Very beginner question

[trinitymelody]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on my way towards a career in 3d modeling. I did some poking around and heard that it's good for portfolios to be focused on specific areas of modeling, like environmental, weapons and vehicles or characters. I plan to focus on weapons and vehicles mostly at first, and gradually make a shift over to characters. Now, I am currently undergoing training using the tutorials from 3dbuzz.com as well as some purchased books and have begun to give thought about my portfolio.

I am aiming to start off real low in the industry, such as intern non-paid positions and was wondering on average how many portfolio items I should have? I'm assuming the answer would be your best pieces and as many of your best pieces, but if you had to give a number range, for example what I was thinking and looking for confirmation on was something like:

at least 2 weapons, one with lots of detail, one low detail
at least 2 vehicles, one with lots of detail, one low detail
at least 1 character (later when shifting to characters in the future, have several high/low detail, more than weapons/vehicle models)
at least 1 environment (like a room with 1-2 furniture)

Would that sound about right for a minimum number of pieces for starting low?

Also, my other question is, when modeling out my portfolio pieces, can I use existing blueprints on the internet (for example grab front/side/top views of a car from Google image and model that as a portfolio piece)?

Thanks for any help/advice you can give.