The Art of Q

[Green-Shirt Q]

Hey folks! I need your help. I gotta University Application that requires a portfolio, which requires 3 pieces of Art (this includes sketches or computer art or sculptures or whatever). I got a huge blacklog of webcomics I was planning to go through to get some good art out of (where no art was plagerized) but I also got these fine pieces of art from my sketch book, which I have cleaned up on the computer. Help me pick three!

Goth Princess
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/Qpozz/Pic1resampled.png

Two Madmen Walk into a Bar
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/Qpozz/Pic23resampled.png

Luck of the Draw
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/Qpozz/Pic5resampled.png

The Adventuring Party Finds New Weapons
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh230/Qpozz/Pic4resampled.png

For the record, my name is Nathanael Azevedo and I drew all these. I forgot to sign any of them. :smallfrown:

[GrlumpTheElder]

My favourite is definitely Luck of the Draw, and The Adventuring Party Finds New Weapons comes a close second. Seriously, use these two. As for the third, I feel Goth Princess would be a good choice. Shows a female character, where as the rest are all male.

Out of interest, where are you applying to?

[Green-Shirt Q]

My favourite is definitely Luck of the Draw, and The Adventuring Party Finds New Weapons comes a close second. Seriously, use these two. As for the third, I feel Goth Princess would be a good choice. Shows a female character, where as the rest are all male.

Out of interest, where are you applying to?

I'm applying to Ryerson University for their pretigious and competitive Film Studies class, which is what I'm putting together the portfolio for, and if I don't make it I'm going to York University.

[Domochevsky]

Film studies, hm? shouldn't your art be more film related then? Panels, setups, scene setting and story progression from scene to scene. :smallsmile:

[Green-Shirt Q]

Film studies, hm? shouldn't your art be more film related then? Panels, setups, scene setting and story progression from scene to scene. :smallsmile:

You'd think, right? However, there's nothing outright saying that it needs to be that. Just art. Plain and simple.

For Film Studies, however, I also gotta provide a 90 second short film featuring a change of some sort, in addition to artwork. I'm already working on this.

I figured, since the requirements of the portfolio don't specifically state it needs to be film related, and in my opinion planning a film out in art from is freaking difficult, I figured to just make regular artwork.

[Mazeburn]

I've just finished a course which was basically a film course (3D animation, but it was similar) and we had to give portfolio work. I'd actually recommend getting some life drawing in there; I know it's not the most fun, but it's something they usually look for. If you can't find a class, try reference photos; don't bother doing really long observed pieces, limit yourself to 5/10 minutes and include the best. You can produce quite a lot of work quite quickly this way, and it might be more the sort of thing they're wanting to see. Alternatively, you could sketch stills you like from movies; it'll show you've got a good eye for shot. But best, I imagine, is to put a mix of your creative work like this and some observed stuff.

Good luck! :smallsmile:

[Saeyan]

I don't know how competitive admissions is and how much weight they put on the portfolio (as opposed to the short film), but I think you should not put any of these in (possibly "Adventuring Party" if you must) and get some life drawing done ASAP. I would especially recommend figure drawing (longer, more detailed poses)/gesture drawing (short, loose drawings to get the essence of a pose - may be more relevant to your course, applicable to storyboarding).

I didn't apply to art schools, but sent portfolios to the art departments at some regular universities. I included 5 pieces of personal, "creative" work and 5 "regular", more technical (and boring) pieces.

For your case, maybe one creative, one to show that you have an eye for angles/lighting/whatever film studies looks for (don't know much about it, sorry) and one technical life study.

[Green-Shirt Q]

Well, after this advice, I think I'll head back to the drawing board to try it out. I've never really been too good at drawing angles and shots or real life stuff (not even entirely sure what "life drawing" is) but I'll give it a shot pretty soon. Then bring it over here for you all to see.

In the mean time, you all can appreciate/ critique my art on it's own merits.

[Mazeburn]

Life drawing is... drawing from life. :smallsmile: Living people, usually or animals. There's a couple of different kinds. The one you usually see is figure drawing, which is usually a more detailed sketch capturing form and shadow of a model. Observational drawing is using an object instead.

Example (not by me!):
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aopLRgv-Dlo/TQZTmHQUCHI/AAAAAAAABB4/H-ztf43tq-Q/s1600/ron-figure-drawing.jpg

There's also gesture drawing, often used by animators and storyboard artists as practise, which captures the dynamics and shape of a model, who usually goes through a sequence of actions doing short poses in between (eg, throwing a ball - pose before, pose during, pose after). I've done way more of this, it's a lot more fun and sometimes really hectic (when you get down to ten seconds per pose, for instance!). This is more the sort I'd recommend you focus on, but a mix might be good and show a range of skill.

Example:
http://learningextra.com/rfrench/sketches/fencing.jpg

Hope that helps. :) If you need any more resources, the book 'Force' by Mike Mattesi is really good for gesture drawing.

There's some nice photo reference here (http://artnudes.blogspot.com/) (warning, contains artistic nudes). You can find quite a lot online, especially DeviantART.

As to the work you've got posted, I'd say most of the poses are really nice and bold, and there's a lot of expression and character there. Anatomy's probably be the thing you should work on most (I know it sounds boring, but it helps!); for instance, Deadpool's hands look too small (not that Rob Liefeld himself did much better, but that's another matter), and most of your characters stand quite bow-legged. Don't be afraid to look at reference if there's things your unsure of, but try to keep the same dynamism as you have, since it looks like if you developed it a bit more, it could be a really cool style.