In terms of art-specialized studying, a portfolio is deemed a set of works that demonstrates the advancement of specifically skilled expertise throughout a particular time duration. It indicates the creative and personal abilities and a motivation factor, and it also evaluates your qualified competence.
This is a core tool by which any evaluation commission members of the arts college assess talents and skills sufficient for the art community. A successful portfolio for art school shall discover you as a skillful artist with a specific point of view and provide evidence of the capabilities for creative activities.
This file is a key aspect upon which the art school evaluation committee decides on your acceptance, to the extent it is considered by default and without any interview step.
The additional crucial function of the portfolio for schools of arts focusing on the list of your works should not be flat and ordinary. While investigating your skill-analyzed doc, the experienced evaluator or educator could discover your progress, creativity dynamics from an initial idea to its final implementation.
Key points to be considered in your portfolio for art school
Main recommendations outlined by the superior art-specialized schools stress that this self-presentation item is unique and open-minded because it distinguishes the expanded history of your art deliverables and shows your art searches. Moreover, the evaluator who looks through your portfolio must feel your experience and detect a path for your self-improvement and readiness for forwarding development.
Please follow the steps listed below to create a portfolio that satisfies all demands for any art school:
- Write down benchmarks and precise demands for the candidates of all art- or design-specialized schools that you have designated as goals for entering and applying your web-portfolio. The list of preconditions should contain a simplified database including the information on
- open days and times of the selected art educational institutions,
- deadlines set for your portfolio-typed application submission,
- specs for size, scope, and format of works,
- a precondition regarding the finished works or the mix of drafts, designs, and the final pieces of work,
- file format acceptable for submission (digital items, slides, colored copies, photos, or authentic art objects),
- labels, if any,
- particular restrictions for foreign or international candidates if you wish to enter European or Asian art schools,
- submission requirements dedicated to the distribution ways like email, post, hand-delivery, or by filling the particular online form,
- supporting materials like motivation letters, essays, or some other written applications.
- Review the already existing examples drafted by the former students. This review helps you to get the visual realization of the expectations of the art educator. The best solution is to get acquainted with the real free-accessed deliverables of the students kept on the servers of the educational institution libraries.
- Visit open days even if they are conducted in the online format. The open days are a perfect time to get familiar with the selection process and investigate whether the art school meets all your needs.
- Think over your art-targeted portfolio for a concrete school. You should sum up a set of the recently visual-tangible or intangible works finished for the last two or three years that:
- avoid the patterns and the common design approaches;
- keep it simple. This may concern colors, lines, objects, or graphics;
- mix styles, art methods, and formats;
- demonstrate balance and esthetics;
- strike out a line of your own, i.e. be free and innovative when expressing your artworks;
- show passion, persistence, and enthusiasm;
- modify your portfolio time-after-time following the specific prerequisites of the particular art education institutions.
- Check your drafted portfolio up. You need to perform the prior review of your portfolio-typed file before its presentation. It helps to find some minor mistakes or inaccuracies. So, you must never stand over the last step of its preparation. To simplify this activity, you may draw up a relevant checklist beforehand.
- Handle your art portfolio for independent appraisal view by the school stakeholders. The portfolio-related presenting activities are a very serious thing for the art school. Organizing and posting the final variant tackles directly the issues regarding how your works are realized. A good design helps to go back to your composition and coherence approaches. It shows your ambitions and affords to be a part of the art-specialized university or college community, leaving positive and remarkable impressions.
- Ask for professional assistance for creating the online portfolio. If you feel difficulties executing items 5 to 6 and do not classify yourself as a good UI specialist, you should not panic. You may appeal to the professional UI/UX designers who will assist you with the correct online portfolio creation.
Secrets for the acknowledged online portfolio
In general point of view, the portfolio is a sort of doc similar to a CV. However, this statement is not thoroughly accurate. An online portfolio is a comprehensive demonstration of your exact skills, especially when your occupation is connected with specific fields like art, ICT, engineering, architecture, etc.
Today’s IT rapid growth and remote employment and education activities have changed the portfolio format requirements and made them more updated. For instance, a growing number of art schools are keen on the new technologies combined with the classic arts. So, you will definitely receive advantages among the other candidates if you present an extraordinary and innovative online-format portfolio. However, to create a successful website-typed portfolio of artworks and host it online, you must keep in mind some secrets for your perfect portfolio content.
- Wisely select the works to be embedded into the web-portfolio. The most common mistaken belief of the junior art candidates is wishing to present a large selection of works. However, such an approach is overestimated. You need to select only those works which are doubtless, discover your strengths, and present hard skills. Do not classify your work chronologically. The beginning and ending parts should contain incredibly strong work. The middle part may consist of some experimental and unfinished drafts, which, in general, create the whole picture of your creative progress.
- Realize more, read less. A structure should be considered thoroughly; it must have a logical sense and be easy-to-realize. Keep in mind that the art-typed portfolio is the history of your creative searches and results but not of your life achievements, theoretical knowledge, or hobbies. To be sure of the visual effects, you may give it to experts, or even friends, for the critical and objective assessments of its web-design.
- Update a portfolio-typed file. The online portfolio needs to get regular updates because of the advanced technologies, your creative progress, and experience enhancement. The updated version determines to what extent your thoughts and ideas could be treated as innovative and contrastive. It shows authenticity, imagination, and drive to the arts.
Nevertheless, online portfolio creation needs a defined scope of HTML-related knowledge, and not every young artist could have them. So, you may appeal to us to request the creation of the individual art portfolio-typed website highlighting your best works and skills.