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A wander through my local town centre turned into an argument for keeping the wonky bits: the faded signs, odd shopfronts and accidental colour clashes that make a place worth drawing. Plus a simple sketchbook exercise for turning those details into portfolio material.
A polished portfolio can look like a museum after closing time — beautiful, silent and slightly untouchable. This is a case for leaving in the early sketches, abandoned routes and honest iterations that show UK clients how you actually think, plus practical prompts for deciding what belongs in a 2026 portfolio without turning it into a scrapbook.
There is a version of this piece that is all dry stone walls and wistful violin music. This is not that. Seven very British visual habits — from charity-shop rails to local panto — that quietly feed the work, and how to actually use them.