My HS senior discovered a love of drawing late in the game as a sophomore, and due to a heavy academic school schedule, tracked in a double science program, has been unable to take an art class before this year. DC was allowed to register this year for the high school’s intermediate level art class based on past drawings, but has had no formal training and frankly is behind the curve compared to peers who have had art class for three or more years. DC will be working extra hard to try and pull pieces together that are portfolio worthy in a short amount of time this fall.
DC would like to apply to Pratt (and a few other schools with arts programs), wants to stay in the mid atlantic area (NY - DC) and is interested in 2D / 3D animation, but thus far has mainly only done storyboarding and simple animatic type pieces, and sketching, with some color work on computer. Despite being largely self-taught, DC has some talent and shows promise, but is not a prodigy by any means.
Has a 33 ACT score and a 3.8 WGPA, good extracurriculars in school leadership and clubs, national competitor in non-sports extracurricular, and in the top quarter of senior class thus far. Not sure if any of these things will matter to an art school but hopefully it may help. Will be attending National Portfolio Day this fall and hopefully will get some honest feedback there.
Pratt would be a big stretch for us financially. Is it worth grinding through to apply Early Admission for art schools in the hopes of getting some merit money, or would there still be a chance of merit money if applying Regular Admission (to have more time to firm up the portfolio?).
Any suggestions / resources for guidance as she tries to prepare portfolio pieces would be a big help. Also an honest assessment from current students in an art school / animation program about the level of experience that their classmates brought to the table as new freshmen in an college art or animation major. DC is concerned about not having enough training to even compete for admission but really wants to try…
Your daughter should try and glad you’re going to NPD. She can also get feedback from MCAD. They have an online submission form where you can send in three pieces for feedback. You don’t need to be applying to their school in order to use this. What I’ve been reading (we are going through this too) is the schools do not want to see animation in the portfolio. They want observerations and drawings from life. I’d check out portfolio requirements for each school she is interested in. Good luck
It’s a great site for checking out schools and viewing accepted portfolios and getting feedback on your own.
It’s probably easiest to use the search function for specific schools. You’ll learn a lot just by browsing.
Going to National Portfolio Days will let you see other kids portfolios as well and hopefully your D will get good feedback that will boost her own portfolio. Is it possible to take figure drawing at a near by college?
A good portfolio for CA would have an emphasis on figure drawing, drawings that shows action, quick sketch that shows action. Drawings with perspective. All drawn from life–none from photos.
At NPD you’ll see some portfolios that have won awards etc. (it can be VERY intimidating!) but don’t let that discourage your D. in the least. CA looks for different aspects than that of fine arts.
Computer Animation IS all about computers. There is a lot of art of course but it is computer work in the end and not pencil and paper. That doesn’t always appeal to everyone. Her grades will probably help in gaining merit money.
(Make sure she LOVES art–art schools are 24/7 art–liking to draw is very different than loving to draw).
I personally would spend the extra time working on portfolio rather than applying early.
I’m also a high school senior going into Animation, but I’ve been on the art path for most of high school so I have done quite a bit of research and I’ve gotten the chance to talk to some animators in L.A about portfolio tips. Your daughter’s academic grades definitely would be a boost in terms of her getting a scholarship, but her portfolio would be the deciding factor on getting in.
For portfolio tips, you said she’s mainly only done storyboarding, simple animatic type pieces, sketching, digital art, so I would recommend focusing on life drawings. Especially as a high school student, art schools want to know that you can draw the basics; Hand, feet, animal drawings are really helpful for determining that.
Animation is a bit less… harsh? I guess would be the word, in terms of judging artistic ability compared to other art programs such as illustration, so I don’t think the fact that she started late is necessarily a deterring factor.
Also, you said your daughter was a little late to the game, so you might want to take into consideration that Pratt’s animation program is only 2 years versus a 4 year program.
(If you want, you could always Private Message with portfolio examples.)
Edit: Also, I really agree with what gouf78 said about loving art; art school is an incredible amount of art, draw for hours straight amount of art, so make sure your daughter is sure this is what she’s passionate about.
Also, @ddwang is correct about the amount of sketching and drawing. The advice we’ve heard is have figure drawing experience (you’ll do a lot more in art school, of course, but having the basics down is going to be helpful).
Also, one great thing about Pratt is that they provide a net cost calculator which will show you what to expect for scholarship given your grades, your ACT score, quality of portfolio, state of residence etc. Link is below. The way we used this is that while visiting Pratt at NPD my D asked them to rate her portfolio from a 1 - 4 (the same scale as in the NCC tool ). Based on that info, we knew to expect the presidential scholarship. She had really only gotten serious about art beginning junior year but spent the summer before senior year sweating out the RISD six week program which helped her gain skills and confidence about her work as well as enabled her really to test out a studio program. Had some good portfolio pieces as well
Finally, @proserpine if your DC really thinks that extra time is necessary he/she can always take a gap year and use that extra time to build skill and apply to art school. During the summer 2018 he/she can enroll in a residency program to test out what a BFA studio experience is like as well as use that opportunity to build an awesome portfolio (applications for such will open up as early as this fall but tend to be live by December or January). He/she should continue the enrichment/education throughout the fall up to the time of application. If the pressure to apply to college is off this year, the time can be spent on more exploration and skill building. It’s not a crazy idea, especially given the expected workload. That added year of maturity and certainty that this is the path might pay off big time in, say, completing the BFA in 4 years (many take 5), additional scholarship money due to quality of portfolio, etc.
Whoops! For some reason the above link isn’t working properly. So here is the link to the admissions page - just scroll down to “Important Links” and Click on Freshman Net Cost Calculator:
Here’s advice from a Cal Art’s CA student about portfolios and whether you can start art “late”: (shortened considerably and paraphrased–I tried to post link but it goes to a private blog)
Portfolios for CA:
DO submit life drawings
DO submit gestures
DO submit dynamic poses taken from life (not from photo reference)
DO submit work in a variety of different mediums (pen, pencil, charcoal, conte, etc)
DO submit works of varying lengths (30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes as well as a few longer poses)
DON’T submit cartoons–this means anything that is similar to anime or has a style that has been reproduced rather than showing your own original style.
Suggestions for learning figure drawing: Check community colleges for life drawing. Check the bulletin board at a local art store. Recruit friends and family to sit still while you draw them. Go to the mall or coffee shop and just sketch people. Draw from life because you’ll see how the body moves.:
One best piece of advice that got reiterated but worth repeating when applying to CA…
" This isn’t a program that will teach you how to draw. They’re looking for people who can already draw. This is a program that will teach you how to take your drawing skills and animate with them."
(My note: this is why the best schools for animation require portfolios–they look for artists first. And then DO spend quite a bit of time especially foundation year on ART skills. Good art leads to good animation.
The technical skills you learn that center around computer programs etc will always be continually changing and many top companies have proprietary computer systems/programs anyway–what you bring personally to the table is your art skills)
From the student which answered the “Did you get accepted straight out of HS?”
" I did not go to CalArts straight from high school. There were a few students in my class who did but they were in the minority. A person certainly can already be great at drawing by the end of high school. But most students are served well to get some college-level instruction under their belt. I think the real difference between most high school level art classes and college is figure drawing. In animation, it is really important to understand the body and how it moves and it’s hard to really get that knowledge without studying nudes. Since most high school doesn’t want to be exposing minors to naked people, that’s study that can only be gained through either private study or college classes."
@proserpine
I would say that having no formal training is going to be a problem, both in terms of recruitment (since she just started and has had no formal training, she’s unlikely to have a strong portfolio, as those often take several years to develop) and in terms of figuring out whether she really wants to do that 24/7 and spend her life on it.
(And her strong HS stats only matter as long as she keeps her freshman status - transfers get lousy aid and so transferring would likely means thousands of dollars in scholarships, lost).
Considering how expensive art school is it may be wise to start with a visual arts degree at a LAC that doesnt admit by major, using her excellent stats to get as many scholarships as possible to lower costs, see where it takes her, perhaps pairing that with a minor in something else and then apply to art school for a Master’s degree.
This way, if she changes her mind, she hasn’t lost her freshman status/scholarships, and she can switch easily. And if it confirms to her that she really wants to do art 24/7 she’ll have made that decision based on 4 years of work, not a few months.
One caveat I just thought of - and this is most likely easily avoidable - is that if your DC takes any college level courses before applying or switching to a BFA program, just make sure that he/she doesn’t accumulate enough credits to be inadvertently bumped from “first time in college” to “transfer” status. Not all institutions have merit funds for transfers and the best funding opportunities tend to be reserved for the freshman class anyway. Taking college-level drawing at the local art school or CC will help your DC enormously. If it’s a non-credit (community ed) option, that’s fine. If it’s a non-degree-seeking course that grants transferrable credits, DC may have to report those when applying to a BFA program so you’ll want to make sure he/she is under the “minimum”. Check with the individual colleges of interest to understand their definition of “transfer” vs. “first-time-in-college.”
good news is merit aid is available for those grades. Try VCUARTS , its a stretch in terms of the portfolio but speak with them, visit (Richmond va great small city and the art school has a huge presence. It will be tough at the art school is highly competitive and top ranked. But you never know , so reach out and show serious interest. good luck Also much more reasonable priced than other schools in the top 10 .
). Based on that info, we knew to expect the presidential scholarship. She had really only gotten serious about art beginning junior year but spent the summer before senior year sweating out the RISD six week program which helped her gain skills and confidence about her work as well as enabled her really to test out a studio program. Had some good portfolio pieces as well