My Advice for Creating an Effective Portfolio - Concept Art and Illustration

This is a commentary video focusing on consistent ways to develop a strong concept art or illustration portfolio. I go over a few things that helped me in my earlier stages, and things that I still maintain that keep me motivated and inspired.
I hope you guys like this type of more casual content. Thanks so much for all the comments and support!
Artstation: www.artstation...
Insta: / gradyfrederick
Twitter: / gradesfrederick

[@SamLyn]

I’m so glad you mentioned that hard work trumps literally everything else. I learned that the hard way, not with art but with life in general. I was always the smartest kid in the class (at least, the most creative, most well read, best writer) but I was SO LAZY and complacent. In the real world being smart means jack shit if you aren’t willing to put in the work, if you aren’t consistent and reliable. That’s true in every profession. The kids I knew from high school who I had looked down on, who I saw as being less intelligent than me, are now successful because they worked much harder than I did. This is such a crucial life lesson that kids often learn too late

[@neutralbeige01]

the part you mentioned about praise from your teachers really hit me. i was praised for my work hs all through university, came out with my bfa and was told that i was definitely gonna land a job/that there were going to be no doubts/i misunderstood this as "im more than enough for the real world" and welp nope obviously no. im nowhere near where i want to be. this year im trying to develop a proper plan and practice to create my portfolio. i have interests in both concept art and illustration and hope to learn a lot

[@herbertscott9575]

Check out Trent Kaniuga channel. He's got very niche information that could help you out. Also, build up a motivation library and stay pumped about improving your art. Take up 3d. Perfect your concepts. Learn the difference between "concept" and "illustration" and how to properly craft your portfolio. All of us got complements on our work in school. The real test is getting hired and consistently paid for it. Great luck too you.

[@mehnora1755]

dude I saw this video at the perfect moment, I wanna work on my portfolio and I know I am not working hard enough, I had struggle keeping it consistent, 3 years ago I managed to have the perfect study scheduel and improve so much and getting back into it now is a real challenge but hearing stuff like you said, don't lie to yourself, there are people better and you can work harder, really gave me the confidence and motivation I needed

[@Lobollipop]

Hey! It's just amazing to have great artists like you who really wants to just help us, the mere mortals begginners who feel overwhelmed by everything about starting a professional career in concept art or any kind of art career... So thanks you very much :D

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thankyou! I still feel very much overwhelmed about alot of aspects, so it is certainly not unique to you or anyone else. I hope I can encourage others to stick with it!

[@arinastreltsova5130]

Thank you so much for the advice! I'm 18 and I want to become a concept artist in the future. Professional experience and stories are very useful for beginners like me. It's so interesting to watch these kinds of videos. Also, it would be amazing to hear something about concept artists freelance/work in a studio (job interviews, the usual work process). And the painting is wonderful!!! 🥰

[@aatharva_art]

Hi, I am also a concept artist student and I am making a discord server where we have to post something everyday in this way we will be accountable to each other and can consistently make progress in our concept art journey... Please reply me if you are interested

[@naybethilustra4821]

@@aatharva_art como se llama para agragarme

[@phipsart6424]

@@aatharva_art I am interested, but I am not that good, I struggle still with fundamentals. Are you far progressed?

[@victoramona9190]

@@aatharva_art I’m interested

[@testeteste811]

​@@aatharva_art im interested

[@ekakijsn]

Thank you Grady! I'm nearly 50. Drawing and painting, and learning for most of that. I took a lot of notes from your vid, more than most. Good job man! Keep it up!

[@sAnekRa]

It is awesome to see you starting out here on KZbin! I am following you for a long time and you are the biggest inspiration. I was drawn to your story "Haven" immediately. Such an awesome world. Keep going.

[@gradyfrederickart]

Wow thanks so much Samuel, that means alot!

[@NeddyisNeddy]

yay! I discovered your art while applying to SYN and I was blown away! I followed you on every platform and today I find out you have a youtube channel! I'm super hyped to get notifications from you in my subscriptions

[@gradyfrederickart]

I'm so glad! Thank you for all your support :D

[@paulinazuckerman2932]

Great advice on making your own story. I use my phone's note page and sometimes I just sit down and write a story on google docs for an hour which helps me for the next couple weeks on coming up with things/characters/places to illustrate. Would love to hear more from you!

[@gradyfrederickart]

That's a great habit to have! Thanks for your support :D

[@cynxmanga]

Literally the very first advice just blows my mind! I have a big fantasy world quite developed already in my writing, with many characters, subplots, creatures etc. But I kind of put all of this aside in last few years. I guess now I know what to DRAW about 😅

[@valentinsletters680]

this video is so underrated. thank u really!

[@jennhall2753]

Love hearing the passion in your voice and seeing you share your experiences with people. Valuable content from an extremely talented artist! Can't wait to see your channel develop more, will be watching every video haha. Keep killin' it Grade!

[@gradyfrederickart]

Oh HEY! Thanks Jenn, means alot :D

[@zinzolin14]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I used to be blinded by all the praise I got for being talented in drawing, growing up. Nowadays I try to keep my ego in check when receiving praise, seek constructive feedback and maintain a growth mindset to keep on finding new ways to improve.

[@Retiredmagician1]

Great art and life advice too. Great vid, keep it up

[@charlesbanzai]

You make it looks so simple! Great advice and love seeing you process!

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thanks so much!

[@feliciafebriani1]

i really love how you always motivate us while giving us step by step how you create art. it really motivates me and helped me a lot, especially when i overthink while painting, totally thankful for ur videos 😭👏🏻

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thank you so much 😀

[@why.do.I.even.try.]

This video answers pretty much my exact questions, thank you so much! No other video so far has done that, I'm really glad it was recommended to me

[@ken4art221]

not gonna lie, I want more of your videos, I love it so much and your works truly inspire me because i really do want to be an illustrator in the future and somehow i want to study your work so much, so thank you for your inspirations.

[@GREGP1998]

Dude, you're really awesome, I love your videos, you're very inspirational. You inspire me and clearly a-lot of other people, seriously thank you!

[@TamilVolk]

Thank you so much for this, I always look for environment resources and there is not enough compared to character art. Love it!

[@pronoydutta614]

Hey, this is really good advice! I really like your videos. I'm trying to learn up environment art and this information helps a lot. Thank you

[@alicegastaldon1853]

man you are so sweet and kind. Your drawings are amazing and your advice helped me in a way you can't even imagine. I would definitely like to be your friend.

[@NeddyisNeddy]

Maybe we can get more videos of you talking about the lure of your story with the speed paint of the art playing in the background! Watching this made me really interested, and the painting had me asking millions of questions, I want to know more ! 🤩🤩🤩

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thankyou! It is something I'd love to share more of if people are interested :D

[@barryjack3025]

Lol. You had me at Sheridan… I went there for Classical and computer animation from 1990. &92. They let me in with such a simple test. Now 30 years later I am still in the business doing concept, but not a tenth as good as you. Love your work.

[@gradyfrederickart]

Very cool! Yes it was a pivotal dose of reality for me haha, I think it was something I really needed to hear. Super cool that you are doing concept art now too. Thanks for the kind words, but don't be so hard on yourself! haha

[@paradoxillusionist4553]

Not me already feeling like crying watching this video but man did this also motivate me to work harder! Thank you for the advice!

[@TornacenseDeFuturo]

Your work is amazing, really enjoyed watching. I was always fascinated by this kind of art, since I played D&D, Magic, etc… I’m not an Artist at all, just a programmer that want to learn how to paint concept art as a hobby :)

[@riditmukhopadhyay9708]

ME too

[@charlesdavies978]

Super helpful, really nice to listen to some gems of advice delivered in a casual way - love it. One of these videos that I feel I wish I'd heard earlier, but I guess you hear what you're ready to hear... Thanks!

[@alexisusani4083]

This is very nice to share your experience, thank you :)

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thanks very much!

[@sebastianventer2420]

Just watched all 3 of your videos, can’t wait for the next one. Nothing wrong with your voice and I find your content entertaining!

[@RobertoDomeArt]

Awesome painting and talk. Loved your tutorial on Artstation too. I'm getting into the habit of switching between illustration and sketches to develop further elements to place and their position like you show and it's very useful. Though I found it's quite difficult to find constructive feedback online just by posting your own artworks. Keep up the good work. I obviously subscribed ;)

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thankyou Roberto :D Yes, just posting on social media can be tough to get good feedback, so I would recommend asking personally from someone who's opinion you value. Things sometimes slip through the cracks, but I am always happy to offer any help I can to people trying to learn or who are looking for feedback/advice and I know many other professionals are willing to do the same! I know this because it's something I did in my very early beginnings.

[@ReHonora]

Liked the video! Very interesting to hear others experiences and get advice. I'm working on a story myself to help me develop as an artist. So I really like the idea you mentioned; Advice to structure a story. Looking forward to that and your other videos! Great work.

[@Rp-wt7uz]

It’s crazy how at the end you said you don’t have the voice for this stuff, the whole time I was watching I thought ‘wow I love how he’s saying all this stuff, it sounds so real like I’m on a discord call with a friend’ 🤣 thank you for all the advice! This is super helpful 👌🏾

[@futureland5024]

Thank you for your Great Advices🙏🙏✨🍀

[@tripplejaz]

Thanks for the video. I've recently been developing a world and it's the perfect launch point to further my design skillset, which I think is lacking. I'm pretty comfortable with a lot of fundamentals now, but it's time to realize worlds and solve problems. Found your content last night and I'm soaking it up, thanks again! p.s. Grady, we need the brushes, Grady!

[@alejandroramirez5888]

Me encanto el video 💪🏼 thank you 🙌🏽

[@alexalexeich7329]

I love every minute of the video! You're right, usually the mindset thing isn't covered by skilled artists. I hope you will make more videos, in particular about developing your own story and networking as a freelancer! Thanks and looking forward

[@morelanor4734]

Thanks for the great advice! I love this type of content. Hope you keep going with this. It's so much help for beginner artists like me! video and sound format is great don't even worry about it.

[@siegfreidx1633]

hey man love your works and videos, youre trully a blessing to the art world for sharing all these knowledge for free. Would it be possible for you in the future to make a video discussing about what do you usually consider in designing composition ? thanks again.

[@justanordinaryrandomchanne475]

Loving this type of video, i did my homework while this is on the background. Well done 🎉🎉

[@Obhin]

Your voice is good, don't worry about that

[@paoprika965]

Very inspiring. Looking forward to the next videos!

[@RahulSharma-qx4jg]

i like the create your own story part sometimes when i am in idea block i take an old myth and do design inspired by that(it could be an asset/env/ character) and in the process of completing that concept, i get more ideas like a snowball effect. i think the snowball effect is very strong! i think prior to this i used to get overwhelmed with ideablock but sometimes its just better to start!

[@ratstattoos]

Awesome man thank you

[@RyanBylPaints]

Dude love your content, currently watching all of your videos and excited for more.

[@jessicarotili97]

You make very interesting videos and I look forward to seeing more of them!!! 🙏🏻 On your method of coloring from black and white and also on how to work as a freelancer! 👩‍💻

[@geoffreybertrand-gerbaud5515]

Love It !! Really helped me to process how to work on my portfolio!

[@Anthween1]

These videos are more helpful than you know, thank you so much!

[@brandonjacksoon]

Amazing tutorial! Thanks! To be honest I really want a big course from you :))

[@trillkodex1235]

Great advices and amazing art. I learned a lot from both, thanks a lot ❤

[@NeilOttoTep]

Cool art and some good insight. What else could I ask for ;)

[@jonhopkinsart]

Really cool vid, liked listening to it whilst working on one of my personal projects, thanks for doing this!

[@Stanis-fq8wg]

Great information! thank you for sharing! Would be amazing to here about story structure and world development from you!

[@CrisGamer99]

Thanks for sharing all these things brother! Inspire anyone, good vibes and greetings from Costa Rica

[@MohammedIrfan-gu6os]

This good man🔥🔥🔥

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thankyou!

[@luspau]

Nice one Grady, yes, please do more like this. It's cool what you explain and how you do it. It helps to make the right steps in this concept art world that sometimes it gets tricky to get in for the first time. Things that I like to know your point of view: Approaching a briefing, dealing with art directors, networking from home for freelancers and for a technical side, creative process (3d+2d+...) shape language (you always work with very interesting ones) Don't worry about your voice, sound perfectly fine. New follower here and I will follow on Twitter as well 😁 Thanks!

[@nickbers1177]

Thanks for the video Grady! Loved your art station learning videos, glad to see you starting up a channel here. I would definitely love to hear more about the industry side of things as a freelancer, looking forward to seeing more!

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thanks Nick! That means alot, man :D

[@StarfloxStudios]

This is such good advice

[@gradyfrederickart]

I'm glad you like it :)

[@cacambo1120]

Thank you!

[@KuraSamurai]

You're doing great, keep it up.

[@savirroza]

Awesome video, all the things you talk about in the process are very helpful. It's nice that you have shared your thoughts with your experiences. The illustration is amazing and the way you created it is something very fresh. This is what I was looking for, it was great to watch the creative process :) I wish you all the best and a large audience because you really deserve it. I can't wait for the next videos :)

[@gradyfrederickart]

Wow, this is such a nice comment :D Thank you so very much for the kind words, I'm so glad if even a small few find this stuff useful or interesting. I will try to post semi-regularly!

[@gosu6594]

Excellent content, super helpful information

[@oana-sabinachiriches489]

This is really cool, exactly what I needed. Can we have a look at your first portofolio?

[@RukileinchenChan]

I got this video recommended and like you I really enjoy these kind of "art talk" videos. :) I'd love to hear more about your journey. I have been drawing all my life but got seriously around 2018 and startet painting (=in color & values) in 2020. I often feel like I'm not making any progress so hearing how it was for somebody like you who's a professional artist is always cheering me up if that makes sense. xD I also think your voice is nice to listen to (though I got the feeling that you were a little nervous? Which is completely normal of ourse!:)) I leave a subscription and am looking forward to your next video!

[@TheGoldenFrost]

Great video! How about one about canvas sizes, computer builds and brush optimization? I always see concept artists painting smoothly with giant textured brushes... I have 40go ram, an M.2 SSD and a 10gb Radeon and I still can't do big brush strokes without waiting 10sec until it's done haha

[@devilichus]

Man yes your content is not competitive in the technical level as a video but, You know your stuff. You can learn some youtuber skills like audio and video editing. Also you can develop a more energetic speech. As myself being an artist like you, I loved the channel the art and your commentary. So I subscribed and will watch your channel grow. I hope you can get more ambitious about this channel and share more while learning about new stuff and equipments for youtube as well🎉 By the way I can help you about the sound design like EQ'ing your mic recordings etc. Even the subtle changes can improve the quality way more.

[@humble-aleksandrpronin3160]

Awesome video, thanks for the sharing!

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thankyou!

[@Firli]

thanks for sharing

[@BradSutt]

Hey great video man!

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thankyou Brad!

[@MarcLaisneARTVenture]

Very interesting

[@ganeshshelkeart8381]

It's very helfull ❣❣🥰

[@androthebot]

amazing, thank you! please share those brushes!

[@abolfazlghaedi7655]

post more mate, thank u

[@pillowzzzbox3466]

Thank u so much for your advice. I think my issue is just what u said. Flipping thru fb or TikTok and not spending more time with studying anatomy, learning new things in photoshop or painting backgrounds, rendering light to dark. Which is something I struggle with. I have so many ideas and do not know where to start. When I do start, there is a learning curve and I get stuck or lost and stop and that’s when I look for examples or how to’s on KZbin but then when I cannot find what I am trying to articulate I go surfing the net because I get frustrated.. I mean I remember just drawing anything I saw and that was all the time but now I mean having responsibilities and other stresses changes up. I don’t even have a good portfolio to put out there since college. I have a story villains storyline characters I just having an issue with creating backgrounds like this. Any help or tips.

[@tagir_f]

This was super insightful! I have never heard before anyone talk about the storytelling stuff of concept! I really like your style or narrating

[@mianmi5796]

thank you so much for the advice . I really don't know how to define the studio that I want to target. Do animation studios have specific groups and how to dig deeper. do studios hire freelancers when i see most animators working directly at the studio

[@NishanthaU]

Bro this video is fire! Would love to interview you on my channel!

[@phipsart6424]

When is your next video coming? :)

[@danhdao7417]

I have a question. I consider I'm lucky enough cuz I got accepted in a small studio as a illustration and character design. So urh one thing that bothers me is salery of this studio which is pretty low for any artists. I love this job, it helps me improve a lot of skills, but idk. Should pay I more attention to the salery or just go with it, until I actually get good in this field? What do you think!?

[@marcelorodrigogarcia7277]

good video!!

[@gradyfrederickart]

Thanks!

[@sameerasajith7759]

fantastic job......can you share your brushes with us because of lot people are lost with brush presets....

[@lucamonteleoneart1508]

Great video! Thanks for your advices. I would like to know how much is important a bachelor's degree in the industry. I'm currently at the second year of academy of fine arts in Milan but i'm not learning much and i dont like it. I feel like it would be better to take some concept art courses. What do you think?

[@sarcophagus00]

thank for the video ! can you share your brush set ? i need this brushes :(

[@yozen5190]

Im beginner at art can you share some brushed to us

[@miscellaneous7777]

Is this channel dead?

[@Lync1111]

No its completely relevant a lot of us are just now finding him just like you. His advice is great!

[@killerwill]

Hey you have a community discord? If you dont please make one you wont regret it :)