Your Portfolio

Your portfolio should include your best and most recent work. It can also include works in progress and sketchbooks. Personal work or work not associated with a classroom assignment that reflects research, ideas, and personal motivation can strengthen the overall portfolio. 


Bring original work when possible. Do not spend time and money matting and framing your work. Keep the presentation simple and be prepared to explain how you develop your ideas and where you want to go with them.


Work that is incomplete or older than two years and does not relate to the other pieces presented can weaken the portfolio. 


Do not include work that is copied or rendered directly from photographs, magazine clippings, or derived from the reproduction of other artists' work. Pieces in your portfolio should originate from observational approaches, personal ideas, or a combination of the two.


You may present your work digitally, but it is your responsibility to have a working laptop or tablet with your portfolio. One will not be provided for you. Looking for digital portfolio examples? Visit:



The manner in which the portfolio is edited and arranged can be as important as what it contains. You want to present a cohesive body of work or series that begins and ends strong. 


Consider related ideas, themes, and formal relationships between different pieces. If you are presenting your work digitally, you can include multiple images on one slide. 


LinkedIn Learning has resources to guide you in this process, including:



Note: LinkedIn Learning is available to all current ACE students. To access it, you will first need to activate your ARTIC account. 


For guidance on how to document your work, visit the links below:



Note: Panopto is available to all current ACE students. To access it, you will first need to activate your ARTIC account. 

We encourage you to review our Virtual Portfolio Review Guidelines and ACE Portfolio Template for suggestions about how to present your work.