Tips for Preparing Your Portfolio

Include observational work

Draw from life whenever possible. Sketch the world around you—it is a personal response to what you are seeing and improves your observational drawing skills. Record your thoughts, concepts, and ideas in a sketchbook, make notes about your ideas, collect colors, textures and images that inspire you.

Create interesting compositions. Don’t put everything in the center of the page. Experiment with different points of view. Think about movement through the page and how we visually enter and exit the composition.

Show a range of skills, subject matter, approaches, and materials

Use different size sketchpads to create compositions that fill the entire page. Investigate how changing scale can impact an image. Show variety in your portfolio with your subject matter, approach and materials. You may include works such as sculpture, printmaking, digital works, collage, painting, drawing, photography, video, etc. Show a wide range of skills.

Include work that says something about you

Include work that is unique to your personal experiences, opinions, ideas and interests. Express these concepts by telling a story with your work.

After you have selected the work for your portfolio, present the pieces to your art teacher, a parent, or a friend. Get feedback on the pieces you have selected. They might see something in your work that you never considered.