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Tutorials CalArts Portfolio In the fall of 2001, I applied to the Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts. I went to a few weekly life drawing workshops, drew character model sheets and illustrations every day, and made it to the zoo a couple of times. I submitted 40 pieces, roughly 1/3 of which were not from life, plus a 100 page sketchbook and was utterly rejected. However during an amazing OE experience in New Zealand, I applied again in fall 2003. This time I paid more attention to drawing and "seeing" from life, putting together a portfolio of 28 pieces plus a 50 page sketchbook. Save for only one piece and couple of sketchbook pages, all of my work was drawn directly from life. I attended all of the live model workshops in my area, spent countless hours at zoos and parks, and went to special sporting and public events to be able to observe the human body and people in actions of all kinds. This time, I was accepted. The Character Animation program at CalArts is likely the toughest art program to get in to in America. Every year only 30-40 students are accepted, representing 8-10% of total applications submitted. In 2004, Harvard accepted 10.3% of its applicants for the class of 2008, Yale a record-low 9.9%. Below is my entire acceptance portfolio as submitted for the 2004-5 freshman year. I put a great deal of emphasis on experimentation, both in media and drawing style. I tried to move out of my "comfort zone" as much as possible and only submitted about 5-10% of the work I produced. Instead of focusing on structure and design, I worked to capture motion and emotion in every picture. Of particular interest to me were (and are) people engaged in everyday activities: waiting at a crosswalk, shopping in Wal-Mart, kids chatting with their friends on the bus. Observation of motion and emotion was my main goal, and some of the sketches are little more than visual notes. I unified the portfolio with a consistant observationaly style and core personality. Getting accepted to CalArts is very challenging and many people, myself included, often don't know where to begin. The department's website is, in many ways, quite vague. One of the best and only internet resources on the CalArts' admissions process is Mario Furmanczyk's AnimatedBuzz.com. However, to my knowledge, mine is the only site with scans of a complete acceptance portfolio. It is presented here to give applicants a better understanding of what to include in their portfolios. It is by no means an absolute, only what worked for me. I'm sure that many other CalArts students have been accepted based on portfolios vastly different from mine. That said, please enjoy browsing through it and please email me with any questions. Main Portfolio Sketchbook