Undergraduate Portfolio Requirements

Otis has two options to meet the BFA portfolio requirement:

Open Portfolio

10-20 images of your best, most recent work in any medium. Applicants whose work is digital or photo/video based should include five examples of work in other mediums. Students are encouraged to incorporate direct observation.

Structured Portfolio

In your portfolio, please include works based on the following prompts. These works can be done in any medium such as photography, collage, drawing, painting, 3-dimensional work, etc. At least 3 of the images should be made in traditional (non-digital) mediums.

3 images: Illustrate portraits of yourself or someone you know. Do not focus only on the face but consider including the objects around them, the clothes they are wearing, or the environment you would find them in. Please label your pieces with “Portrait”, along with any other title you feel is appropriate.
4 images: Using 4 images, tell a story related to an event or moment in your life, or your own personal narrative. Is there an event in your life that impacted everything that happened afterwards? Do you remember a moment that you learned something that you have never forgotten? Please label your pieces with “Personal narrative”, along with any other title you feel is appropriate.
3 images: Create 3 images that show places that are important to you. These could be interior spaces, exteriors of buildings, landscapes, cityscapes, or any subject that qualifies as an important place for you. Be creative in interpreting the environment, mood and experience of being in the space. Please label these pieces “Place”, along with any other title you feel is appropriate.
In addition to these 10 images, you are also welcome to include any additional work labeled as “Personal work.”

For First-year (Foundation) applicants applying through the Common App, you will access our portfolio submission portal the day after your Common App submission. Please keep an eye out on your email account for the link to submit your portfolio. Contact Admissions if you have any questions.

Need help on your portfolio or have questions about what to include?

Schedule a portfolio review with an Otis Admissions Counselor online.

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Build a Series

Applicants are encouraged to have at least one series in their portfolio. A series is multiple works centered on the same idea or theme. Here are some ideas for projects that will help you get started on building a series for your portfolio if you are feeling unsure of where to begin.

3-5 works that tell a story about someone important in your life
3-5 works that explore another interest you have outside of art & design
3-5 works that explore your personal history and narrative. Was there an event that greatly impacted your life?
3-5 self-portraits, all showing different emotions or elements of your personality
3-5 exterior environments or interior spaces that are your happy places

More Tips and Recommendations

Your portfolio is one of the key aspects of your application and can weigh heavily in your admission decision. Here are a few tips to ensure that you are successful at putting together a strong portfolio:

Additional Resources

Portfolio File Specifications

We support media files as large as 5GB, but please be advised that larger files will take longer to upload from your Internet connection and may stall if you are on a wireless connection or one that cannot sustain a connection for the necessary period of time. Uploaded documents may contain no more than 75 pages. We support the following file formats:

Video: .3g2, .3gp, .avi, .m2v, .m4v, .mkv, .mov, .mpeg, .mpg, .mp4, .mxf, .webm, .wmv
Audio: .aac, .m4a, .mka, .mp3, .oga, .ogg, .wav
Slide: .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff
Document: .doc, .docx, .odg, .odp, .odt, .pdf, .ppt, .pptx, .rtf, .wpd

Glossary of Terms

Approach: The combination of materials and technique you use to make the work. Example: a soft charcoal drawing with neutral tones (a soft approach) vs. a pencil drawing with scratchy, hard marks and heavy shadows.
Background: The area of an artwork that appears farthest away from the viewer; also, the area against which a figure or scene is placed.
Body of Work: Refers to the collection of your art. This can be centered around a certain idea or theme, or over a period of time.
Breadth: Breadth means a “wide range”. In the context of a portfolio, if you are showing breadth, you are likely sharing a wide variety of skill sets or works in different mediums. These are often assignment-based works that test or challenge your technical abilities. Think of this as practice or exercising your skills before you incorporate your personal touch!
Cohesive: When something is cohesive, it exhibits continuity or connection between its parts. A portfolio is cohesive when a certain theme, narrative, aesthetic, or recurring image carries over from one image to the next. There is consistency and you are building on the same idea over multiple pieces.
Composition: The arrangement of objects within the frame of your piece. Consider how much space an object is taking up on your paper/canvas/digital frame compared to the negative space within the paper or canvas. Are the subjects centered, spread out, close to the edges of the frame?
Concept: The idea that you are seeking to convey through your work about a subject or topic. What are you trying to communicate?
Curate: To curate your portfolio means to select and arrange your images based on some type of organizing principle. You might choose to curate your portfolio around a particular theme, or to organize your pieces based on medium or materials used.
Dimensions: The size of your piece. What is the length, width and height?
Direct Observation: Drawing or painting from life, as opposed to using a photograph, a cell phone image, a magazine, your imagination, or YouTube tutorial for your subject. You might draw a person, your environment, or an arrangement of objects in front of you. Show us how your brain interprets what you see in front of you!
Documentation: Documentation is the record of your artwork. Different types of work might require different types of documentation. Does a photograph best capture your piece? Or maybe you use a high resolution scanner to have a digital copy of your final piece. You might also consider a video clip if your work is interactive, or if you want to flip through your sketchbook. Think about building a visual archive for yourself of all your completed images. This will make creating your final portfolio easier if you document as you finish each piece.
Environment: The physical space or background in which the subject of your piece exists. Do you have floating figures in most of your pieces? Think about the space the figure exists in, this is the environment.
Figurative Work: Refers to the representation of the human form, in any of its various shapes and postures, within your artwork.
Landscape: The depiction of an outdoor space, either real or imagined.
Medium: The art materials used to make your piece.
Narrative: The story being told within your piece or your portfolio.
Perspective: Creating a 3-dimensional space within your 2-dimensional paper or canvas. This technique is used to depict volume and spatial relationships of interior and exterior environments.
Observational Drawing or Painting (See also Direct Observation): Drawing or painting from life, as opposed to using a photograph, a cell phone image, a magazine, your imagination, or YouTube tutorial for your subject. observational art is simply; "drawing/painting what you see," it's a realistic portrayal of what's in front of you. This type of drawing can include a landscape, a still life, or a figure drawing.
Portrait: A painting, drawing, photograph, sculpture or any other art form that captures the representation of a person.
Series: A collection of artworks that follow the same theme or narrative.
Technical Skill: Your ability and strength in using a particular medium.
Theme: The dominant idea that runs throughout your piece or your portfolio.

Video Resources for Skill Development

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