foundation year in art title Transition

Started a project entitled Transitions and have to explore three themes based off the word. Can only think of one interesting link and that would be evolution, thus mutations, with biological aspect. Uusually I would plan an oil painting except im moving onto illustraton/animation as thats what i wish to pursue. Does anone have any suggestions for alternate themes ?

Hi, I’m currently in Year 11 and saw one of your threads saying you’re in Suffolk New College and I would like to ask a few questions, if you don’t mind?

Also, I may have poor suggestions but
- transition from primary to secondary to sixth form etc
- life cycles e.g caterpillars into butterflies
- ...idk

How are you getting on with your project?

thanks for the suggestions but I've pretty much got it sorted now I ended up going with biological mutations and evolution; Queer and Trans art; philosophical Transition ie religious conversion, metaphysical interactions; religious wars. I'll mainly be experimenting in traditional Animation and oil painting, I'm really enjoying the project, thanks for asking!

I'd be happy to answer any questions - what's up?

That sounds so funky, wow. Is it lots of work?

Very recently I saw Suffolk New College offered the UAL foundation diploma and so I’m planning to either go there or to UAL directly, though staying in Suffolk is a better choice. But my situation is I haven’t done gcse art and so can’t do a level art. I need a portfolio and know I have to build it up myself.
What were the portfolio requirements for Suffolk New College?
Is it possible for you to share what you provided as a portfolio?
Is the course intense?
Are you learning from home atm?
Do you know any students who didn’t take A level art previously?

Why I didn’t take GCSE Art/ related subjects : In year 7, I was at St Albans Highschool and so took an interest in DT, especially Graphic Design (despite having only ever learnt it for several weeks). In Year 9, I moved to a grammar school and they didn’t offer DT. I decided to first choose Art but I didn’t have enough self-esteem and they are more oriented towards Fine Art, so decided to change to Music. But I do know I want to pursue a subject like Graphic Design at Uni but after researching, a Foundation Diploma seems really helpful in narrowing options. I like to consider myself as creative and I know that doing A levels (I chose Maths, Chem, Classics) is going to be 2 years wasted. Trying to fit in time for portfolio building on the side seems daunting though.

If you don’t mind how should I give you my email? You could try the image uploading option on TSR.

Yes, I have 0 facilities at home so am gonna have to unleash my creativity with loads of weird experimenting. They asked for just a digital collection? Also, where do u plan to go to uni?

What did you do in your first term?

have you looked at the UAL art and design level 3 extended diploma at Suffolk new? I'm not quite sure how it works but I believe you do it instead of a levels and you study A

yes but I don’t think my mum would approve of me not doing a levels. It seems appealing but there still is a portfolio required... I was thinking doing it after year 12 if I had got some evidence of experimentation and research, but then after 2 years I would lose my gift year of free funding if I take foundation diploma after.

have you looked at the UAL art and design level 3 extended diploma at Suffolk new? I'm not quite sure how it works but I believe you do it instead of a levels and you study A

this was all part of course work to produce an outcome, they all connect sort of lol

Sorry i seemed to have pressed send before I finished typing aha
if i dont manage to upload my images here ill directly message you if thats ok?

since I applied last August still in covid, I sent 10 images of my A level work via email then had a quick telephone interview which was really relaxed. The tutors are lovely and understanding. my main uni options are London College of Communication, or Leeds school of art. I wish to study animation, which is odd considering ive always been very fine art orientated, mostly doing oil paintings!

My first term was great - we did 4 workshops, mine were fine art, painting, illustration and graphics, but you can also choose from 4D, 3D, photography, textiles/fashion, print making and possibly others. You learn how to use equipment and you research releveant artists, improve skills etc and produce a small outcome per workshop at the end! Its a lot of fun as you learn new stuff and go out of your comfort zone.

personally id say stick with a levels as they willl broaden your skill set and qualifications for later on in life. Is there no way you can appeal to do graphics / photography/ any art subjects for a level?

HOLY HELL MAN!! HOLY SHOES! KETTLE! I LOOOOOVE your art :000 I have no idea how the hell I think I can make such a good portfolio 😂😂 I have never tried oil painting, is it just the paint that’s different or is there special brushes too? Do u use water? What was the gore all about 😮 it looks like you have two sketchbooks as well, is one for research and another one for experimentation or is it just a mix?

I wish I could take it now 😔😔😔 What did you learn in the graphic design workshop? I also want to go to UAL ahhhh how are you coping during this time? I have so much free time but I’ve been banned from my own bedroom so can’t do anything fun 🗿

ahhh thanks lol youre too kind. I wanted to introduce gore as id been exploring themes from horror films, so I asked my local butchers for some bone offcuts lol. I had a small sketchbook for recording museum and gallery trips, mainly finding artists and doing small artist copies, the big sketchbook was for my main body of work - project title, developing ideas, artist research, and experimenting and creating an outcome.

oil painting: BEYOND better than acrylic. It doesnt really dry - you start with a wash of paint then building the layers and blending the colours as you wish. Wash brushes with white spirit NOT water, you can dilute paint with refined linseed oil for smoother application. Some people prefer more scratchy brushes though i use soft brushes, the ones intended for water colours "major brushes" (black with white brush). I sugggest following some youtube tutorials - it takes a bit of practice but if you include your improvement and explain your willingness to experiment with new media, it shows youre an open minded student.

Graphic design workshop involved creating a zine (like a tiny magazine) of typography you've made. You are shown how to use photoshop/illustrator to design a bunch of interesting lettering. It was very interesting but I decided not to pursue it further. I'd recommend Illustration too as you get to create a comic!

Wow art makes people do weird and wonderful things. When researching artists, what exactly are you looking for? Is it their techniques and influences?

I would have to buy so many new things ahh I shouldn’t have dropped Art 🗿 I will definitely try learn new mediums when I have access. Do SNC provide you with basic materials at the start of the course e.g sketchbook, pencils, paints etc? When did you find out abt oil painting?

when I find artists I mainly just see if I like them lmao - anyone who's relevant to the theme you're exploring. I mainly find an artist I like on Pinterest then keep scrolling to see if there any similar artists.
my projects were all externally set by exam boards for A level, you could always find one from the past years and work through it yourself - mine was Sustainablity I think. how I approached it was:
- explore definition of title - synonyms etc and possible artists throigh mindmaps.
thoroughly research 3 major artists (usually quite diff from eachother) and analyse their technique, their imagery, composition, colour, materials and meaning.
- do an artist copy (like painting pastiche) for each to understand how they paint etc
- do a photoshoot that explores the theme (mine was gore)
- draw some observational studies from photoshoot
- expand on Photoshoot - perhaps another entirely different photoshoot with some relevance (I took photos of gory scenes in movies)
- experiment with diff media when doing studies - lino cut / mono print / etching / watercolor / charcoal drawing
- link back to how to produce an outcome (decide on medium, I always do oil paint)
- lots of explanation of your reasoning for outcome
- do outcome !

this is probably over kill for you as it's VERY a level based so I don't recommend doing this whole thing as it's time consuming, but def experiment , do some photos, so some mixed media

SNC are very resourceful, you buy you're own skteh book and they provide you with paints pencils etc but you do have to pay £60 up front but you honestly get EVERYTHING. bring your own pencil case of course as it's easier to have you're own stuff.

I started oil painting when I was 14/15 so I've had a lot of experience (I'm nearly 19)

Typography seems so interesting to me and I’m thinking of making a collage zine sometime in the future, idk what about. I’m gonna look into detail what Illustration ad Animation involve.

How do you come up with project themes/briefs? Were you set them by a teacher?

Thanks for the overkill lmao it’s really helpful though, honestly. Do you have a camera? I don’t 😃 if I ask my mum if I can go to SNC though, she will probably refuse my suggestion because it’s local and it seems low having come from a grammar school 🙄
you must be really proud of your artistic journey!! is your family artistic or supportive of your choices?
I got an email from my school’s head of art and she said if I’m going to do foundation I need a level art welp, however in the previous email she said there were some exceptions for students at a level who didn’t do gcse.
SNC haven’t replied 🗿