Hello guys! I'm going to start using this blog to post all of the portfolios from the various art schools I'm applying to, as well as some advice for prospective students. There will probably be repeats as I will be reusing pieces for similar art schools. Here's MCAD! Deadline was Dec 1st, which is today. This is the first art college with an actual portfolio that I've applied to. Apps are pretty stressful, but now that one's out of the way, I know how the groove goes better. Hopefully I'll have more experience for other schools.
UPDATE: Accepted for Fall 2014 BFA
ADVICE/THOUGHTS
Being from Minnesota, MCAD is a school that I probably was going to apply for regardless of where I'm going. I've spent a lot of time at MCAD, both in their precollege program and hanging around there a lot, especially recently.
FACILITIES/STUDENT LIFE
That said, I can give comments about the community/student life from a more experienced perspective. MCAD is a really close-knit community, kind of like a small family. It has its pluses and its drawbacks. For one, pretty much everyone knows each other. From my precollege experience, making good friends here will happen very easily. The campus is basically one building that wraps around the campus. It's really nice looking and spacey, and has tons of space for student galleries, and plenty of space for leisure and lounging. I really like it. MCAD's situated in a bit of a shady neighborhood, but it's close to a very great street for dining and shopping. I've got some personal favorite restaurants on Eat Street. Minneapolis is also a pretty hip and hipster town. Lots of really rad people walking about (during the day, at least).
As for facilities, it's really well off for such a small college. I don't know too much about the other majors, but for comic art there's more than enough materials, technology, and programs to satisfy any experimentation you'd want to do there. There's a huge print shop and a special MCAD printing room for students to print their stuff custom. The food's pretty nice too.
INSTRUCTION
The school instruction itself. My experience at Pre College gave me opportunities to connect with working professionals and current students. It was especially helpful in making me understand the industry and where I wanted to go from there. That said, you probably have to find your own grass to eat, like in any art college, you get out of it what you put into it. I think also especially for MCAD, I have a feeling that the workload could be more intense, which can be a drawback. (That's not to say the workload wasn't intense. At precollege I was still working constantly, and I think I probably succeeded going to bed at 11 the first day before it was really midnight and after) That leaves more time to yourself, but what you do with that time is really crucial towards what kind of improvement you want out of this school. I also think they should have more figure drawing (but I'm a pretty big sucker for figure drawing so). It all depends on where you want to take your art. Especially for a school with less of a workload, it really really matters where you choose to allocate your time.
PORTFOLIO PREP
This portfolio is actually buildup for my RISD portfolio. I will most likely be repeating pieces for my RISD portfolio as well. Despite that I still had pressure to finish some things, specifically the required four drawings. I've heard from a friend that they don't focus AS much on the four pieces as your personal work, but it's still a good idea to make everything look as good as possible
For all portfolios, especially for schools who emphasize foundation skills (such as doing traditional drawing/painting studies first year vs getting into your major right away), they want to see how well you would do in those foundation areas, as well as seeing your creative voice. I'd advise a healthy mix of both foundational and creative work. For my portfolio, I included less creative work mostly because I have less completed "creative" pieces I really want to include. It's still very important to show them how good you are with the basic stuff as well as personal extrapolation and interpretation.
Also keep in mind how you structure your portfolio! The ordering can also be a piece in itself. For my portfolio, I structured it so that it could in a way, explain my journey from taking foundation skills and applying my creative voice to it over time, starting from strict observation, to more stylized abstraction, to mostly imaginative work.
For your personal statement, I would advise you to write about something you are really passionate about sharing. I don't think that would be pretty hard if you love art. It's still good to have it reviewed by someone before you submit, for organizational or grammatical errors.
Without further ado, here's my portfolio:
I also had a comic at the end. You can view it on my tumblr
Personal Statement:
Describe how a critique of your work influenced it or made it better.
When I first started taking figure drawing classes half a year ago, I came in with some knowledge of the figure through drawing people from my imagination and from other artist’s work. I felt it would be fairly easy to translate these concepts to the real model. However, coming face to face with a fully lit nude for the first time, I finally understood the daunting complexity of the human figure, regarded as one of the hardest subjects to master.
The first session was frustrating for me. I felt like a dazed tourist careening through a mountain trail. I had no map and to give me a guide to where I was going. The beautiful rhythm of the model’s forms ended up becoming a pile of flat shapes and scribbles when translated by my shaking hand. With trepidation, I showed these first attempts at figure drawing to my teacher, expecting a biting critique. Knowing my teacher, I did get one. But what he said about my figure drawings that day has not only affected the way I approach figure drawing, it was the catalyst to my change in drawing style and philosophy. This advice was almost obvious, yet it made an incredible difference in my art practice.
He told me, simply, to simplify. Each line in a figure drawing, he said, should be there for a reason. The beauty of figure drawing is capturing the most distinctive features of the human body in just the right amount of lines. Every line is important because it is part of this story.
Suddenly, it seemed to click for me. I realized that figure drawing is not only the study of body form, it is more importantly the study of a person’s character. Through these lines you narrate the person’s stance not unlike how a novelist describes their characters through words. From the appearance of their hands and feet, the way they hold themselves, and their facial expression, you uncover to the viewer the distilled essence of the person.
The seemingly infinite complexity of the figure was broken down before my eyes into a straightforward chronology of elements. First start with the line which holds most importance to the movement, then add the next important lines, until the idea of the character can be seen, then add in the detail.
Ever since this realization, I’ve come to see commonality in these concepts not only in figure drawing, but also in my personal work through character design, observed drawings, and sequential art. When I approach art, I no longer begin by seeing what I should put in, instead I start by determining what I should take out. Characters I create must be immediately recognizable by simple shapes. My linework should be to the point and as clear as possible. I’ve made it a regular practice now to try to draw everything in the least amount of lines and colors as possible. I’ve learned that while detail is important and hard to master, calculated simplification can be just as a difficult and commendable of skill to have. Although this knowledge of simplification has been in my subconscious, my teacher’s critique of my figure drawings brought it to the focus of my practice, which I continually strive to achieve today.
