<p>I think i have a pretty decent portfolio right now, with a mix of different media, including photography, watercolor, mixed-media.. so on). The only thing is, i don't have many observational drawings, and i'm planning on focusing on that in the next month.
(I'm not applying to art schools, but only universities and colleges, btw)</p>
<p>thing is, I'm not sure what i should draw from observation. given that i don't have that excellent drawing skills, i want to choose an interesting subject with interesting composition --and not the shoes, bicycles, fruits, flowers.... common stuff. Of course, i understand that making this decision is part of my artwork, but i'd like to hear some suggestions and examples of other art students. What interesting subjects have you worked on or seen?</p>
<p>A SAIC rep told my daughter to pick a thing -- any thing -- and draw/sketch it over and over, every day. Doing so would give her an evolution of work to show in her informal sketch stuff, and maybe generate material for her portfolio. Among the items she suggested were shoes, hands, bones, a pet, something on her desk, or just her desk "landscape" over time, food, a friend or other person she sees over and over (like a bus driver, teacher, parent, sibling), or a small, specific place she sees daily, like her bus stop.</p>
<p>The important thing to remember when drawing from life/still life is you want to incorporate your own style while at the same time demonstrating great technical abillity (composition, rendering, color ect)</p>
<p>Remember that you are going to be given drawing assignments that are boring and don't mean anything to you at first, like the bike and the shoe ect. It might be advantageous to start NOW and incorporate your personal style into the drawing rather than searching for the "perfect" composition.</p>
<p>Above all, I'd reccommend a self portrait if you can. It's completely observational and your feelings towards yourself will be reflected in your drawing.</p>
<p>My son had a project in his art class to draw a flag in a number of different positions from different perspectives....it didn't sound that exciting, but when I saw them they were really cool. He had them laying on a flat surface with ripples that looked like waves. He drew them at eye level, from above and up higher, the long way and the short way and captured the way the light hit them. I was very impressed. He used them in his portfolio...but we haven't heard on acceptance yet.</p>
<p>You shouldn't be searching for an interesting subject. Artists can find something interesting in any mundane subject. You need opportunities to study simple things like shadows. Your drawing skills are more important than your subject is.</p>
<p>Everyone finds different things interesting. I like drawing lakes, some people find that annoying.</p>
<p>Would be good to emphasis anatomy and perspective. The two combined into one image even better, but stay away from forced perspective. </p>
<p>The universities/college art profs would like to see such abilities. In part because it is a weak area of many incoming students, and partially because of the overemphasis on copying photographs at the HS level. </p>
<p>So whatever composition you use, make sure it is of a nature which makes it clear it is an original.</p>
<p>Studies but not sketches. Not everything need to be finished artworks as the committee may prefer to see how you develop a technique or an idea. But these do need to be complete enough to stand on their own, which a sketch generally cannot achieve. If you wish to include quick work, consider several gesture drawings of the figure or of faces showing various expressions.
One of the vexations of professional artists (which includes portfolio review people) is they get a lot of potential work brought to them in hallways, sent in, slipped under doors and etc which is often little less than a sketch on spiral notebook paper. As such it does predispose some against sketches as they are sometimes washed over with these. In an informal setting a decent person will be courteous about it all, but on a portfolio review they will deservedly be much harder on work which is improperly developed or presented.</p>
<p>My daughter is at RISD. We both wondered why did they picked her? We debated it a lot. She thought they liked her quick sketches from figure drawings. She had several of these in her admssion package and she is really very good at this. She doesn't over work things.</p>
<p>// The important thing to remember when drawing from life/still life is you want to incorporate your own style while at the same time demonstrating great technical abillity (composition, rendering, color ect) //</p>
<p>Be cautious however, while a personal style may demonstrate creativity and originality, don't use it as an excuse to avoid mastering traditional rendering skills. A personal vision is exciting when it makes a leap FROM traditional methodologies.</p>
<p>Very true, about incorporating your own style. My daughter was doing some still life observational work this summer: pots, pitchers, that sort of thing. Hers, though, had facial features on them -- a pitcher with a nose, a bowl with lips. Very well done, very freaky, and very representative of her odd style.</p>
<p>Also, Pratt, Parsons, SVA, MICA, Ringling, CCS, and Otis all unanimously told me to send no more than 3 or 4 observational pieces and send more of my conceptual illustrations that were from my head and not from observation.</p>
<p>SAIC accepted my portfolio that had 4 observational pieces and the rest conceptual illustrations. Yes they have a high acceptance rate, but when Parsons, Ringling, CCS, and Otis reviewed the same portfolio they said I would be accepted if I submitted it that night. SVA and MICA told me I would be accepted if I did my conceptual illustrations on a larger canvas (they were all in an 8x10 moleskine sketchbook)</p>