What Is a Comp Card, and How Is It Different from Your Portfolio?
A comp card is a double-sided card, about the size of a postcard, that a model leaves behind after a casting. A portfolio is the body of work that proves what you can do. People use the words interchangeably, and that confusion costs beginners money: they spend on the wrong one first, print fifty copies of a card with images that do not belong on it, or hand over cash to an "agency" whose real business is selling printing.
The distinction is not really about size or format. It is about what each one is for. Your portfolio persuades someone while you are in the room. Your comp card makes sure they can find you, verify you, and remember you after you leave it.
Key Takeaways
Your book sells you in the room; your comp card is the leave-behind that gets you found and verified afterwards. Different jobs, different rules.
The industry standard is 5.5 × 8.5 inches, double-sided: one hero image and your name on the front, three to five images plus your stats and contact on the back.
Your stats are the whole point of the card, and they get measured. An inflated height costs you the booking and the relationship.
In 2026 most first contact is digital, but printed cards are still expected at open calls, go-sees and runway castings.
A legitimate agency does not require you to pay them to print your card. In New York, charging a fee or deposit at signing is now illegal.
The Short Version: Two Different Jobs
Comp cardPortfolio (your "book")PurposeBe remembered and verifiedProve range and abilityFormatOne printed card, plus a PDF8–15 images, physical book or digitalImages4–6 total8–15, curatedContains stats?Yes, that is centralNoWho keeps itThe client keeps itYou keep itLooked at forSeconds, laterMinutes, in front of youUpdated whenYour look or measurements changeEvery strong new shoot
The single most useful way to think about it: a casting director reviews your book, but files your card. One is a conversation. The other is a record.
What a Comp Card Actually Is
"Comp card" is short for composite card, a composite of several images on one piece of card. You will also hear zed card or sed card, particularly in Europe. They all mean the same object.
It exists because of a practical problem. A casting director may see two hundred people in a day. By the evening, faces blur. The card sits in a stack on their desk with your name, your face, your measurements and your agency's phone number on it, and answers the only questions that matter at that stage: who was that, what do they look like from the front and the side, will they fit the sample, and who do I call?
The Physical Specification
The industry has been remarkably stable here. The standard is 5.5 × 8.5 inches, half a sheet of US letter and close to A5, printed double-sided on roughly 12–14 pt cardstock with a matte or satin finish. Some agencies will accept 5 × 7 inches, but 5.5 × 8.5 remains the safe default and has been the expectation for decades (CompCard.com, retrieved 2026-09-03).
Matte or satin matters more than it sounds. Gloss fingerprints instantly and reflects badly under the fluorescent lights of a casting room, which is exactly where the card will be looked at.
What Goes On Each Side
The front carries one image and your name. That is the whole front. One full-bleed hero shot, usually a clean, well-lit headshot or beauty image where your face reads clearly at arm's length, plus your name in type that can be read without squinting. Resist the urge to add anything else.
The back carries three to five images plus your stats and contact details. The images should show genuine range rather than five versions of the same look: a full-length, a profile or three-quarter, something commercial and smiling, something editorial, and ideally one with movement or personality.
Fewer excellent images beat more mediocre ones. A card with three strong photographs looks professional. A card with five where two are weak looks like a card with two weak photographs on it.
The Stats Block Is the Point of the Card
Everything above is presentation. The stats are the function.
A standard adult card lists height, bust or chest, waist, hips, dress or suit size, shoe size, hair colour and eye colour. Children's cards typically swap that for height, clothing size, shoe size, hair, eyes and an age range.
Two rules matter more than the formatting.
Round nothing in your favour. Your measurements are checked, and often literally measured on arrival. A card that says 5'10" when you are 5'8" does not get you into the room. It gets you sent home after wasting a client's fitting slot, and it tells everyone present that your information cannot be trusted. Sample garments are cut to a size; there is no charm that fixes two inches.
Keep it current. Measurements change. A card is a snapshot, and an out-of-date one is worse than none because it looks like carelessness. Reprint when your body, your hair colour, or your representation changes.
If you are signed, the agency's contact details go on the card, never your own personal phone number. If you are freelance, use a professional email and a modelling-only social handle, not your private account.
And the Portfolio Does Something Else Entirely
Your book is an argument. It exists to show that you can be directed, that you can deliver more than one look, and that a client's specific job is within your range. It rewards depth: eight to fifteen images, sequenced, each earning its place.
A comp card cannot do that, and should not try. Cramming eight images onto the back of a card produces stamps nobody can read.
The relationship runs one direction: the card is a distillation of the book, not a substitute for it. Which is why building the book comes first. If you are still at that stage, our beginner's guide to what a good modeling portfolio looks like covers what belongs in a first book and what to leave out.
And if you have not shot anything yet, do not start with either one. Agencies ask new faces for free, unretouched digitals first, covered in our modeling tips for beginners.
Printed or Digital in 2026?
Both, and they are not in competition.
Almost all first contact now happens digitally: an agency profile page, a casting platform upload, a PDF sent by email, an Instagram grid. For discovery, the printed card has genuinely been displaced.
But printed cards persist where people meet in person, at open calls, go-sees, runway castings and client mailings, for the unglamorous reason that a physical card sits on a desk while a browser tab gets closed. Agencies still request them.
The practical answer for a beginner:
Have a PDF version always ready to send. Same layout, exported at print quality, named sensibly (
firstname-lastname-comp.pdf, notfinal_v3.pdf).Print a modest run, not hundreds. Your look and stats will change sooner than you expect, and a box of obsolete cards is money burned.
Keep the layout identical across both. The digital version imitating the card format is doing real work: hero image, range, stats, contact, in that order.
Who Pays for It, and When That Is a Red Flag
Comp card printing is one of the most common ways beginners get separated from their money, so it is worth being precise.
A legitimate agency does not require you to pay them to print your card. Agencies earn commission on the jobs they book for you. Some deduct card production costs from future earnings, which is a normal arrangement when it is disclosed in writing up front. What is not normal is being asked to hand over money at signing, or being told you must use one specific in-house photographer and printer at a price they set.
This is now explicitly regulated in some places. Under New York's Fashion Workers Act, model management companies cannot charge a fee or collect a deposit when signing an agreement, commissions are capped at 20%, and models must receive a written deal memo before work begins (New York State Department of Labor, retrieved 2026-09-03).
The broader pattern is one consumer regulators keep flagging. In December 2025 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission warned about fake casting calls that turn into "high-pressure sales pitch[es] to sign up for bogus photo shoots or fake acting classes," and restated the rule that covers this entire category: "Never pay to get paid" (FTC Consumer Advice, retrieved 2026-09-03).
If you are freelance and paying for your own cards, that is completely normal. You are buying a printing service, and you choose the printer. The red flag is not paying for printing. It is an agency making payment a condition of representation.
Five Mistakes That Waste a Print Run
Retouching that changes your face or body. The card's job is verification. If you do not look like your card when you walk in, the card has actively worked against you.
A busy front. Multiple images, graphics, or decorative type on the front. One image, your name, nothing else.
Type too small to read at arm's length. Cards get read at desk distance in bad light, not on a screen at 200%.
Five images of the same look. Range is the reason the back exists.
Printing before you are represented. If you are close to signing with an agency, wait. They will have their own template, their logo, and their contact details, and they will want the card to match their board.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a comp card the same as a zed card or sed card? Yes. "Comp card" (composite card), "zed card" and "sed card" are regional names for the same double-sided printed card. You will hear zed and sed more often in Europe.
What size should a comp card be? 5.5 × 8.5 inches, double-sided, on roughly 12–14 pt matte or satin cardstock. Some agencies accept 5 × 7 inches, but 5.5 × 8.5 is the safe default. Always check your agency's template before printing.
How many photos go on a comp card? One on the front, three to five on the back. Choose range over quantity, because three excellent images beat five where two are weak.
Do I need a comp card if I am not signed with an agency? You can have one, but it is rarely the first thing to spend on. Free unretouched digitals come first, then a portfolio, then a card. If you are actively attending castings as a freelancer, a card is worth having with your professional contact details on it.
Should I put my measurements on my comp card? Yes. The stats block is the main function of the card. List them accurately and update them when they change, because they are routinely verified in person.
Are printed comp cards obsolete now? No. Digital versions dominate first contact and online submissions, but printed cards are still expected at open calls, go-sees and in-person castings. Keep both, in the same layout.
Who should pay for my comp card? If you are freelance, you pay a printer of your choosing, and that is normal. If you are signed, the agency typically produces the card and may recover the cost from future earnings, disclosed in writing. An agency demanding payment as a condition of signing you is a red flag, and in New York it is prohibited outright.
The Practical Order of Operations
If you take one thing from this: the card comes third, not first.
Digitals. Free, unretouched, and what agencies ask new faces for.
Portfolio. Eight to fifteen images that prove range.
Comp card. The distillation, printed once you know your lane and, ideally, once you know who represents you.
Getting that order backwards is the expensive version of this whole subject. Beginners routinely print beautiful cards before they have the images to fill one, then reprint six months later when their book, their hair and their measurements have all changed.
Shoot first. Distil second. Print last.
Sources
CompCard.com, comp card sizes, layout and agency standards
New York State Department of Labor, Fashion Workers Act FAQs
Federal Trade Commission, Lights, camera, scam! Spot virtual casting call scams (December 2025)
All sources retrieved 2026-09-03.