I want to get into an art college and am planning to start my portfolio this summer. What I want to be is a graphic designer. I don't really have anything else aside from what I do in my media arts class in high school. I don't have photoshop or anything like that, but hopefully I can convince my parents to get it for me. Should I include anything else in my portfolio? Can I add any type of art in even if I'm not planning on going to school for it? Can I add drawings and paintings I've done? How many things should I have in my portfolio? What should my portfolio be? A binder, a sketch book?
How to make an art portfolio?
DEFINITELY include drawings and paintings. You want a well-rounded portfolio because at any art college, no matter what your major, you'll be taking basic drawing classes and they want to know you're capable. If you have any 3D work like sculpture or ceramics you could even throw that in there. Of course you'll want the bulk of it to be the medium you're planning on majoring in.
A portfolio should be about 15-20 pieces, but for applications they usually specify depending on the school. They'll also specify what format they want it submitted in, usually electronically (you could burn it to a cd) or in slide form.
How to make an art portfolio?
just to add to the the answer above, a lot of colleges really like self portraits...I always thought that that would make me seem a little "too into myself", but a couple of my friends and my current advisor told me that they really do like to see them.
Reply:1. You only want about a dozen, or so, of the BEST of your best work. Spend a LOT of time winnowing your portfolio down to only the work that shows off your talent in it's best light. If you have any doubts about the image, do NOT include it. Any piece that is not the best image will make the quality of the entire portfolio suffer. This is NOT the place to show how you have "grown" or "improved" as an artist. This is the place to show where your skills and talent ARE. It is better to have too few pieces than too many.
2. Once you've made your selections, you will want to show off your pieces in their best light. Have them mounted on quality mat board. Select colors of mat board that do not clash or compete with the artwork. Neutral colors are good. Black, grey, or, even white work best. Even if the artwork is of different sizes, make the mats of unform size if you can. If your selected pieces vary greatly in size, from, lets say eight by ten to eighteen by twenty-four, or larger, then you may have to consider two sets of unformly cut mat boards. But, when you display them, keep the two sizes separate.
3. These mounted pieces can be bound in some kind of book form, but there is nothing wrong with displaying them as loose pieces, but presented in a nice portfolio case, or large, heavy duty envelopes made for this purpose. I wouldn't recommend going cheap with a carboard student portfolio envelope, but, hopefully, the admissions people should be smart enough to realize that it should be the art that is more important than the packaging. Unfortunately, these folks are human, and you can never tell how much a first impression will affect their judgement.
4. There are situations where a clever presentation can be effective. For example, if a digital portfolio is an acceptable format, then a good slideshow presentation, along with music, narration, and or captions can help. Or, especially for digitaly created pieces, smaller print formats can be packaged cleverly, showing the artist's presentation and marketing skills. I knew of one talented artist that had a set of four by six inch prints mounted on five by seven inch boards. He had made a box which perfectly fit ten of these mounted prints. He glued together some long fireplace matches to form an inside cover and cut them to fit in this box, on top of the stack of prints. He, then, made a label for the box, which was, essentially, a logo with the term "Hot Stuff" and his contact information. This proved to be a very creative and popular portfolio that resulted in several assignments.
In one of my marketing campaigns, I located a set of six matching make up cases in the form known as "train cases." These looked like small, aluminum hard shell suitcases. I had duplicate sets of mounted prints, cut to fit the train cases, and labels reflecting a railroad motif. I was able to send these off, safely, to six different agencies at the same time.
5. Still, while creativity in the presentation can count, in no way should the presentation outshine the artwork within. The presentation should make the viewer interested in looking into the work, either because the idea was clever, or the presentation was neat and professional looking. A sloppy presentation will only spoil the contents.
Reply:You really need to go to the website of EVERY school you plan to apply. Read through their portfolio requirements. They can differ in what they want and how they want it.
You usually don't put all your work in, but e.g. 10 pieces which you consider best. The school may want to see a wide variety of work, but there can be very specific requirements, e.g. that you need a self portrait or things like this.
I would guess in most cases you can submit your portfolio on a CD these days. It used to be slides. The school will have specific instructions on this (like what resolution and digital format). So there is no way to make a successful portfolio without reading the school's specific instructions. If you have questions after reading the requirement ask the school, not strangers which have never been to that specific schools.
Also google the national portfolio day association and see if they have an event close to you.
Reply:the school you apply to will have a portfolio requirement that you can get from your admittance counselor. while your portfolio should be geared towards your specific medium, graphic design can be so broad that you would be fine to include related mediums such as photography. furthermore most schools don't require you to declare you major until you second year which would allow you to go in with a more wide scope of work. while the writer who said "basic drawing will be required at any art school you go to" is correct, it is not important the you show proficiency in drawing in your entrance portfolio.the approach the will take is that drawing is a skill that can be taught and they will assume you don't know how to draw when you take your first drawing classes.
the most important thing I could say about your portfolio is that it should have a good presentation and an indication of your artistic style. you should buy a presentation book or portfolio from an art store and you should prepare everything to be the same format. if that means you have to mount your work than you should mount it so that it all fits in your presentation book and that it is all viewable from the same direction so that the viewer doesn't have to turn the book in order to look at the piece. if you have large paintings you would like to present, photos are fine. just remember that book is a representation of you and its up to you to determine how you want people to see you.
one last thing.... you should choose a school that will work best for you. make sure its fully accredited make sure your degree will be a fine arts degree and not a certificate or B.S. make sure the school you go to has a reputation and the faculty are legitimate working artists. since you are wanting a degree in design try to go to a design school such as artcenter in Pasadena CA or California college of the arts in San Francisco these are just examples you could look at so you are certain of the difference. I would also recommend that you take a few classes at your local city college if for no other reason than just trying to beef up your portfolio before you actually apply. it will also allow you to feel it out so you can see if you are ready to dedicate yourself to arts school. also art schools are private colleges so they can be very expensive... people think that art school is easy but its actually very difficult to be creative all the time... you will have to dedicate yourself to this cause if you are going to really follow through.
good luck
Reply:well I'm working on one to , for fine art
what i found out
they to see many professional photo,
a cover story about your self,any awards
do you belong to any art clubs. and CD
they can look at later,there many places
that take your memory card make beautiful
6 by8 photo of,any schooling you might of had
and so on!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment