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Art Portfolio

Hii! Im trying to get into uni for fine art. Im applying independently of a college or school and im struggling with my portfolio. I just submitted it to one uni and was rejected because 'it lacks experimentation within the contemporary fine art context'
I'm not really sure what to include. I've studied fine art previously at college but my work is severely lacking. For my first project I messed up so badly that my teacher said I was going to get an F but then for my second project i drew mushrooms and managed to get a B. Because of this I'm not including any work from my first project. Most of my work is personal and is tonal pencil and acrylic. and so basically my portfolio consists of mainly acrylic and pencil work with some digital. I draw an even mix between animals and humans and I'm heavily influenced by pop surrealism so my favourite artists are Camilla d'Errico, Audrey Kawasaki and Amy Sol.

Ive been accepted into NTU for fine art but im not sure if the uni is any good? Im going to submit my portfolio to my first choice uni soon and i just want it to be the best because i really want to go there.

Basically Im just not sure what they are asking for or how to improve so if anyone has any clues or advice that would be great :smile:

Thank u!

Reply 1

Kingston Yasmin

Original post

by Alexis075

Hii! Im trying to get into uni for fine art. Im applying independently of a college or school and im struggling with my portfolio. I just submitted it to one uni and was rejected because 'it lacks experimentation within the contemporary fine art context'
I'm not really sure what to include. I've studied fine art previously at college but my work is severely lacking. For my first project I messed up so badly that my teacher said I was going to get an F but then for my second project i drew mushrooms and managed to get a B. Because of this I'm not including any work from my first project. Most of my work is personal and is tonal pencil and acrylic. and so basically my portfolio consists of mainly acrylic and pencil work with some digital. I draw an even mix between animals and humans and I'm heavily influenced by pop surrealism so my favourite artists are Camilla d'Errico, Audrey Kawasaki and Amy Sol.
Ive been accepted into NTU for fine art but im not sure if the uni is any good? Im going to submit my portfolio to my first choice uni soon and i just want it to be the best because i really want to go there.
Basically Im just not sure what they are asking for or how to improve so if anyone has any clues or advice that would be great :smile:

Thank u!

Hi @Alexis075

Congratulations on your current offer to NTU!

Universities are looking for passion and experimentation within your portfolio. They want to see that you can keep up with the class pace as well as have passions and clear interests that you want to follow and explore further. I think that you have made the good decision to only include work you are proud of. Taking on the feedback from the other university, if you have time before submitting to the next- maybe you can experiment further with mediums you haven't yet tried to show that you have tried out other routes but you mostly enjoy acrylic and pencil work on animals and humans.

I have inserted a link to another blog with some portfolio tips on our forum:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7566646#post100282953

Within the Kingston forum we have more portfolio tips and answer some questions others have had that might help you.

I hope this helped and good luck!

-Yasmin (Kingston Rep)

Reply 2

aspalax

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

My general portfolio advice for anyone applying to arts courses is include a combination of examples of iteration/development/design work (often the kind of thing you might do in school), some drawings from life (e.g. still life, figure drawing, technical drawing) and imaginative work (work that demonstrates combining ideas imaginatively). Some places might request a variety of mediums, and this is often course-dependent - I would expect in your case they would at least expect to see some painting and some drawing, which it sounds like you have. Always read the unique portfolio guidance for the courses you are applying to, as they may suggest other things they'd like to see i.e. they might value seeing large-scale works, or model-making, or whatever else. I would also imagine for a Fine Art course they'd like to see evidence of your understanding of the art world i.e. work that references other artists, or annotations on your work that reference this.

You may also benefit from looking at examples of successful applicant portfolios to the courses you are applying to on Youtube.

Reply 3

Alexis075

Thank u both :biggrin:

I took on ur advice and applied to my first choice and got in :biggrin:

The main difference is that I added some more lesser quality work from my A levels but it showed me working in a variety of mediums! Thank uuu

Reply 4