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(click to scroll down)Written with Laura Young, Director of Enrollment Management at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, with special thanks to Chris Andersson (former Director of Admissions for Drama department at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and founder of NothingButDrama.com), and Clara Lieu (Adjunct Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design & Partner at Artprof.org. You can also check out the Art Prof YouTube channel).
This section was primarily written by Laura Young, Director of Enrollment Management at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture because she talks about this stuff pretty much all day every day. But I’ve got firsthand experience creating art in both the liberal arts and conservatory environments, so this topic is close to my heart too. (I majored in Performance Studies at Northwestern, then received an MFA in Acting from UC Irvine.)
Laura was my guest on the College Essay Guy podcast episode 113, Debunking the Myth of the Starving Artist.
In this post, we cover:
Why is art-making important?
What marketable skills can an art major help me develop?
What are my options when it comes to studying arts in college?
Values-based questions for art-makers to consider when choosing a college
Essential tips for portfolios and auditions
Essential Tips for Creating a Great Art Portfolio
So you want to major in the arts? Awesome. Creativity is an amazing superpower and it’s in high demand across industries. Unfortunately, time-worn, centuries-old cultural messages (and the media) tell us things like:
Artists are starving.
Artists don’t make any money.
Artists struggle all the time.
The only way to be successful is to be famous.
If you aren’t famous, it’s straight to the basement for you and there’s absolutely no in-between.
But you know what? Most working artists aren’t visible to you. They’re out in the world, leading normal lives that include family life, travel, hobbies, etc. Take a look at the credits in a movie, for instance. All those special effects people, dialect coaches, composers, stunt doubles, set dressers, costume designers are non-famous artists making a living by putting their talents to work.
Why is art-making important?
The arts are essential to a meaningful life. Sometimes creativity is in your face, like an amazing new musician or an A-list actor. More often it’s a subtle experience, like restaurant lighting that’s just bright enough for you to see your friend across the table, but low enough to feel private. Or a floral arrangement that looks both elegant and organic. Or a building that makes you want to walk inside.
The arts invite us to look at the world differently, to consider other perspectives, and to feel like someone else out there understands you.
Part of what an artist can do is communicate an idea or share an experience that helps us feel less alone. In an increasingly commodified world, knowing how to create an individualized experience is and will continue to be an incredibly important--and robot-proof--skill.
What kinds of marketable skills can art-making help you develop?
There are many, but a few include:
Critical thinking: Artists are trained to drill down into ideas, to think about different perspectives and approaches after most people have stopped.
Empathy: When an artist wants to communicate ideas, it can be helpful to deeply inhabit the experiences of others--something artists practice all the time.
Project Management: Many artists can see both details and the big picture. This skill helps a person work alone without supervision, collaborate as part of a team, or lead a group of people towards a common goal.
In short, the arts are essential, valuable, and a perfectly valid college major.
What are my options when it comes to studying art in college?
You might consider:
Liberal arts colleges and universities
These schools are public or private, and offer a full range of majors in addition to the arts. If you want to double major or minor in a non-arts area, you can. If you want the full college experience with student groups, athletics, Greek life, and traditions like undie runs, you got it. If you come in as an arts major and then decide you’d rather study microbiology, you can switch your major without switching schools.
Some liberal arts colleges and universities offer professional programs for the arts with more rigorous arts curricula and separate admission requirements. But you can get the best of both worlds: high quality, intimate arts programs with all the benefits of a college experience.
Visual and/or performing arts schools
The majority of these institutions are private with a few public exceptions, and all degree majors are in creative areas. If you came from a high school where artists were in the minority, you’ll get the experience of being surrounded by *your* people at these schools. In most cases, you’ll still be expected to complete academic courses, but the classes are typically smaller and the content may be tailored to artists.
Conservatories
Most arts programs are looking for potential from a prospective student, but conservatory programs seek a high level of polish. Conservatories seek to preserve and perfect the art of dance, theater, or music. Beyond baccalaureate and advanced degrees, they sometimes offer artist diplomas, a specialized program for extremely high level performers.
Community colleges
If you want more time to explore your options, a clean academic slate from high school, to save money to transfer later--or if you aren’t interested in a baccalaureate degree--community colleges can support you in lots of ways. Some campuses offer stronger arts programs than others, which is important if you want to transfer smoothly to a four-year school. You’ll want to work with your destination institution to prepare and be sure to ask your community college counselor for guidance.
Vocational schools
These are for students who prioritize gaining technical experience targeted at entering the workforce (usually in areas like film editing, special effects, makeup, sound engineering, etc.). Heads-up that credits offered at these schools are sometimes proprietary, meaning that credits may not transfer and you may have to start from square one.
Values-based questions for art-makers to consider when choosing a college
How large of a community am I seeking?
Some people feel invigorated by a bigger campus where they can come into contact with lots of people studying a variety of topics. Others feel more engaged on smaller, more intimate campuses. The student body at an art school may be as small as a few hundred people.
How important to me is mentorship?
Ask about the student-to-instructor ratio in your studio areas. (I know I told you in the interview guide not to ask this, but this is an exception, as the answer may be different for specific arts disciplines.)
Music majors sometimes have 1-on-1 lessons with their faculty, which is about as intimate as you can get! Especially ask when looking at arts programs on university campuses.
Classes outside of the arts in university art programs might have bigger class sizes, while the arts classes will often be smaller to facilitate relationship-building and critique. So if you’re looking into universities, be sure to ask about class size in your intended major.
Will the resources and facilities support my creative development?
If you’re a sculptor looking to pour bronze, for example, ask if the school has a foundry. And do ask about research resources; not everything is on the internet, so things like slide libraries, music archives, and print collections are still extremely relevant to you as a young artist.
How important to the school are your grades in non-arts-related classes?
Some schools care more about the non-arts portion of your application than others. More conservative schools may even overlook the many different rigors of making art-- including the academic and intellectual labor behind your process--by excluding your work from their definition of “academic.” How much weight does your portfolio carry in admission decisions? Who is involved in the selection process (faculty, admission counselors, etc.)?
Essential Tips for Crushing Your Audition
By Chris Andersson, former Director of Admissions for the Drama department at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and founder of NothingButDrama.com
Find material you love.
If you can’t wait to get in that room and share your monologue, song, design project, or director’s notebook with your evaluator, then that’s the material you should present. Loving your material will make the artistic review so much more enjoyable for both you and your evaluator. Remember, you’re sharing something you love with people who love it, too. It’s a win-win!
Organize like crazy.
Performing arts schools often have many more program-specific requirements—so many it can be hard to remember them all.
Start a spreadsheet to track things like: when pre-screen submissions are due (if required); when and where auditions are offered; how long monologues and songs need to be and what parameters they must meet; whether the school requires a dance call; what must be included in a directing, design, or stage management portfolio; whether the artistic review includes a conversation component. Then double-check all the information.
The clearer you are on which tasks need to be done by when, the more relaxed you’ll be throughout the process. Disorder and confusion result in unnecessary stress, making the process harder on everyone involved. Not following all directions might even forfeit your application. Do yourself a favor: make a spreadsheet.
Research, research, research.
Knowledge is power, right? Research will help you better understand specific programs and drama school as a whole. It will help you clarify exactly what kind of program you’re looking for and where you might thrive.
Learn about the department’s mission, curriculum, faculty, production season, student experience—anything you can find. Your research will also serve you in the artistic review if interviewers ask why you’re interested in their program. You’ll be able to answer precisely why you love their department, which is almost always impressive to the evaluator, and maybe even come up with some great questions for them.
Note from Ethan: When Yale Drama asked me at my final audition if I had any questions for them about their program I was like, “Nope!” Cue awkward silence. Cut to me not getting into Yale Drama.
Have fun!
Here’s a trick: look at your fellow applicants not as competition, but as future colleagues. Talk to people. Make new friends. You just might end up in the same program! Keeping a positive attitude will serve you well by making the application experience more pleasant. Having said that...
Take solo time when you need it.
If you’re someone who needs some private time before your audition, find a corner or a hallway, away from the crowd, where you can focus and concentrate on what you need to do. You’ll feel better and more confident when you go into the audition room. You can socialize once you come out!
Essential Tips for Creating a Great Art Portfolio
By Clara Lieu, Adjunct Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design & Partner at Artprof.org
An art portfolio takes a long time to prepare.
Preparing a portfolio for college admission is not a casual undertaking; it’s common for high school students to underestimate how much time and labor is involved. For most students it takes several months, even up to a year to create a portfolio.
Create more artwork than what the application requires.
Even if the portfolio requires 15 artworks, aim to create between 30-40 artworks. The quality of your work will progress tremendously and you’ll have many more pieces to choose from. You’ll be able to weed out the weaker pieces later and emphasize only your best work.
Some schools have their own prompts and requirements.
For example, one art school has a sketchbook requirement, while others provide a different required prompt every year on top of the portfolio.
Drawing from life is really important.
The vast majority of high school students draw exclusively from photos they find online, which causes them to develop all sorts of bad drawing habits. Drawing from life is more challenging and time consuming, but you’ll reap tremendous rewards from the experience and develop excellent drawing habits.
Have a wide variety of subject matter.
Admission officers don’t want to see a portfolio of twenty self-portraits. The most obvious subjects are traditional ones such as figures, self-portraits, still lifes, landscapes, interior spaces, architectural spaces. Don’t stop there though; there are so many other subjects you could address such as character design, abstraction, industrial design, editorial illustration, architecture, typography, urban sketching, political art, poster design, book covers, and more!
A portfolio does not need to represent your intended major.
Many students worry that having no artworks in their intended major will work against them when in fact, it doesn’t at all. You could have every intention of majoring in architecture, not have a single architectural model in your portfolio, and still be a really strong candidate. If you want to major in graphic design and have some experience in that area, you can include perhaps 2-3 graphic design pieces.
Avoid clichés in your artwork.
Take the initiative to create artworks that demonstrate your thinking process, and push beyond literal clichés. For example, if you are given a prompt called “time,” many students will respond with an image of a watch, clock, or hourglass. Throw those out and find an uncommon connection.
Brainstorm so you can express your own point of view.
Brainstorming takes time, work, initiative, and intent. Aim to express an opinion, a narrative, a mood, an emotion, etc. in your artworks. Show intellectual or emotional engagement with your subject matter beyond visual eye candy or a mindless technical exercise. Choose themes and subjects that excite you and show why.
Include a sketchbook spread.
It’s a good idea to show an image or two of a sketchbook spread. The advantage of showing a sketchbook spread is that it’s an opportunity for you to demonstrate your thinking, sketching, and brainstorming process in its raw, unedited form.
The way you present your artwork matters.
Neat presentation is really important; this means no dirty fingerprints, no ripped edges, no tape hanging off the side, etc. The same drawing presented neatly vs. messily can make or break the impression your artwork gives.
Bring your artwork to a full completion.
Many portfolio pieces by high school students are only about 50% finished, and have big problems like glaringly empty backgrounds and a lack of refinement and detail. Sometimes the difference really is one extra hour of work to fill in those gaps.
Show a wide range of art media.
This is your chance to show you are skilled in more than one medium. Many people equate drawing with a pencil, but so many more drawing media are out there: crayons, conte crayons, markers, soft pastels, oil pastels, etc. Include drawings, photography, paintings, sculptures, mixed media, collages, digital media, animation, printmaking, clay, video, installation, and more.
Drawings in traditional media are the core of your portfolio.
You might have 15 digital paintings displaying impressive technical skill, but none of that will matter if you have poor drawings in traditional media. Drawing is not about just copying a photograph as accurately as possible. What can you express through drawing that a camera can’t reproduce?
Excellent photographs of your artwork are critical.
A poor photograph is distracting and can really make or break an admission officer’s initial reaction to the piece. Shooting high quality photographs is time consuming and requires lots of advance planning. Don’t leave this task until the last minute!
Get feedback from an art teacher or professional artist.
Many students do not seek out feedback and help on their portfolios. All artists, even professionals, can get stuck in their own heads; feedback from outside viewers can be an extremely valuable part of art-making that can help you progress as an artist.
Attend National Portfolio Day.
National Portfolio Day is basically a college fair where representatives from art schools and colleges with art programs are available to critique your portfolio in person. Go fall of your junior year just to get a feel for things, then go again during fall of your senior year. Be ready for very long lines and huge crowds, especially at the top schools. Brace yourself for the possibility of harsh words, rushed comments, reviews that only last for a few minutes. But don’t be discouraged if you get a tough critique or a rude comment!
