Building Your Portfolio

Your portfolio should include no less than 12 and no more than 20 pieces of your original artwork. Please do not send more than 20 pieces. This number will give us enough information to make an accurate assessment of your abilities. We recommend that at least four of those pieces should be drawings from observation. Observational drawings include still life, gesture, or figure drawings, portraits, and landscapes. We encourage you to feature your strongest pieces made in your junior and senior years.

Portfolio pieces can take many forms including (but not limited to) drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, mixed media, found-object pieces, computer-generated works, illustrations, animations, and clay, metal, or glass objects.

Portfolio pieces can take many forms, including (but not limited to):

• Drawings
• Paintings
• Prints
• Photographs
• Sculptures
• Mixed-media or found-object pieces
• Computer-generated works
• Illustrations
• Animations
• Clay, metal, or glass objects

Make an effort not to include work copied from photographs or other published works. These generally do not make strong portfolio pieces. If you use source photos, try not to use them as the sole inspiration for your work. 

The order in which you present your work can have a significant effect on your portfolio review, therefore we suggest you end your presentation with your strongest piece. Keep in mind that relationships in color, media, composition, and concept can link one piece to another and help your portfolio flow in a cohesive manner.