Art college transfer portfolio... critiques, please!!

[magicnmyth]

Hey! I wasn't sure if this should be posted in the sketchbook forum or this forum, but as I would like critique, figured this forum would be appropriate? I'm currently a freshman at MassArt, but working on a portfolio so that I can transfer to RISD or MICA as an Illustration major. Any critiques and advice are greatly appreciated!!

Background: Last year, I got rejected by RISD and Cooper Union, and got into Maine College of art with a scholarship. In November, as a result of National Portfolio day, my portfolio was accepted by MICA, and they said to just work on making it competitive for scholarships. I would love to go to RISD, but as they're stingy with scholarships I want to do whatever I can to improve my portfolio in hopes of getting money from them. Well, and get in, of course... since I'm worried about even getting in >.<! I have until March 1st for MICA and March 15th for RISD to get my art and applications together.

A lot of the work is self portraits (it's much more convenient to draw myself rather than getting someone to pose for me), but I'm working on doing other work to fill in the gaps in my portfolio. hopefully I'll get the opportunity to figure draw this semester, etc.

Additional comments on the art:
- #2: for my "interior or exterior environment" drawing for RISD, which I just finished; not sure if I want to add more detail to the roofs and leafs
- #3 + 4: can't decide whether I like the color or B+W version, but might include them as one piece side by side
- #6: not entirely done, still needs a lot of work on the hand
- #8: not sure if I even want to include this or not?
- #13 + 14: my MICA reviewer said to include these in my portfolio because of the dynamic lines, but I'm not sure if I also should put them in my RISD portfolio (14 won an honorable mention at the Boston Scholastic art awards)

Thanks for looking!!

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[Tully]

For #2, you seem to be going for a bit of an Escher-ish look. I don't know if you need more detail on the roofs-- if it were me, I'd tend to dig up some similar reference from Escher make the shadows darker to give it a more spatial quality.

#3 and #4 - Definitely go with the B&W. No doubt about it. #4 all the way. I wouldn't bother with #3 honestly... it seems a bit superfluous and I don't think the colour adds anything. What I would tend to do is to spend a bit more work and make the black and white one the best it can be. It needs more work below the face. You haven't described the shape of the chin and neck anywhere near as well as you have the shape of the face. The hardness of that jawline is unnatural, and it fades off into grey blobs of texture. A bit more painting... spending time on that area. Find interesting things about it, because if you can't, no one else will be able to either.

#6 - One of the stronger pieces in the portfolio, I think. You're right that more work on the hand would be best -- it looks somewhat jello-ish now. A bit more work to pick out proper anatomy and it'll be a really nice addition. It's definitely coming, though!

#14 - I'd put this one in, definitely. I could take or leave the feet, but the clothes are nice. Mentioning it recieved an honorable mention wouldn't hurt either! It's a nice drawing.

You've got a nice portfolio! I particularly like "eye", "fireflies" and "reaching". You've got some ability, so good luck getting into the program you want so you can make it even better

[Mute]

Wow, alot of these are pretty good! i especially like #1, #5 and #6

I think in alot of your work your lighting is kinda mild. That is to say it seems light is coming from everywhere, and your forms become flat because the light isn't describing them well. Remember your light hierarchy, (highlight, light, midtone, core shadow, shadow, reflected light and cast shadow) and show as many of them on the form as you can to prove that you understand light structure and how it works.

That being said, (and keeping in mind that when constructing a portfolio, less good work is worth more than more mediocre work) I think you should drop some of the harshly lite self portraits and color still lives. I think you could "kill two birds with one stone" by replacing them with one or two traditional still lives. Just afew interesting objects that are well composed, lite well from one side, and well rendered to show you understand light and composition.

Also i think some gesture/full figure poses are in order. Your right that finding people to draw from can be a serious problem, but you gotta have something to show your understanding of rhythm and weight as it relates to the figure. Try getting pictures from the internet as long as they are of a decent resolution, or draw poses from artist you admire. So long as you get something that is head to toe and posing.

Of course, all this information could be useless since i don't really know what that particular school is after and i'm just going from what the school i attend trains you to be able to show.

I think your good, and school is only going to make you better. I wish you the best of luck!

For poses check these sites out:
http://www.female-anatomy-for-artist.com/
http://www.characterdesigns.com/inde...page=photosets

[magicnmyth]

Thank you both very much for taking the time to write out such thoughtful replies! I appreciate it, especially considering I posted so much art.

Also, thank you Elwell for editing my post to make the images show up in the post rather than as attachments. That's what I wanted to do originally, but I couldn't figure out how to... now I do

Tully- Thanks very much for commenting on the images I'm unsure about! Definitely agree with you about the neck on the self portrait and the anatomy on the hand. I'll work on those. The three you mentioned I think are my strongest pieces, too; I hope to do 1 or 2 more like them to add as well. Thanks

Mute- Thanks for telling me things I should work on to improve my portfolio! I agree with you about the lighting (I think that's especially apparent in #2?.. I'll try to fix it). Thanks so much for the links for figure drawings!! I've been drawing pages and pages of gestures from posemaniacs, but these websites you gave me seem to be more helpful to do shaded drawings from, etc. What you said is in line what the RISD and MICA portfolio reviewers told me (importance in figure drawing and still lifes), so it's not useless, and I'll work on it

[magicnmyth]

Just thought I'd update my thread! I made edits to some of the works as suggested, and added in some figure drawings from this semester (I'm taking a figure drawing class and its been SO helpful).

I got into RISD, and will be attending next year! I'm so excited! Thanks for the help