My daughter submitted her application to SAIC yesterday. She pushed herself and finished the 2 pieces she wanted and finally submitted. Funny thing, last year at her first portfolio day she got a bad review from SAIC and she hated them. In the year that passed she followed the advice she received during that awful critique, her portfolio changed completely, and now she really wants to go to SAIC. She applied to VCU and Pratt as well, and in the days to follow she will apply to MICA, KCAI, MCAD, CCA, CALARTS, and maybe Hunter.
I am not sure I understand Hunter very well. I think they say that for BFA they want 5 years of undergraduate studies? They are affordable by comparison with any art schools, but the 5 years instead of 4 makes my daughter nervous. Any thoughts?
@lsichitiu my daughter had the same experience with her first Pratt review and she is now at Pratt! Funny how a “bad” experience can turn out to be exactly what is needed for change and growth. Sounds like there might be a very good fit there - crossing fingers for your D!
Thank you @JBStillFlying , I keep my fingers crossed too!
Last year my daughter’s portfolio was full of technical pieces and the SAIC rep said she doesn’t care much about it. She said that there are many kids with technical ability, but she wants to see what my daughter is about, what is it that she wants to create. My daughter started making stuff she wanted, outside the classroom. I was very scared because the result is so different than what I thought a portfolio should look like, but this year at the National Portfolio Day in Atlanta all reps she saw were very interested in her stuff, including SAIC rep. It was such a relief for me!
My D had a similar experience with her portfolio reviews. As a junior, she was told by many schools that her portfolio had the technical elements they were interested in seeing. But schools took the most interest in some pieces she did in a summer program run through NY state that were more creative and contemporary.
The summer before senior year she attended NYU’s summer art intensive for HS students. After, she brought her portfolio for review at NYU.
Besides one or two pieces made that summer, the faculty member who saw her portfolio took the most interest in some actual doodles she had made around the rim of one piece (rather than the technical drawing she had made). He advised her to re-do half her portfolio to make it in her voice, with her ideas and themes. He felt she needed no more than 8 pieces to support her technical skills so in response, she spent all of August creating art that was meaningful to her–not school projects with set perameters.
When she returned to school for senior year, she declined to take AP art, so she would have more time to continue to make her own work without strict guidelines.
She applied to NYU ED and Pratt EA and was accepted to both. (With a large merit scholarship from Pratt.)
Now that she has graduated with her BFA (from NYU) I can’t begin to tell you how vastly different her portfolio is today.
My daughter received varying critiques from the schools at which she did portfolio review. Pratt loved her work. They made no bones about it and offered her generous merit aid. The same was true at MICA and at Tyler. RISD, however, was much more critical of her work. In fact, the examiner strongly recommended that she not apply ED. He told her to work on new pieces and gave her some technical and creative parameters within which to work. We were a bit put off, but she did take his advice. In the end, her new works were far superior to earlier works, were still broadly complimented at the other schools, but apparently made an equal impression at RISD where she ultimately matriculated…
Just reaffirming the need for creative vision over technical prowess. Most schools like to see a couple of figures or other observational drawings in a portfolio, but they don’t need many to confirm competence. Once that’s out of the way, they really want to see the way your mind works. This was absolutely true for my son, both at NPD and throughout the application process. During a meeting with an Art Center rep, she sniffed out all the pieces he had done as assignments for his AP Art class. She wasn’t interest in those at all and urged him to stick to the stuff he did on his own. He took that advice–and it really paid off. I remember being a little worried when I saw his bicycle drawing for RISD. I gulped a bit when he drew a picture that basically amounted to a slapstick visual joke. It was very him but bore no resemblance to the amazing technical pieces I’d seen online. Well, he ended up getting in, even though he chose MICA in the end.
I think that would constitute an* excellent* critique if it made her a better artist.
Learning to hear criticism constructively is a vital part of her undergraduate existence as an art major. I must go through at least a crit a week in my classes, and some of those kids would burst into tears during the lower level classes because they didn’t understand crits and they didn’t understand how to do it constructively. You’d have one group of kids that would cry, and another group that would say “I think your piece sucks”, and neither one knew how to do a crit properly.
Luckily the professors (if they’re any good) will immediately set you straight.
So, yeah, get used to it.
" He told her to work on new pieces and gave her some technical and creative parameters within which to work. We were a bit put off, but she did take his advice. In the end, her new works were far superior to earlier works, were still broadly complimented at the other schools,"
That’s a great sign of a successful art student. Critiques are very hard as MOD says and the ability to take the advice and incorporate it into your work is a skill. You can’t grow without an objective eye or trying new things. No sense spending the bucks on an art school if you think you already know better than those trying to guide you.
Thank you, @gouf78, we are also very gratified as parents that, despite a bit of initial defensiveness, our daughter understood that responding to such criticism by operating a bit out of her comfort zone, could well lead to better work. In fact, she has found that almost every project at RISD requires her to exercise this skill; out of the comfort zone, exploring new ideas and skills, and generally not taking your ideas and talents too-too seriously.
Just discussed critiques with my D yesterday. She’s said the critiques she’s received have made her a better artist and with that mindset, she welcomes the advice. Depending on how you view your own work (she’s her worst critic) a critique can be taken different ways. Her experience at Tyler has been one of tremendous support and encouragement. The foundation students were all assigned a book to read prior to school starting regarding critiques. She also experienced them at the summer program she attended last year. But as @BrooklynRye mentioned, taking your talents too seriously can lead to over-confidence which would make hearing a critique quite painful.
This is so very helpful to me!!! This break has been SO. MUCH. WORK. (for my daughter). Each school has different things they are looking for, so tailoring sliderooms and essays to each school has been time consuming. She mailed her sketchbook to CalArts on Wednesday and said “it was like putting a piece of my body in the mail”. I have been pushing her to include her oil paintings (which are technically amazing, I don’t even understand how she does it) but she hasn’t in most because of the reasons listed above (from all the smart parents and students who have gone before : ) She’s off right now sketching one of her friend’s dogs because they are Sharpie’s and have “lots of cool wrinkles”. She is working on the last of her 16 real life drawings for CalArts. I really think she should include her one oil painting that is a self-portrait… but what do I know? It’s not so much the technical skill (yes, it looks exactly like her) but the expression in her eyes and mouth make it unique. She had a friend over last night and did some full body sketches that turned out great as well. I’m just so ready for the apps to be done and for her to get to relax a bit. This art school app process is NUTS. I had no idea. Last night she did say, unsolicited in front of her friends “thank you mom, for all your help. There is no way I could have done this without you”. So that made me cry.
@moonpie The process was amazingly complicated. That’s why we let my D do ED. I was done. She not only had different versions of her portfolio and essays, but had also put together a music CD (singing) for schools like Skidmore that offered music talent scholarships. We did have most of the apps ready to go if she didn’t get into NYU ED, but I was glad we stopped. I know ED isn’t for everyone, but for us it worked.
Good luck to your D!
My daughter was in the same boat! So busy this weekend with applications. Tomorrow is calarts and mcad for us.
@moonpie , does Calarts not have slideroom applications? From your post I understand that you mailed your daughter’s sketchbook.
If that’s the case, then my daughter can’t apply because she has sculptures, the largest being 7 feet tall.
Me D applied to VCUARTS by the early action/scholarship deadline. However, they said that once they get the application, they will send my daughter a link for uploading her portfolio. They did get the application on the 14th but still no email with portfolio link. Enjoy with similar experience?
We did ED with my middle, and it was such a relief! But hers was strictly academic. With my youngest, too many financial risks to do ED!
@moonpie @lsichitiu You are in the thick of it but it will be worth it in the end. My D was so busy with all the portfolio requirements and slideroom uploads it was nuts. Plus she had a pretty heavy load of classes! She was amazed and jealous at how easy her non-art school classmates had it! The common app and maybe an extra essay and they were done!
Yesterday She mentioned how crazy the process was last year and she said “there’s no way I could have done it without your help.” Made me all teary knowing she is so happy at school now.
So hang in there! You’ll be so happy and relieved in a few months!
Hello. I have been reading this thread with great appreciation. So full of information. Thank you!
My 17 years old son has decided… well… gulp… three months ago that he will apply to design program. He is interested in animation, visual communication for primary choices, and industrial design as his second choice of field. He had taken one art class in a freshman year, two digital design classes in sophomore and junior, summer intensive media design class during the summer, and currently in video production.
The problem is… since he did not think he would apply to design major, he did not save the original digital files of his junior year digital design work at the end of junior year. We contacted his teacher, and she could find his powerpoint slides of his final presentation, which contains some of his work during the Junior year. However, they are mostly in a very small file size, around 100 to 200kb. He also cannot locate in his hard drive his design work and typography that he did this summer… (Talking about disorganization, and this must be discussed in another thread…) Furthermore, he does not have any of observational drawing in his portfolio. Since my background is also fine art, for the last one month (and until the end of December), he has been trying to finish three observational drawing. (1. his foot (almost done), 2, still life drawing in colored pencils, (still probably 50 more hours to go), and 3. figure pencil drawing of his younger brother (still probably at least 20 hours to go, but this one will be done from a photograph, after three hours of actual observational drawing.) I am teaching him how to draw.
Here are my questions… if you could help me…
Q1: He needs to prepare for his portfolios to only two schools, as he is mostly applying to liberal art colleges with strong design program, and most of them do not require any portfolios. Both schools require 10 images, plus one school requires an additional two special projects. Since his primary artistic tool is digital design, he is planning to do his work by photoshop, illustrator, etc, to create visual design.
i), Assume that he can complete three figure drawings in time, he only needs minimum of 7 additional artwork. He has about 5 to 7 digital design projects that he did while in Junior year at school. However, his digital design work is obviously mostly from school's assignments, so in a way... while it may show his sensitivity to color and details, in my opinion, it does not reveal his personality too much . When your son and daughter were walking on the portfolio, did they have some kind of "theme" (emotions, nature, social issues, family, etc.) that they came up with, and did they build their portfolio around it?
ii), How long did your child need to spend their time on documenting their work (taking photographs, digitizing it, anr organize the images?) If it is a 2D surface drawing, how did they document it?
Q2: Do you know any online sources which could possibly critique my son’s body of work? I know one teacher in RISD has a business like that, and I am thinking of reaching out to her, but I just wonder if you know any other professionals who would do online portfolio critique. I feel I can tell more about the basic quality of his work from more technical point of view, but I am not sure if I know what makes the portolio “stand out”.
Any info. is appreciated. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Minneapolis College of Art and Design offers online critique http://mcad.edu/ask-for-a-critique
I’d second that recommendation regarding MCAD. They have a very strong vis. com. program and are making a name for themselves in animation as well so they should be able to render good advice.
@YosemiteWilderness my D did not have a theme, but many admissions people suggested she include work that was done outside of school assignments. If he is applying to specific schools, it might be useful to contact the admissions departments and ask a few questions about what they are looking for in student submissions.
As far as online portfolio reviews, AICAD has one that uses slideroom. My D never used it, but it seemed like a great idea. https://aicad.slideroom.com/#/Login