Some of us graphics designers, most especially the upcoming one's like me, seek for ways of building our portfolio even when the jobs or clients havn't started rolling in yet; something sort of like a guide that pushes us to design something even when its not needed, so that when a client requests to see our works, there's always something to present. Now, my request to the professionals here is this: how did you go about building your portfolio when you were a novice? Did you wait to complete client jobs before establishing your portfolio? Or did you randomly design stuffs for your portfolio build-up. If so, what did you use as your guide (most especially the logo and brand designers)?

I for one built my portfolio through a lot of free jobs.
That's basically the best way to improve and have a portfolio at the same time.