<p>Can somebody with portfolio review experience shed some light on the "sketchbook" that many schools ask be included in the portfolio? I surmise that the portfolio should principally be finished pieces that you're proud of, but then they also want to see a collection of the quick little sketches that you might do when you're working out a concept in your head, or practicing for something that goes into a bigger piece.</p>
<p>The portfolios are often digitized and transmitted electronically, but some schools talk about in-person review. Would the digital vs. in-person presentation make any difference with the sketchbook piece of it?</p>
<p>Can somebody with experience fill me in?</p>
<p>You should post your question in the sub forum under “college majors” called “visual arts and film” (or something like that; using iPhone so it’s hard to navigate). There are lots of helpful folks over there who can answer your question.</p>
<p>D didn’t have to send/ present a sketch book…she was accepted EA Pratt with scholarship $ and ED NYU studio art (where she attends.) She had heard a lot about the importance of sketchbooks before applying, but the reality was that no one asked for one since the portfolio is sent digitally. For some reason D HATES keeping a sketch book…and has only reluctantly done it for some of her studio classes at NYU. She actually did a pre-admissions review of her portfolio (in person) at NYU, but the lack of a sketch book was not an issue. (Although she got a lot of other helpful advice.)</p>
<p>Thank you. You’re right, not all schools ask for it (and evidently from what you experienced, even some who mention it will not end up reviewing it). But what is it, exactly? Is it as informal as what I described – sort of the artist’s equivalent of a writer’s personal journal? If the student sat down in an idle moment and sketched a chair across the room, for example, should the student make it a point to hang onto these things? Or are the schools looking for something more formal and structured?</p>
<p>The College of Design at my son’s university does not admit right out of high school. All prospective design students (studio arts, architecture, industrial design, etc) take the same core design sequence freshman year. They then prepare their portfolio based upon that work and are admitted based upon that work. Part of the portfolio is made up of finished work but another big part is a process board. The process boards describe the design process involved in each project (final work) through images, sketches and notes.</p>
<p>I suspect what you are talking about is similar. </p>
<p>Haystack, interesting. You have also touched upon something we have been pondering – some programs want to see the portfolio in 12th grade, and admit/deny to the major. Other schools admit you as an aspiring member of the department, and make a decision after the end of freshman or sophomore year, usually after foundational courses.</p>
<p>I have grave reservations about the schools that can tell you at the end of freshman (or worse, sophomore) year that you need to find another major. I suppose it works for the program on many levels, but it could throw the kid’s degree budgeting, graduation timeline and career plans into chaos. If you’re really committed to the major (as you should be), you have to transfer. You may have missed transfer deadlines by the time you know where you stand. And the seats elsewhere are most likely full of their own home-grown rising juniors. Ugh.</p>
<p>I’d be much more comfortable with programs that give you the thumbs up or the thumbs down when you’re still in 12th grade. But I’m reluctant to rule out programs on that basis alone.</p>
<p>S is an alum of UCLA’s Design|Media Arts program (that admits students straight out of 12th grade with a four-year commitment). When he had to submit his portfolio, he was asked to submit pieces that met certain themes, and those were finished pieces. This was also back in the day when the portfolio was either reviewed in-person (at portfolio days) or through slides of the works.</p>
<p>The sketchbook concept sounds like what you described - an opportunity for the school to see the “process” rather than the “product,” especially if the review is done remotely.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>The sketch book is like a personal journal–it can contain anything pertaining to the creative process. So one can include sketches that are preliminary steps in the making of a final piece, lists of ideas, practice in different techniques, inspirations of any kind. So it can be a mix of actual sketches and words. My daughter tends to be inspired on paper menus and scaps of paper and would feel somewhat self conscious with the “formality” of a sketch book that she knows someone will be poking through. However, now that she is in art school and is so used to sharing ideas, hearing critiques and explaining her process, she is more comfortable having one.</p>