Can I do art and design without art/design A-levels?

Hi, title is pretty clear, I do bio, chem and computing. I was wondering if any good art/design/fashion unis would take me, as long as I have a strong portfolio. I did DT for GCSE (9, highest grade in school), and spent a year studying on weekends at city & guilds.

I'm interested in mostly London unis like UAL and Kingston, thanks!

Reply 1

fran_01

UAL and Kingston are pretty competitive but as you stated in your post the portfolio is the main factor, I know people who didn't do art A Level and go off and study in London Art Unis like Escape Studios. Though it is recommended, as long as you have a strong portfolio and meet the UCAS point requirements it shouldn't be an issue.

I also think this can vary a bit for some courses, but this is just my take as someone looking at animation :smile:

Reply 2

Kingston Reps

Official Rep

Original post by Dorsoff

Hi, title is pretty clear, I do bio, chem and computing. I was wondering if any good art/design/fashion unis would take me, as long as I have a strong portfolio. I did DT for GCSE (9, highest grade in school), and spent a year studying on weekends at city & guilds.
I'm interested in mostly London unis like UAL and Kingston, thanks!

Hi there @Dorsoff , may I know what art and design courses in particular you are looking at? As you have mentioned, a strong portfolio is what most art and design courses are looking for. Have you considered taking a Foundation in Art and Design? Many of my classmates have done a foundation as it gives you an opportunity to explore different mediums and expand your portfolio before deciding of which aspect of art and design you are applying for 😋! I am BA Fashion student currently on my placement year, so feel free to ask me any anything about life in Kingston, fashion or placement year 🙂

Zhi En
(Kingston Student Rep.)

Reply 3

totallyfine

I would also recommend a foundation diploma course. It is an FE course and any local college and allows you to explore different artist avenues and, crucially, build your portfolio. It is a one year course and free to under 19 year olds who are UK resident. It does not matter where you do the course.
There are some Universities who do the foundation diploma but then you would need to fund your accomodation as you would not be entitled to a student loan for an FE course. Kingston is one of these and good to look at if you are interested in doing your degree there

Reply 4

aspalax

Absolutely also going to recommend studying an Art Foundation course, as @totallyfine says it's free if you're coming straight out of A levels at 18. Will do nothing but benefit you. Don't worry about being "behind" - you'll find lots of people on art courses will have come off an art foundation year.

That being said, it's absolutely possible to get into an art course without formal art education, but it doesn't half help. The main thing that formal arts education will help you with is having development, design and iteration work in your portfolio, which is one of the key things universities will look for. They are likely to also look for examples of drawings from life (e.g. still life, figure drawing, technical drawing), imaginative work (combining ideas in a an imaginative way) and possibly may look for art in different mediums (including paint/pencil etc. but also things like model and sculpture).

Personally I would try to make sure to have examples from all of those categories (and combinations of the 4) in your portfolio before applying.