Certainly a production artist wouldn't walk into an interview with a portfolio and be asked to draw a puppy.
No, but I could imagine someone being asked how they might go about starting a new assignment or piece of work (art might be a bad example to use here since the process is likely not as important as the end result).
These coding exercises give the interviewer a chance to gauge how the candidate goes about solving problems, if he/she can think on his/her feet, their problem-solving strategies, etc.
Code that you have already written is great but it doesn't tell the interviewers much about the process that led to it.
No, but I could imagine someone being asked how they might go about starting a new assignment or piece of work (art might be a bad example to use here since the process is likely not as important as the end result).
These coding exercises give the interviewer a chance to gauge how the candidate goes about solving problems, if he/she can think on his/her feet, their problem-solving strategies, etc.
Code that you have already written is great but it doesn't tell the interviewers much about the process that led to it.