You need a portfolio. You’ll need to fill it with work you like, that represents your personal style, that’s neat and clean and each piece has been given attention to detail. You need to create a body of work that you feel is something worth sharing. And one last thing– it needs to speak for itself; when you hand your portfolio over for review, your portfolio should do the talking for you.

I spent 5 hours reviewing portfolios yesterday at National Portfolio Day held at Purchase Collage, State University of New York. [Did you know that Edie Falco, Stanley Tucci and Wesley Snipes graduated from SUNY Purchase?]

52 schools participated in the Portfolio Review. Each had a number of tables and reviewers representing their school. My school, Rhode Island School of Design, had 7 reviewers, 5 of them (including myself) were alums that volunteered for the day.

I know that 2 things are important to RISD admissions when they’re looking at a applicants’ portfolio. They like to see drawing from life and critical thinking. The first is pretty straightforward– draw a lot of people (and yes, it is good to take ‘Drawing from Life’ classes and draw nude people because it is far more educational to see the whole body). Pull out a couple of your best drawings and add them to your portfolio.

Critical thinking is hard to classify. It’s not necessarily literal– showing your thought process– but good art is about making choices. I think it’s closely linked to your personal style– and that makes me think about skill. You need to find a balance between having a style and limiting yourself to the style you’ve created. Especially if you’re beginning your art career, because as you mature as an artist your style will evolve.

When I applied to art schools I didn’t know about National Portfolio Day, and boy, my portfolio sure could have used a critique. And I guess it was ok, because I did get into art school, but I’d be far less embarrassed of it if it wasn’t horrible work. So I guess I showed critical thinking somehow…or my 3 required drawings must have been something truly special.

P.S. If you want to post a question, I’ll do my best to answer it.