Character Concepts and Portfolios Questions

Hope this is the right place to ask these sorts of things!

I was curious about Rioters, or anyone else with a concept design/animationish/illustration job. What did your portfolio look like? Do you include neat looking sketches, in addition to fleshed out pieces? Does anyone have examples of early work in their portfolios they used to apply? If you'd like to be a character artist, are you still expected to have environmental pieces in your portfolio? How did you begin your job search? Did you start with an internship? Did you go to college or an art school? If you're just a general freelance/fanartist that does commissions, what do you think makes you successful? Any additional advice to share?

I've seen several pieces of skin concepts and such through google, and it seems like they all have a similar format, but I'm more curious about how the individuals began their work before getting these sorts of team jobs.

If you want to chime in with anything else, that's great, too! I know there are several answers to these types of things on Google, but I think finding answers to these things in the League community seems more real and interesting. :D