General Drawing © Bona Kim
General Drawing © Nicholas Reback
The best place to start is the Sample Portfolio – https://medicalart.johnshopkins.edu/sample-portfolio/. The faculty describe General Drawing as “[demonstrating] a wide variety of technique and styles. The main aspects are the understanding of light on form and the skill of direct observation from nature. This may range from landscape studies to still life, animal or plant subjects, and hand or foot studies.”
Notice that many pieces show attention to detail, display good draftsmanship, and are tightly rendered. The amaryllis root bulb and the peanuts falling from the paper bag in particular show close observation skills. There is also a distinct light source, showing good form and atmospheric perspective, a focus point of tighter rendering and a background that begins to fade away.
Some examples may show a distinctive style but not at the cost of good form, proportions, and perspective. The landscape in particular has several distinctive marks yet conveys a believable depth and sense of space.
Some examples may have been drawn quickly but most probably took some time to complete. A hand and/or foot study is encouraged.
When building your portfolio with examples of the six portfolio categories, our Sample Portfolio page can help you determine how many from each category to include. Notice that the most examples are in Figure Drawing, then General Drawing, then Color Media, then fairly equal representations of Graphic Design, Digital Media, and Sketchbook Pages. There are also minimums for most categories and a max of 2 for art that doesn’t fit a portfolio category.
General Drawing © Mariya Pantyukhina
General Drawing © Suzanne Slattery
As always, if you have additional questions, don’t hesitate to contact us – [email protected] or Request Information.
Have a great week,
Ebony,
p.s. Thank you for the help Jeni!
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