Upcomeing artist, i hope

Eddieb

Hey all found this site while browsing for a Drafting desk and if anyone knows where i can get my hands on one i would be great full.

Anyways im wanting to start of with Art and design and was told to look up Portfolio courses in Ballyfermot, has anyone done these course's and is it a good idea for a complete beginner in sketching and drawing. I paint abstract with acrylics and love anything to do with arts and crafts always have but as a career choice i chose computers and never followed in the art direction. now i want to and would be great full for any advice on where to start.

also about the desk i see alot of people who draw or sketch or even paint use these desks at the moment i use an Easel for painting but want to get a desk to help me out. so if anyone knows where i can get one on a budget could you let me know. Thanks all

G453

Hi, Keep an eye on adverts.ie for board and I did portfolio preparation course in Galway-GTI and it was really good. You get out of it what you put in really! I would recommend doing an evening course in photoshop or something along those lines with computers though as I'm fairly sure portfolio courses don't cover this side (mine didn't) and if its something your interested in it would be good to keep it up. And further on in college itself you will find it invaluable!

You will need to have some work with you when you go for portfolio interview but don't worry about being a complete "beginner" try doing a few sketches of a pepper(always a favourite in the portfolio ) so they will have an idea of your skills along with your abstract work. Really just bring anything you've done in the last few years!

thebaldsoprano

I'd start by doing lots of drawing

You'll get a lot more out of any portfolio course if you've got the basics at least somewhat nailed down. Just start by picking an object you find interesting and drawing its basic shapes, then see what parts went well and what didn't go so well and how you can improve on them. I wouldn't worry about shading or anything, just the basic relationships between lines. It's also important not to be too hard on yourself starting out - lots of people seem to be expecting miracles! If you get even a line or two right that's still a result. One book that's worth checking out is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, there are some interesting exercises in it.

As for portfolio courses, NCAD and IADT do good ones as well and if you're doing one it's worth checking out what the first years are working on, this'll give you some idea what they look for in a portfolio and if art college would be your thing.

Finally, your computer experience might come in handy. All kind of skills can be useful in art these days - the sculptor Theo Jansen even uses genetic algorithms!

From his website:

Fifteen hundred legs with rods of random length were generated in the computer. It then assessed which of these approached the ideal walking curve. Out of the 1500, the computer selected the best 100. These were awarded the privilege of reproduction. Their rods were copied and combined into 1500 new legs. These 1500 new legs exhibited similarities with their parent legs and once again were assessed on their resemblance to the ideal curve. This process went through many generations during which the computer was on for weeks, months even, day and night. It finally resulted in eleven numbers denoting the ideal lengths of the required rods.

There's a good video of his work here, it's amazing...

Eddieb

Thanks so much for the info guys loved the Video you posted.

have alot of old sketches from when i was young and have started to work on a few new ones to do with 3d so heres hoping. got in contact with NCAD and Ballyfermot college also and there going to send me out some info on the 2011 courses.

Thanks again for the help guys.