I start my adventure with graphics, I want to slowly build my portfolio. Due to the fact that I’m starting, I do not have any clients for which I can do projects (except those that I did for my friend’s company), is it a good idea to make graphics created by me and throw them into my portfolio?
Of course! A portfolio should show your skills!
Put the wip too.
If you look at superman, you will want to know who is superman when he is not superman.
…especially during the transformation.
That is why ‘before’ and ‘after’ images are so popular.
Invent a project for a hypothetical but non-existent client, and give it your best effort just as though you were really being paid to do it. Not only is this valuable self-education in the whys and the wherefores of the product itself (and Blender is a very complicated product), but it is also an exercise in completing professional-grade work for a demanding client.
Remember to impose upon yourself realistic strictures – especially, “a deadline” and “a budget.” Price yourself at “$X an hour” or “€X an hour” or what-have-you, and keep meticulous track of your time every day, just as though you were billing for it or working on a project with an employer. You have to finish the project, last-minute changes and all, within the dual constraints of time and money. That means that you have to plan the project from the start, and manage yourself to stay on budget and on schedule.
It’s useful to take an existing short film (CG or otherwise), of appropriate length and covering a similar subject, and then “match it shot-for-shot” just in CG. You’ll be going through every part of the production process, which is an awful lot of details to keep track of, and it helps to use an existing model to work from. Your finished film of course won’t turn out to be an exact copy of your reference. But as they say, “steal it, but steal from the best.”
The experience will do one of two things: either it will drive you away screaming and cause you to become a carpenter (also a very noble profession, of course), or it will teach you what you need to know to survive and prosper at magic-making.
If you find that you, too, are “happily addicted” … 
… this will also give you – not only a fantastic “demo reel” – but the ability to describe in detail how you executed the project from day to day, and with “business records” to prove it. (You should keep a “Captain’s Log” and time-sheet of every project that you do, even “just for yourself.”)
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