Ten Things to Avoid in Your Art School Portfolio

Oct 15

To continue Portfolio Prep Week here on the blog, today I’ll be tackling the difficult challenge of things you should avoid in your art school portfolio.

While there are no black/white or right/wrong answers in the art world (in other words - exceptions to every rule!) I encourage you to take these rules to heart. Unless you have a very considered, deliberate and clever reason for breaking them, simply avoiding these ten things will be in your best interest.

So, without further ado, here are ten things you should avoid in your art school portfolio:

Cliché or Overused Subjects

Avoid overly common themes like roses, sunsets, or eyes unless you take a truly unique approach. Admissions officers want to see originality and creative thinking. A single eye in the center of the page is a big no-no. Why is this a trend? Draw a whole face.

2. Inconsistent Quality

Ensure all pieces reflect your best work. A portfolio with a few strong pieces and many weaker ones can make you seem inconsistent. Curate carefully and include only your strongest work. Ask for opinions from artistic classmates or your art teacher if you feel stuck.

3. Fan Art or Copying

Copying is an obvious one. You can use references to help you create a piece, but be extra mindful that you are not simply taking someone else’s creative vision and recreating it on your page.

In my first post for Portfolio Prep Week, I addressed fan art. While it is great, it does not belong in an art school portfolio.

4. Neglecting Traditional Skills

Even if you're focused on digital or conceptual art, art schools still value traditional skills like drawing from life, understanding anatomy, perspective, and composition. Include some foundational work.

5. Repetitive Work

Show a range of skills and approaches. Submitting multiple works in the same style or medium without variety can signal a lack of experimentation or versatility.

6. Unfinished or Sloppy Work

Submitting incomplete or poorly presented work shows a lack of attention to detail. Make sure all pieces are finished, well-photographed, and presented neatly. A student came to National Portfolio Day with work exclusively in pencil on lined notebook paper. Nope. Feel free to doodle in your notebooks, we all do it! But when it’s time to assemble a portfolio, you should make the work ready to be viewed on a gallery wall.

7. Excessive Use of One Medium

If you only showcase one medium (e.g., only digital painting or only charcoal), it can limit the scope of your abilities. A well-rounded portfolio demonstrates versatility across mediums.

8. Over-editing or Excessive Digital Enhancements

Avoid over-editing or relying too heavily on filters and effects when working digitally. Schools prefer to see fundamental skills rather than polished works that obscure your process. One student had a lovely flower and grass texture brush but used it on 90% of an illustration, so only 10% was his original drawing and work. While that might be acceptable in, say, a comic panel- it’s NOT acceptable in a portfolio to showcase YOUR skills!

9. No Personal Voice

Your portfolio should reflect who you are as an artist. Avoid work that feels impersonal or generic. Schools want to see your unique perspective, interests, and artistic voice. For example, this can be tricky if you use work created in a high-school art class. A great art teacher will give a prompt or project that allows you to showcase your unique voice! However, an art class project you should not include would be one where everyone’s final pieces are roughly the same or have the same theme. For example, one art class had students create grid patterns of primary colours to imitate the work of Piet Mondrian. While each artist's pattern was a bit different, overall, they didn’t showcase anything unique about each artist.

10. Generative AI

The school you are applying to will have a Generative AI policy. They are probably working on it if they don’t already have one. But whatever that policy is, DO NOT use Generative AI to create pieces for your portfolio. Literally, ANYONE can use Generative AI to make work. I don’t care how good you are at “crafting prompts.” This is not what art school portfolios are meant to showcase. There is a time and place for generative AI but your portfolio is NOT it. Even if they don’t catch it and you manage to sneak your way into the school, you’ll quickly realize art school isn’t a good fit as soon as a professor insists you do work by hand and not by computer.

Need a review of your portfolio to ensure you aren't including things you shouldn't? Check out my art coaching options here!