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    College Art Portfolio Advice?

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    • Amelia Bothe
      Amelia Bothe last edited by

      Hello everyone! I am choosing my art portfolio pieces to send off to college in a few days. I am planning to major in Illustration, hopefully children's book illustration. If anyone has any suggestions of which pieces I should include, I would love to hear your feedback. I have a general idea of which pieces i'll be including but an outside perspective would still be extremely helpful! The colleges that I am applying to require 12-20 pieces, but feel free to suggest as many or as few as you'd like. Here are all the pieces that I would consider adding to my portfolio: https://botheamelia.wixsite.com/pixus Thank you!!! : -)

      Pamela Fraley NessIllustration Nyrryl  Cadiz 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • Z
        ZeeZeeMonster last edited by

        @Amelia-Bothe they all look beautiful to me. The only thing I can suggest is that since you want to go into children's book illustration, you might want to pick pieces that look like they could go in a children's book, subject-wise.

        Good luck! You already have great skills.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • KathrynAdebayo
          KathrynAdebayo last edited by

          Hi Amelia! I hope your college application process goes well. 🙂 In my opinion, it would be advantageous to choose pieces that tell a story. I’d also include the piece that shows the bridge and foliage because it shows that you can also draw environments. It seems like it would be great to include at least one piece with a human figure.

          I hope your artist dreams come true!
          🙂

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          • Pamela Fraley
            Pamela Fraley SVS OG @Amelia Bothe last edited by

            @Amelia-Bothe Your art is amazing. I agree with Kathryn. If you're planning in applying for an illustration program, I would focus on story telling pieces. I especially like the mouse attack one that you won an SVS challenge for. Let us know how it goes!

            instagram.com/fraleycreates

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            • NessIllustration
              NessIllustration Pro @Amelia Bothe last edited by

              @Amelia-Bothe Honestly this portfolio seems high enough level to get pro work, so I don't think you have to worry about getting into college with that 🙂 If there's anything I would suggest it's to include variety. I see a lot of animal head portraits in your portfolio, make sure you select pieces that show full body characters, humans as well as animals, and pieces that show background elements. Your work is beautiful, you'll get accepted for sure 🙂

              vanessastoilova.com
              instagram.com/vanessa.stoilova/

              Check out my Youtube channel for tips on how to start your career in illustration! www.youtube.com/c/ArtBusinesswithNess

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • Nyrryl  Cadiz
                Nyrryl Cadiz SVS OG @Amelia Bothe last edited by Nyrryl Cadiz

                @Amelia-Bothe hi, you make amazing work already and your skills are top-notch. Are you sure you want to go to college still? You’ll be spending A LOT of time and money if you do. College isn’t cheap. Are you prepared to be in debt? You’re already an amazing illustrator. If all you want is to get better in illustration perhaps just learn it here, online. If you really want to go to college for the degree though perhaps consider choosing a program that will give you additional skills to supplement illustration like Animation, Graphic Design, or Visual Development. That way you’ll have a lot of skills you can bring to the table and thus, make you more hireable.

                Portfolio: nyrrylcadiz.com
                Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyrryl_cadiz/
                YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbJCF1Im8ZO7hpGWTKOJMuA

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                • ?
                  A Former User last edited by

                  Your art is incredible! I agree that you will definitely get into whatever program that you want- and I was going to add that since your skills are already so honed you should maybe think about minoring/taking a lot of business classes. Since you've got the art part down, it might be more helpful to learn about the part of the career that they don't tend to focus on in art school (small business, organization, etc.) Just a thought!

                  DOTTYP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                  • DOTTYP
                    DOTTYP @Guest last edited by

                    @CaroStoltz Hello Amelia I really love your work ! I am going to have to agree with Nyrryl Cadiz comments. I dont think you need to go to study art you there is not much they got teach you and you will be in debt for a long time. Of course it is your personal choice but your standard is so high any of your pieces could go in a portfolio Good luck with what ever you choose.

                    scribbles.artstation.com
                    www.instagram.com/dottypaints

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                    • burvantill
                      burvantill Moderator last edited by burvantill

                      Your art is gorgeous. After looking at the portfolio images several times, it’s apparent you have drawing animals nailed. The two pieces with humans, (mononoke, and the girl with the blue leopard) are not as strong as your other pieces. Don’t get me wrong, they are still really good, but in relation to YOUR art it seems to me you don’t love drawing people. As others said, you have plenty of great pieces to choose from. These are the ones i would pick,
                      E1CF1081-6B25-42CB-8B9D-FFF292D8E61E.jpeg
                      Just for giggles i would submit your art to publishers too. Just make sure you research the publishers to make sure they are publishing stuff similar to what you do.
                      I love the fox and fiddle images. 👍👍👍

                      Lisa Burvant
                      www.lisaburvant.com
                      Instagram & Twitter & SVS: @burvantill

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • arent-draper
                        arent-draper last edited by

                        You do amazing beautiful artwork!
                        (This is the only advice I can offer and I hope it helps)
                        An Art Director at an SCBWI Conference told me that a Children's Book Portfolio should include children (mine was only animals)

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • KaraDaniel
                          KaraDaniel last edited by

                          Awesome work! You're craft is excellent, I think you should get in anywhere you apply with images like these. Heck you could probably contact publishers and skip the degree if you wanted to lol. I do agree with others that you should have more images of children especially if focusing on children's books but I think you could probably spend your time in school focusing on that because you got animals down for sure! Good luck in your future endeavors!

                          instagram.com/sha_kara
                          karadaniel.net

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