What is a comp card, exactly?
A comp card, short for composite card, is a model's business card: a single card, usually 5.5 by 8.5 inches, with your best photo on the front and four to five supporting shots plus your stats on the back. Agencies and clients use it to evaluate your range and book you at a glance.
If a headshot is an actor's calling card, the comp card is the model's. And like headshots, the ones that work follow a formula.
Here's how to build one that books.
What Goes on a Comp Card
Front: one strong image, usually a clean beauty shot or headshot. This is the photo doing the first-impression work, so it should be your most castable image, not your most artistic one.
Back: four to five images showing range:
- A full-length body shot
- A three-quarter or editorial look
- A commercial or lifestyle shot with real energy
- Something that shows movement or personality
Stats, printed clearly:
- Name
- Height
- Bust or chest, waist, hips
- Shoe size, dress or suit size
- Hair and eye color
- Agency contact, or your own if unrepresented
Be accurate with your stats. Clients measure. Wardrobe is pulled before you arrive, and numbers that don't match cost you the rebooking.
Choosing Photos: Range Beats Repetition
The most common comp card mistake is five photos that all say the same thing.
Each image should answer a different booking question. Can she do commercial? Can he wear a suit? How do they move? What does the face do up close?
Pull from your strongest portfolio work, and if your portfolio is thin, build that first. Our guide on building a modeling portfolio covers how to get those images without an agency.
Every photo should look like you right now. Comp cards with outdated images create the same trust problem as outdated headshots: the client books the photo, and someone else shows up.
"A comp card is not a scrapbook of your favorite photos. It's an argument for why a client should book you."
Digital vs Print Comp Cards
You need both, but digital does most of the work now.
- Digital comp cards are what you attach to email submissions and casting platform applications. Keep a clean PDF and a JPG version ready to send.
- Print cards still matter for castings, go-sees, and open calls in many markets. Walking in with a card to leave behind is standard professionalism.
Print in small batches. Your look, your stats, and your best photos will change, and a box of five hundred outdated cards is money in the recycling bin.
Design-wise, keep it minimal: white background, clean sans-serif type, no borders or graphics competing with the photos. Templates from print services work fine. The photos carry the card.
Comp Card vs Portfolio vs Digitals
Models juggle three photo tools, and each has a distinct job:
- Portfolio: your full body of work, shown on request
- Comp card: the one-page summary that travels
- Digitals: plain, unretouched snapshots showing exactly what you look like today, covered in our digitals and polaroids guide
When a casting asks for one, send that one. Sending a comp card when they asked for digitals reads as not following direction, which is its own red flag.
Keeping It Current
Update your comp card when:
- Your hair, body, or overall look changes
- You shoot new work that's stronger than what's on the card
- Your measurements change
- You sign with a new agency
Keep your online profiles synced with the card. If your Vibrant Casting profile, your comp card, and your modeling resume all tell the same story, you look organized before anyone meets you.
The Practical Takeaway
Build your comp card like this:
- One knockout image on the front
- Four to five varied shots on the back, each with a different job
- Accurate stats, clean layout, zero decoration
- Digital versions ready to send, small print runs on hand
- Refresh whenever your look or your work levels up
It's one card. Make every square inch argue for the booking.
