91¶¶Òõ

Need portfolio pointers? We’ve created online portfolio advice tailored to every clearing course. 

Simply click on your course in the list below to see exactly what we're looking for. 

• How do I create a portfolio for 3D Craft and Design?

  In your portfolio, we will be looking for a range of images which demonstrate:

  • a curiosity and ability to develop your ideas through a range of media and materials and an ability to communicate your ideas
  • an ability to think and make in three dimensions
  • your potential to experiment, imagine, and explore ideas and techniques
  • good hand skills using any materials/things to make models or finished 3D pieces.

  Your portfolio should include 15–20 slides of images and or short moving images that demonstrates a range of art and design exploration including:

  • process and journey – an ability to develop an idea from concept, through a process of experimentation and development, to the realisation of creative 3D outcomes
  • an experimental approach to investigation and discovery of materials and 3D processes
  • an ability to make in three dimensions
  • an ability to draw and apply a range of visual communication techniques to developing and recording your idea
  • an ability to research and critically reflect on your work within sketchbooks and preparatory studies
  • 3D / 2D work which you have undertaken independently (from set briefs / formal educational study) which further illustrates your interest in design and craft
  • a sample of your written work: either an essay or contextual piece of writing you have written on an art or design-based subject, OR a personal and reflective statement that critically reflects on your interest and abilities within the broader subject of design and craft. This piece should be between 250 and 300 words long.

• How do I create a portfolio for Animation BA(Hons)?

  We recommend using Behance to create a simple portfolio or blog and YouTube for embedding video.

  Your portfolio should contain examples of the following:

  • work that demonstrates how you develop ideas and personal interests; this can be in any medium or combination of media, for example drawing, typography, collage, photography, animation or video
  • your ability to develop an idea from concept through to a finished project
  • sketchbooks showing how you explore, experiment, and iterate ideas using different techniques and media
  • completed or in progress animation work (best shown on YouTube). If you do not have a completed animation, include well-drawn storyboard/s or sequential drawings with notes describing the project
  • finished outcomes in either 2D or 3D design, illustration, animation or moving image
  • material showing your potential to generate ideas and explore those ideas through experiments using different techniques and media.

• How do I create a portfolio for Architecture?

  • Up to 20 images of your work.
  • We do not expect to see architectural work but are looking for a variety of work in different media showing your ability to experiment and utilise different techniques.
  • We understand that at this point in the year your work may still be evolving. Please do include work in progress as part of the portfolio as we are keen to see how you generate and work with ideas.
  • Include preparatory drawings and studies as well as any finished pieces you may have from previous projects/personal work.
  • At least 10 out of the 20 images should be analogue (non-computer) generated work.
  • As you will not be present to explain the ideas behind the work, please add a brief statement that tells us more about your work, interests and ambitions.
  • When digitising analogue work please be sure to take care with photography or scanning processes to ensure the digital copy is a good quality representation of the original.

• How do I create a portfolio for Electronic Music and Sound?

  We would like you to send us some examples of your audio work – this can be composition, production or songwriting examples.

  You may consider hosting platforms such as YouTube or SoundCloud, or blog sites like WordPress.

• How do I create a portfolio for Fashion Communication with Business Studies?

  Your portfolio should contain 15–20 images demonstrating:

  • drawing ability and experimentation
  • conceptual ideas that you are developing from a project
  • two or three sketchbook pages
  • ideas using collage, paint, textiles, mixed media
  • ideas related to fashion, could also be graphics and layout, or photography
  • 2D or 3D experimentation ideas or tests.

• How do I create a portfolio for Fashion Design with Business Studies?

  Your portfolio should contain 30-50 images of your creative work, including:

  • drawing in all its forms, experimenting with a range of media, materials and colour to demonstrate your understanding and interpretation of subjects and the world around you, for example observational drawings, still life and life drawing
  • your wider cultural awareness and interests in fashion design, and an understanding of shape, line, materials and form in relation to the body
  • sketchbook and development work, to include visual research, 3D experimentation, sketches, drawings and collage work which shows your responses to a brief or initial idea, developed towards fashion design outcomes.
  • 3D experimentation with fabrics and materials applied to the body, which demonstrates your awareness and understanding of fashion design and interests in making. This should be distinct from textiles design and surface pattern ideas.
  • fashion image making, for example, fashion illustration, collage, photography or styling.

• How do I create a portfolio for Fine Art?

  You should prepare an online portfolio of 15–20 examples of your artwork that specifically reflect your interest in joining the Fine Art course and that show your creative process, development and making skills.

  To demonstrate your enthusiasm for the fine art subject area your portfolio should contain self-motivated investigations and include independent projects in addition to examples of any work resulting from set briefs.

  How you research, critically reflect on topics or themes within sketchbooks, models and through preparatory studies is as important as providing examples of your completed artworks.

  Whatever form/s your work takes, whether it is hand crafted or digital or a combination of both, we look at your portfolio to discover the ways in which you develop ideas in practical forms.

• How do I create a portfolio for Fine Art Painting?

  Our online selection process is vital in letting us see not only your work, but also how you engage with and think about it.

  For your online portfolio we will need the following:

  • 25–35 jpegs of work you have produced, focused as much as possible on the work that you are most interested in exploring
  • a written statement (approx. 500 words). This is in addition to your UCAS statement.

  Your work (the jpegs)

  Your portfolio should be focused on artwork that you are most interested in exploring.

  • It should include not only finished paintings, but also studies, drawings, sketches, collages – anything that might help us appreciate your interests as an artist. We want to see how you think and develop, as well as polished results.
  • You can also include works of yours in other media if relevant to your interests.
  • If you also make moving image works, please embed these as links (Vimeo, YouTube) within your online portfolio, so that all you send us is one link.
  • If you wish, include a few details to show us the physical nature of the work, but these details should be in addition to images of whole works.
  • Please select works that show evidence of:
  • painting and drawing skills – this may or may not be about technique, some of the best artists have made very ‘raw’ work, we just want to see how you use the medium
  • your development, experimentation and risk taking – we want to see that you are willing to try out lots of different things
  • self-motivation and ability to work on your own initiative – what art do you make in your own time?

  Please label all your works with size, medium (eg oil, acrylic, collage, mixed media) and date. Size and date only need to be approximate.
  
  

  Your written statement

  Alongside images, please include a short (500-word max) written statement telling us more about the ideas and interests that your work explores, and your ambitions for its future development. This is in addition to your UCAS statement.

  To help with this, consider the following.

  • Tell us about your work, what sorts of things are you interested in?
  • What is it about this kind (or kinds) of work that interests you?
  • What you might want to do next with your work?
  • What artists have you looked at and why? Who and what interests you? This can also include other non-art interests if relevant to your work.
  • Experimentation: what other things are you also interested in exploring in your work?
  • Risk-taking: evidence you have you pushed yourself. Did it work? What didn’t work? What have you learned from it?
  • Why do you want to do fine art, and fine art painting specifically, at 91¶¶Òõ?
  • What sort of things might you like to get out of our course?
  • What might you want to do in the future, as a student, as an artist, and/or in other careers?

• How do I create a portfolio for Games Art and Design?

  Your portfolio should contain examples of:

  • work that demonstrates how you develop ideas and personal interests. This can be in any medium or combination of media, for example drawing, typography, collage, photography, animation or video
  • your ability to develop an idea from concept through to a finished project
  • sketchbooks showing how you experiment and explore different techniques and media
  • completed moving image, animation or interactive work (best shown on Vimeo)
  • finished outcomes in either 2D design, illustration, animation or moving image
  • material evidencing your potential to experiment and explore ideas, using different techniques and media.

• How do I create a portfolio for Graphic Design?

  Your portfolio should contain 15–20 images.

  We are not looking for highly finished work.

  Your portfolio, ideally in chronological order, should show a broad range of work both successful and unsuccessful and include some evidence of your design process - sketches, experiments and wider influences.

  It should include:

  • typography and letterforms, eg expressive, applied, kinetic
  • photography and image making, inventive, creative and applied
  • type and image – be imaginative, bold and creative
  • exploration and communication of a range of subjects/themes
  • think invention, imagination, expression, interpretation.

  Do not include life drawing, unless it is part of a project.

• How do I create a portfolio for Illustration?

  Your portfolio should contain at least 20 images.

  Please put the images into context with some form of annotation – were the images part of a college or school project or self-directed?

  Remember that we are trying to find out a bit more about your abilities and potential both in terms of visual material provided but also what you are interested in, and what you know of illustration as a subject.

  • Three examples of drawing. These can include observational drawing, life drawing, developmental drawing, location drawing, drawing from life.
  • Three images showing technical skills or experimentation that may include photography, printmaking, 3D, films, animation, digital imagery.
  • Four images demonstrating image making or illustration.
  • Two images showing material process or design thinking in your work, developmental/experimentation eg if you have designed a character how did you get to the final design?
  • Two images of your sketchbooks.
  • One image showing your inspirations or interests, for example, folk, the environment, film, feminism, gender issues, politics, the everyday, science, sport, the natural world, music, fiction, spirituality, documentary, or TV shows.
  • Photograph of your favourite book/film.
  • One image of an example of what you think is a successful piece of visual communication.
  • A possible profile film introducing yourself, three minutes maximum in length.

• How do I create a portfolio for Interior Architecture?

  We understand that at this stage you may still be undertaking key pieces of work for your studies, and we would very much like to see this work in progress.

  Regardless of completion, we are keen to see how you generate and work with ideas.

  What should be in my ‘work in progress’ portfolio?

  Your portfolio should include up to 20 images of your work (jpegs or pdfs). These should include preparatory drawings and studies as well as any finished pieces you may have from previous projects or personal work. Include the type of work you are most actively interested in pursuing.

  Please note that we do not necessarily expect to see architectural work; we are looking for a variety of work in different media showing your ability to experiment and utilise different techniques.

  Please include a good proportion of analogue (non-computer) generated work.

  As you will not be present in person to explain the ideas behind the work, you may wish to add a brief statement that supports the images and tells us more about your interests and ambitions.

• How do I create a portfolio for Photography?

  Your portfolio should contain:

  • 20–30 images demonstrating the current stage of your creative photographic work with an effective title for the whole group or for separate sections if applicable
  • a short account of your influences and artistic and photographic interests. This might take the form of a short thoughtful essay on the work of a photographer or on a photographic genre. It should not be a self-reflective statement on your own work. We suggest approximately 300–500 words.

  We want to see images in your portfolio that show consideration and organisation.

  We are primarily interested in project work that explores your ideas.

  We are not interested in work that only demonstrates command of technique – it’s our job to help you develop that once you are on the course.

• How do I create a portfolio for Product Design?

  What should my portfolio contain?

  Your portfolio can include things that demonstrates your skills, creativity, motivations and interests as a designer.

  We are very happy to see work produced during A-levels, foundation courses (any creative course such as art, design or technology), and work experience ,and from outside of your education (such as hobbies and crafts).

  You could include: sketching, technical drawing, photos of 3D objects you designed and made, CAD modelling and rendering, 3D printing, coding, research (consumer, user, visual, etc), photography, typography, illustrations, fashion and textile designs (including cosplay) and much more.

  Presenting your work

  The purpose of the portfolio is to show us who you are and what you can do.

  Aim to show off your abilities, and this includes how you think.

  We want to see how you work (your process) so include sketching, model making, prototypes, etc, and add a few annotations to your pages to help us understand what we are looking at.

  While we want you to show us your best work, don’t spend ages fretting over minute details and delay too long sending it to us.