Advice on a drawing portfolio for Uni

Stormshadow130

Hi there! I am currently on a level 3 games development course at college and hope to progress to university after this course (currently almost halfway through my first year). I need to desperately start working on a traditional art portfolio; drawing in particular.  I have been to multiple Uni open-days for Game Art, and have been informed that they want to see 'potential' in the portfolio. I am confused as to how much potential, Uni's are looking for and for that reason, I am feeling slightly alone. I thought Polycount could give me some advice because I have heard this forum mentioned before. Apologies if this isn't in the correct place and I hope you all have a brilliant day/night

Alex_J

This is a common question and if you spend some time searching this forum you'll find tons of great advice over the years and recently too. Most of the experienced professionals are generally saying the same thing. My paraphrase would be : not potential, you need to show aptitude. If you have potential but another candidate has aptitude, why take a risk?

Stormshadow130

BIGTIMEMASTER said:

This is a common question and if you spend some time searching this forum you'll find tons of great advice over the years and recently too. Most of the experienced professionals are generally saying the same thing. My paraphrase would be : not potential, you need to show aptitude. If you have potential but another candidate has aptitude, why take a risk?

Thanks for the reply. I will have a look around on the forum!

Brian "Panda" Choi

@Stormshadow130
What do you have right now?  It'll be hard to tell how much or what work you need to do  without knowing what you've done.

Also, did THEY say they want fine art foundation pieces or are YOU thinking it will help?

And which uni's are you looking at, mate?

Stormshadow130

Brian "Panda" Choi said:

@Stormshadow130
What do you have right now?  It'll be hard to tell how much or what work you need to do  without knowing what you've done.

Also, did THEY say they want fine art foundation pieces or are YOU thinking it will help?

And which uni's are you looking at, mate?

Hi Brian, I currently don't have a whole lot. I've got a few life drawing pieces (which is something which I will be able to do weekly until I leave my current course) and a sketch of some objects. My plan for my portfolio is to create a series of sketches looking at the anatomy of the human body (in sections), have a bunch of drawings of posed people, then some object drawing. 

The two Uni's I visited were De Montfort University and Hertfordshire University, I loved both. DMU seem to want a portfolio which is strictly traditional art, and what I could gather from Hertfordshire is that they want the same, but don't mind it if I put my 3D portfolio in as well.

Brian "Panda" Choi

May we see these life drawing pieces?  You'd be surprised what you can learn from just drawings about how someone works.

Getting strong foundational pieces done for your portfolio is a generally good aim.  Figure drawing, life drawings, still lifes, etc.

You probably will want to get specific from each program by reaching out to them and asking to what degree dot hey need to see traditional art proficiency.  Neil Gallagher at the Hertfordshire program would be a person to find; I've visted and worked with their students before.

Stormshadow130

I've only just started the life drawing class and haven't produced the best work, but here they are. I know a couple of them don't show too well because I used a graphite pencil. I hadn't actually drawn any humans with reference before, so I felt that I did quite well - especially using charcoal (first time too). I know I need to work on proportions, I intend on improving. This is pretty much what stemmed my question. I know these pieces aren't good enough to put on a PF, but they do show potential in a small way. 

You do bring up a good point about trying to reach out to the Uni's themselves.

Hope you have a wonderful new year and thank you for taking the time to actually bother with me, lol.

Brian "Panda" Choi

The biggest issue I eee with all your drawings is that you're not drawing through or using construction shapes.

sacboi

Your drawings definitely show promise and needless too say with practice progression will eventually develop over time. In my opinion you've already at this very early stage able to interpret nude figures via a key foundational tenet, Observation which is extremely challenging for a novice let alone for someone more experienced. Though obviously, yes, proportionally slightly off but again due diligence in your craft through constant refining of technique plus other artistic facets, a level of competency is certainly achievable.

Also one other thing, when you next attend class, here's a tip initially learnt when I'd first started out:

- Now throughout the separate drawing sessions try squinting at the subject, never the canvas or paper because it will remove mistakes.

- This exercise will essentially simplify what the eye observes, down to a kind of filtered monochromatic aspect where light and dark values are easier to distinguish whilst out of focus and reducing the amount of light entering the eye. 

Anyway best wishes for your Uni application, hope everything goes well and likewise have a safe prosperous new year.                 

Stormshadow130

sacboi said:

Your drawings definitely show promise and needless too say with practice progression will eventually develop over time. In my opinion you've already at this very early stage able to interpret nude figures via a key foundational tenet, Observation which is extremely challenging for a novice let alone for someone more experienced. Though obviously, yes, proportionally slightly off but again due diligence in your craft through constant refining of technique plus other artistic facets, a level of competency is certainly achievable.

Also one other thing, when you next attend class, here's a tip initially learnt when I'd first started out:

- Now throughout the separate drawing sessions try squinting at the subject, never the canvas or paper because it will remove mistakes.

- This exercise will essentially simplify what the eye observes, down to a kind of filtered monochromatic aspect where light and dark values are easier to distinguish whilst out of focus and reducing the amount of light entering the eye. 

Anyway best wishes for your Uni application, hope everything goes well and likewise have a safe prosperous new year.                 

Thank you so much for the advice, I will be sure to try it the next time I am in a lesson. Same to you