Should I include both color and black-and-white pieces in my portfolio?

[Steven66]

I’ve been trying to build a more cohesive portfolio, but I keep getting stuck on whether to include my full-color character illustrations alongside my black and white ink work. The color pieces show a different skill set, but they disrupt the visual flow of the portfolio.

[Paul15]

I tried this last year. I kept a tight BW intro and added a dedicated color section after, with the same layout rules. It did help the flow a bit, but I still felt the color pieces pulled attention away from the inkwork I wanted to lead with.

[VioletYW]

I played with a single page grid that mixed BW and color, but I applied a washed color tone and the same border so it didn’t scream two different sides. People noticed the color more, but it didn’t derail things, just changed where eyes landed.

[Hannah_J]

Is the real problem maybe not the order but whether the pieces share a unifying thread? Maybe the color work lives in a different project and the ink work has its own world.

[GregoryT]

I finally put color as cover art for sections and kept the interior pages BW in my portfolio. A few clients liked the contrast, a few asked for more consistency. I guess I abandoned the idea of a single perfect flow and treated it as two moods in one book.