How I created an artwork portfolio for my homeschool classroom

By Dorothy Bond

As a homeschooler, I set aside time to document my kids' academic progress. Recording the work they've done and saving examples of their writing and math work is easy, but capturing their progress in extracurriculars like art classes has proved much harder.

Every parent with a creative child knows the struggle of finding space to store all the paintings, drawings, and craft projects their kid creates. We have artwork hanging all over our homeschool classroom — and I still have a tall stack of creations sitting on my desk. I'm too sentimental to trash them, but don't have unlimited storage space either.

I knew an easy solution to my storage problem would be to photograph my sons' artwork and create a photo book to show it off. I've used Mixbook to make a variety of photo books for both personal and professional use in the past, so I knew that I could easily fit a photo book project into my busy schedule.

Designing a kid-oriented artwork portfolio

It's always easy to get started with Mixbook thanks to the wide variety of photo book themes available. I browsed themes on my phone to pick a design that would work with my project — the Arts and Crafts theme was perfect thanks to its bright colors and playful art graphics.

Picking photos for my project

The next step was choosing the photos to include in my homeschool art portfolio. Both of my sons take weekly classes at our local art museum, and I knew they had created some stand-out pieces that I wanted to include in the book. I took photos of these first, then searched through my big artwork pile to find other paintings and drawings to include.

My kids are both under 10, so neither of them has technically perfect art skills. Instead of focusing on showcasing techniques, I wanted to highlight their creative personalities. Like me, my sons seem drawn to more abstract works and modern art. I chose a number of bright, visually interesting pieces that my kids had created to fit this theme.

Untitled Watercolor 2021 by U. Bond

I loved the photos I'd chosen, but I felt like something was missing too. I wanted to capture my children's artistic process and progress. I decided to document a few craft projects we created over the winter holidays to meet this need. My kids loved seeing photos of themselves at work on their creations!

Once I had my photos in order, I uploaded them using the Mixbook App. I almost always upload photos directly from my phone to Mixbook because it's the most convenient for me, but I prefer to design my photo book on my computer. I appreciate how easy it is to use Mixbook across my devices — whether I'm at home or on the go, I can make design adjustments whenever inspiration strikes.

Designing my homeschool artwork portfolio

I was excited to get started on this portfolio and dove into the creative process right away in the Mixbook Studio. One of the first things I did was delete all of the existing placeholder text throughout the design. I also removed some speech bubble-style stickers that didn't fit with the style I was aiming for.

Selecting and deleting existing text in Mixbook Studio

I tend to spend a lot of time creating my photo book covers because I want them to look unique. For this project, I chose to stick with the  cover theme and assets from the template. I really liked the artsy paint splashes and the space set aside for my book's title. I just added in a photo of a cool dinosaur collage drawing my son created and changed the title to include my children's names.

The finished front cover for my kids' homeschool artwork portfolio

When it comes to placing your photos in your Mixbook design, you have two options:

1. Use the AutoCreate tool in Mixbook Studio so that all of your photos are added to open frames
2. Place each photo into the design yourself on individual pages

I love AutoCreate, but I decided to place the photos in this project myself. Why? I wanted to have control over the sequencing of photos of my kids' craft projects. I also wanted to group artwork by theme and color where possible.

Working with layouts and backgrounds in Mixbook Studio

When I sat down to add photos to my portfolio design, I didn't have a good idea of how I'd sequence the craft projects in the book versus my kids' art class work. I tried a few different approaches, but I ultimately settled on highlighting the craft projects first, then showcasing more independent paintings and drawings.

I jotted down a few notes about how I wanted to place the photos in my book, then I started the process of plugging pictures into each page. For some pages, I needed to switch layouts using the toolbar on the left-hand side of Mixbook Studio.

Exploring different one-photo layout options in Mixbook Studio

There are a few reasons I found myself editing the layouts. I changed layouts when:

• A photo was either too small or too large to fill the allotted space
• I wanted to use more or less photos than the page was designed to hold
• I wanted to change the orientation and placement of photo frames

I also changed the backgrounds on several template pages to better fit with my photos. Mixbook Studio organizes all layouts, backgrounds, and stickers by theme so that it's easy to find assets that fit any project. I always start with the suggested layouts, then branch out to generic templates if I can't find what I need.

Documenting the artistic process

The big reason I started this project was that I wanted to document my kids' arts and crafts work for homeschool record keeping. That's why I chose to feature the craft projects that I'd taken photos of my kids working on first. I used these steps to document their process — you can use similar steps to document work on your own adult arts and crafts projects too.

1. I photographed the materials my kids were using for the project, like the blank dreidel outlines and paints they used for a Hanukkah garland craft.
2. I took shots of my kids as they completed each process of the craft project. I focused on showing them working with materials and taking photos from beginning to end.
3. I staged final shots of the craft projects to show the full project cycle.

If you do complex projects like needlework or oil painting, take opportunities to snap photos of your work in progress. Seeing the entire process of creating a complex work will impress those who view your photo book. It's also a great way to show pride in your unique skills.

Creating a Hanukkah banner as part of our winter holiday studies

For my kids' artwork, I grouped paintings and drawings with similar themes and colors together. My oldest son has really embraced bright colors and bold lines with the help of his art teacher. I love these artworks and created this "Modern Mood" page to capture his unique creative perspective.

Untitled Works 2023 by W. Bond

As I went through my kids' artwork to find photos for this project, I ran along some older paintings that we'd made with eye droppers and marbles. These works were inspired by Jackson Pollock, who used innovative pouring and splattering methods to create his paintings. I wanted to include these paintings because I knew I had photos of my kids making them and thought it would be fun to highlight a different kind of creative process.

Ordering my kids' homeschool artwork portfolio

I loved working on this project and couldn't wait to order it once I was done. I took a few minutes to preview my project and review Mixbook's built-in alerts to ensure that everything looked just how I wanted. Once I'd done this, I navigated to the order page.

When you get to the order page, you can choose whether you want a hardcover or softcover finish. You'll have an opportunity to change photo book size and paper finishes during the ordering process too. You can stick with the options you picked when you opened your template or change it up.

For this project, I decided on a softcover book. I wanted it to be a compact, lightweight book that my kids could handle. All of my Mixbook projects are saved in my profile, so I can order an archival-quality photo book for my kids' keepsake chests too.

Capturing your child's artwork with a Mixbook photo book

Making a photo book with your children's best artwork is a great way to track their progress, especially if you homeschool. A photo book of your child's artwork also makes a great last-minute gift. Your kids will love them. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles may want to order copies for their own bookshelves as well.

Are you ready to show off the artwork of your family's creative geniuses too? Get started on your kid-centric artwork photo book with Mixbook today.