HighSchool student, folio advice

[Moe216]

Hi, I am a high school senior and I'm looking to get into an art school for graphic design. Unfortunatley there is a problem. My problem is that I would like to apply for SVA early decision and that is due by dec 1st. I handed in the application and my only problem is my portfolio. For some reason because I was never told otherwise and my school did not have a dedicated art program till this year, I was mainly concentrating on computer generated work. I thought that if I wanted to get into a GD program the school wanted to see what kind of graphic design skills I had. Then after calling up SVA I found out that they wanted drawing from observation and foundation arts and minimal comp generated art. That is a problem for me because I have about 5 days to get that done to make it by the early decision deadline. Any help at all. Also I am thinking about applying to Parsons, PRATT, the LIU media arts program, and unfortunately the art institute of NY as a backup. I'd like feedback on those schools. I want to get a BFA in graphic design/advertising or just GD but I want to stay in the city. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

btw i accidentally posted this in the off topic section as well. Can someone please delete it from their.

[budafist]

My advice to you is to plan out how many pieces you need for your portfolio, what they should be eg. flyer design, life drawing piece, packaging design etc. Then review what work you already have.

What pieces you are lacking, see if you can update existing work to fit into the portfolio, otherwise get working! 5 days is enoug time to do 5 new pieces of design if that is what you need.

[tZ]

Well welcome first off.

Secondly, this might be a bit blunt but, if you absolutely need a portfolio then I would recommend setting up some still lives and drawing. SVA is one of the more difficult schools to be accepted to. So if the portfolio is required then I would recommend trying your best to put something together. Sorry… but there isn't much more positive things I can say on that end. If you have ever used charcoal then based purely on the objective and time frame its probably the best medium to cram out some observational studies quickly. Another tip is to place semi-finished works into the portfolio that capture the proportion of objects and their spatial relationship to others on the page that have little value. The college will be concerned with your ability to understand basic spatial and proportional relationships among most other things. So take that into consideration when creating work for it and budgeting your time. It truly is a lot to handle to a senior in highschool with such little time and I wish I could offer better advice but, thats really all I have under the circumstances. I'm sure other schools would be a lot more forgiving if your GPA and Test scores were pretty good though. Some art schools don't even require a portfolio but, its optional.

[PrintDriver]

It's a common misconception that someone 'should tell you otherwise'. It's up to you as an adult to determine the requirements you need to meet to get through life from now on. You should have been checking out schools in your junior year, visiting, taking tours, checking out requirements.

It's also a misconception that in order to get into a GD program you have to know the computer programs and show proficiency in them. Not true. I love an art school that requires what some GDs have come to consider the more mundane art of hand drawing. If you can't at least sketch out your ideas, you will be limited in what you can produce on a computer. It's not the computer that makes you a graphic artist. I don't know anything about SVA but if it is a high ranking design school, re-think rushing your portfolio.

If your heart is set on SVA, when is the regular enrollment deadline? Do you have to apply for early decision? If your school now has an art program, use the extra time to get some input from the art instructor on your work. Less than a week (where have you been all Thanksgiving vacation?) is not really enough time for a tyro to bang out an art portolio - unless you really do have the drawing ability already and can just bang it out.

Good luck.

[morea]

good advice, everybody.

Moe, check out our "frequently discussed topics" thread for more information about education and careers in GD, choosing a school, and also some good tips on portfolio building. You'll find that thread here (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7892).

[Drazan]

Five days. That is not a lot of time at all. However, if you want it bad enough - go for it.

I hope you have some skills at drawing already. Else this will be a near impossible task to complete. The fundamentals of traditional drawing, perspective, and theory are essential in design.

There's a thread a while back that many here chimed in on drawing in the real world. Clicky. (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22277) I've seen a few designers now that don't draw, or illustrate and they are very limited. I'm the person of the team that will do the illustration for their projects.

Good luck. and if you want feed back you can post in the showcase section of the forum.

Jade

[Moe216]

Wow I got a lot of good replies pretty quick. So someone told me that maybe I shouldn't rush my portfolio and just go for regular admission instead of early decision. Im actually seriously considering that right now. At the same time though applying early gives me an advantage that I think I might need. I talked to the SVA head and I was told they want minimal comp generated art and more drawign from observation and basic skills. I love to draw but when I draw it's more comic like, exaggerated, cartoony so when I draw from observation I tend to have a little trouble. I'm going to talk to the art teachers in my school and see if I can work with them to come up with more pieces for my portfolio.

[tZ]

Thats a good idea.

Your already thinking like a designer.

[budafist]

Oh, go for regular decision then. But start your portfolio now!

[Moe216]

I'm going to talk to an art teacher in my school that graduated from SVA. Hopefully she can give me some good advice. Any suggestions for good projects to put in a portfolio?

[tZ]

Take common items like bottles without much detail and draw them with a pencil focusing on their proportion. Your only concern should be representing the basic proportions of the object accurately. These should be just line drawings that capture proportions of the objects your drawing and nothing more(shading, value,etc.)

[morea]

I'm going to talk to an art teacher in my school that graduated from SVA. Hopefully she can give me some good advice. Any suggestions for good projects to put in a portfolio?

Moe, check out our "frequently discussed topics" thread for more information about education and careers in GD, choosing a school, and also some good tips on portfolio building. You'll find that thread here (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7892).

is this thing on?

[PrintDriver]

LOL, Morea!

Moe, so you have a resource you know about, have known about, and are only now taking advantage of??? Did you know that Graphic Design is a deadline oriented career?:p