is ready. With Strikingly, you can check how the functional website will look by clicking the preview button on the left bottom corner of the screen. Once it's all good, you can click the publish button and set your website to go live.
5. Connect and Collaborate
Though you might have numerous reasons for setting up Illustration portfolio websites, the main goal of the website must not be forgotten. It is to expand your network. And you cannot expand your network just by displaying your work on social media. You need to actively engage with clients and collaborate with contemporaries to expand your business reach. Even if you want to include merch or products that you intend to sell, you need to have a good fan base first.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user website
Illustration portfolio websites are a great way to establish your illustrator portfolios as mainstream business. And Strikingly is the best platform that beginners and small businesses need to start their professional journey. The easy user interface and brilliant web templates make website building a piece of cake.
