Man, when I was in art school, a portfolio was a stuffy scrapbook of years of work you painstakingly compiled, hoping to present your work as professional. Most likely only an art director or two would probably ever see it, and yes, it would reek of student work.

5oup.net has expressed a mission to dispel the archaic printed portfolio and help students out in the quest to bridge their school portfolios and beginning careers as painters, illustrators, designers, photographers and more. The site was designed and conceived by two 22-year-old art students in the UK. The site is well distinguished from other free portfolio sites is its exclusive membership: students only. And the work is actually pretty awesome.



Sign up is free, portfolios are limited to ten images, post about your dashed art school hopes in the forum or browse for artists in the making.

Portland's Carson Ellis is a painter, illustrator and calligrapher, sometimes known for the album artwork she's done for her partner's band The Decemberists. Her work conveys nostalgia for an imaginary folkloric village, kind of a Depression Era Russia.


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Matt Cipov uses minimal color washes and ink to create images that in areas look sketchy and textured but have linework so refined it looks practically vector-based. While there's much to see on his enigmatic website, particularly in the area labeled Field Studies, I still get the impression that this is a person with stacks and stacks of unimaginable sketchbooks anyone should be so lucky to see.


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Diagrams and maps are, by nature, kinda boring visually. However, Aaron Meshon is a contemporary illustrator and painter who adds spark and innovation into all of his work, particularly those handling geograpic subject matter.


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Using his charming painting style and playful perspective, he picks the key quirks and details of a region and whips them into his unique map illustrations.


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I like Johnny Yanok's retrographic, mid-century, colorful illustration style. It lends itself well to his many projects: illustration, greeting cards, patterns, and gorgeous handmade silkscreen prints of wish I wish there were many more available!


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Jessica Hische runs a tight ship when it comes to her impeccable online portfolio. Her bright vector-based graphics are playful, smart and design conscious with clean results. When she's not perfecting her charming fusion of original typography, design and illustration, she's making stuff at Headcase Design, a great studio in Philadelphia.


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Naoshi is an artist and illustrator from Japan whose unusual medium is called "sunae", which is basically a craft in which colored sand is sprinkled on sticky paper. Visit her charming tutorial on how to make sunae and see some of her whimsical creations on her site.


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Continuing the subject of how stuff from above looks cool, Alex Maclean is a photographer collecting images of the world from above. His portfolio site is completely crammed with interesting, powerful images from a bird's eye view.


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Deth P. Sun is an awesome Oakland-based painter with a very distinct visual flair for cat-like characters armed with knives and sashes, standing on clouds and in trees, ready to fight.


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Remember days of yore, when stereotypes prevailed in children's books without objection? Here's an artist dedicated to preserving the politically incorrect in the form of alphabet cards. Browse his illustrations and feel like a real jerk when you know what the letter stands for.


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Sam Weber, a Canadian illustrator currently residing in NYC, offers up an astounding collection of mysteriously fragile paintings in his online portfolio. His recent works are tender and refined, deeply narrative, and make beautiful use of brushstrokes as texture.


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