Undergraduate and master students studying in zero basic art, and their works encounter "death aesthetics", is there really no remedy? How to deal with 0 basic works under different application backgrounds? How to do the best color matching and typesetting for the collection of works applied for studying abroad? Must the portfolio of study abroad applications be new?
For students who have chosen art and design majors, I'm afraid that nothing is more helpless than the absence of "aesthetics". Every year, students who encounter this situation in natural light show serious aesthetic problems in the works they provide, either color matching or typesetting, when they first meet the teacher, make initial contact, and review their works.
Just like the title of the article, we are going to discuss today this helpless problem that actually happens to many students:
When studying in art, I met the "death aesthetic"
Is it true that there is no remedy?
Aesthetic problems of zero basic works collection:
Many people may think that the aesthetic problem is corresponding to the zero foundation. Almost no students have received any relevant professional training. In fact, many students with professional foundation, sometimes their aesthetic ability is not very ideal.
Aesthetic Cases of Postgraduate Entrance Examination Works
For example, the following You student, who applied for the landscape design major, whose original major was environmental art, had exposed a lot of problems in his collection of postgraduate work, not only in the professional direction, but also in aesthetics.
Above: You's portfolio for postgraduate entrance examination Below: You's portfolio for application for studying abroad
Through the comparison between the top and bottom, we can see that the contrast between the front and the back is very strong. Why is it that the aesthetic is still worrying when you are an art and design major? This has to say a very common misconception: Having a professional/painting foundation is equivalent to having an aesthetic ability 。
I think all the students have seen such a sentence: "Didn't you learn to paint? Why is the aesthetics so poor?" If you learned to paint, there must be good aesthetics? In fact, painting is just the most basic and direct form of artistic expression and technique. After learning painting, we can only say that we have mastered a necessary and basic form of artistic expression, and have a certain understanding of concepts such as space, light and shadow.
Taking the students of natural light as an example, we once met such a student. During the middle school, he was in the High School Affiliated to Gome Apply to American art colleges When the teacher saw her paintings for the first time, she was shocked because her painting skills in many of her works were even much better than those of some pure art students who had graduated from undergraduate education.
But in the course of class, the teacher also gradually found her problem, because in the past, almost all the students were painting in the same way. The teacher would stare at their works at any time. If there was a stroke mistake, she would ask to erase it and paint again. Although under strict requirements, she had excellent painting skills, but close to the same style, also let her Less understanding and expression of art and personal understanding of art 。
I think there are not a few students in this situation. Many of them come from natural light. Some of them have four years of undergraduate education, and it is hard for them to tell their understanding of this major, nor how to identify which creations are really good works. Because the focus of basic courses in China is more on the mastery of skills than the construction of ideas.
Although in the process of learning painting, students will also learn some knowledge about light and shadow, space, light and shade, perspective, and color, these theoretical foundations cannot be directly equated with aesthetic ability, although they It really plays a certain auxiliary role in understanding aesthetics 。
What is "aesthetic"?
Why is there such a common cognitive error? First, let's talk about what is "aesthetic"?
Generally speaking, aesthetics is a very subjective concept, because everyone's aesthetics are different. For anyone, there may be only aesthetic similarities, but it is difficult for two people to have the same aesthetic. The factors that affect the aesthetics are mainly Personal culture, living environment and visual psychological feelings Our aesthetic consciousness will also change with the change of environment and individuals.
In the general environment, some groups may have a similar aesthetic concept under the influence of the same culture or living atmosphere Universal aesthetic consciousness There will also be a certain gap if we encounter different personal feelings of each person. This is why we can judge what is beautiful and what is ugly in the "general direction".
Painting ability is the mastery of a form of artistic expression and techniques, but aesthetics is the psychological or emotional understanding of aesthetic concepts. It is not simply based on the mastery of artistic expression techniques. It also requires students to Supplement cultural literacy and think critically when looking at problems , and Unique awareness of personal understanding Etc. At the same time, whether as a feeling or an ability, aesthetics does not rely entirely on talent, It can also be cultivated 。
Have excellent painting ability
Is not directly equal to having a high aesthetic ability
Because aesthetics also needs to be cultivated
What is "death aesthetics"?
In fact, it's not just the poor aesthetic ability
But can't tell which works are good
As I mentioned above, after constantly adding humanistic knowledge, creative divergence training, and improving critical thinking, you re established a complete aesthetic cognitive system, and also had his own judgment ability on art and design. Finally, you got offers from many universities including BCU, Kingston, Sheffield, and MMU in landscape design.
In fact, from the above example, we can see that the poor aesthetic ability does not directly lead to the complete lack of road for art study abroad. Although the aesthetic cultivation is indeed limited in a short time, it is not irreparable. So what should we do when we go abroad to study art and encounter a lack of aesthetic ability? Here, we will discuss it according to the situation.
Application for studying abroad of 0 basic works collection under different backgrounds
Undergraduate 0 basic application
a. Time strapped 0 basic students
If you are currently in a situation where time is tight and there is no foundation, you are not very familiar with the application of your major and the whole college. For example, you only have 6 or 7 months to prepare. Then I suggest that students in this situation should not spend a lot of time on basic courses and humanities courses like other students who have plenty of time. At this time, you don't have enough time to build a complete aesthetic cognitive system.
In the case of insufficient time, I suggest that you Focus on innovation and creativity Because most of the colleges and universities during their undergraduate study focused on students' creative thinking and independent creation awareness, Good ideas and personal creative themes It can make up for some shortcomings in aesthetic expression.
But it doesn't mean that you can completely ignore the aesthetic supplement at this time. In the process of creating the works collection Comparative learning , to obtain rapid aesthetic improvement, see more cases of successful application to the offer portfolio, see more good works, understand why they are excellent, where they are excellent in the end, and create content of the portfolio by comparison, so as to obtain rapid aesthetic optimization.
In a short period of time, you must make a choice, but you must not turn this method into a shortcut for future creation. You should know that even if you enter an art school later or devote yourself to work in the future, aesthetics is a must. The improvement of aesthetic awareness can help you effectively identify which works are good and which are not so good, so as to gain your own understanding and cognition of art, so that your works can be truly displayed, Good aesthetic ability will also bring good creative consciousness 。
b. 0 basic students with sufficient time
In this case, the first great thing is that you still have a lot of time and opportunities to build a A relatively complete aesthetic cognition system At this time, in addition to learning basic professional skills, you can also focus on some of your learning priorities Humanities and general knowledge The accumulation of content can enlighten my ability in aesthetic understanding.
In the foreign art education system, many schools will semi compulsorily require students to take a certain amount of credit in general humanities courses in the first year. In the future, students will also be required to take general humanities courses every semester. These courses, in fact, are to consolidate students' basic literacy and at the same time enable students to obtain a perfect aesthetic cognition.
In natural light, the teacher will also guide students to discover their understanding of art and design in the process of learning the basics. For example, the following student, Tiantong, who applied for the pure arts major, has spent three months on her basic courses. These courses are not only painting, but also some art history, and discussions about artists.
In the early course, the teacher discussed some interesting art topics and artists, as well as their works, through some fast art collection creation projects with her, so that Tiantong students can gain some inspiration and aesthetic literacy accumulation.
Tiantong Students'Works Collection Project
The inspiration of many works collection projects of Tiantong students is also obtained from these aesthetic topics. For example, in the above work, she used the oldest blue sun technique in photography. And she finally got the inclusion Parsons , RISD, SAIC, Pratt, etc.
Undergraduate non zero basic application
If you already have an art foundation or a certain professional foundation, you should Have more time and relatively high ability to explore and understand ideas and cognition in the field of aesthetics At this time, you can focus on the theme of the portfolio project.
Students with a solid foundation often have a good ability in expression. Like the two students we gave at the beginning today, they both have a solid project implementation ability in software and painting. However, due to the constraints of ideas and understanding, they also lack aesthetic judgment and feelings.
If your professional foundation is very solid, you can try some highly targeted, exploratory topics, or creative experiments with humanistic and cultural nature, and at the same time, with a large number of excellent cases as a guide, consciously accumulate your own aesthetic ability; Understand aesthetics through interesting expressions of these topics; Integrate and strengthen the depth of the collection of works and the ability of early research, and deepen the depth of the collection of works by adding some topics of discussion, and re understand and establish aesthetic awareness.
Master 0 basic application
If the application requirements during the undergraduate period have not yet reached 100% rigor, the application requirements at the master's stage will test students very much, because the learning content at the master's stage is, first of all, very targeted and vertical research learning.
So how can students in different situations solve the problems brought about by aesthetics when applying for master's degree?
The courses at the master's stage are not only highly professional, but also some colleges and universities have their own professional preferences. Therefore, there is a high requirement for students' professional ability. For students, the focus of the master's stage is not only creativity and ideas, but also the logical thinking ability of students, searching and sorting materials The ability to summarize and express ideas, and the comprehensive ability to explore a project at multiple levels.
If you are going to apply for a master's degree now, and have no professional foundation before, and are also relatively lacking in aesthetics, then it is really very difficult to apply. And different from the 0 basic undergraduate, the basic ability of the master stage must first be excellent, and there is no "alternative" plan or "shortcut" to make up for it.
Because when your aesthetic ability is not high, it is difficult to understand what kind of expression or art form is suitable for your own theme, and even more difficult to conduct in-depth and comprehensive specific analysis and project presentation in combination with your profession. What you need to do at this time is to consolidate your own aesthetic cognition system, ensure that every step in the creation of the collection will not make mistakes, so as to avoid the waste of time caused by repeated work and rework, and then optimize your collection.
Master's non zero basic application
Since there is a foundation, the quality of the works collection has a certain basic guarantee. No matter whether you apply for professional transfer at this time or not, you have a certain foundation in basic artistic expression, and have a good foundation to understand and improve your aesthetic ability.
a. Application for changing majors
If the major you applied for is different from the previous major, what you need to add is not only the aesthetic ability, but also some basic courses in the major direction. At this time, you need a large number of high-quality professional cases to assist in the creation of your overseas work collection. At the same time, you can also consider integrating the advantages of the original major into the applied major, and at the same time ensuring the basic expression and multi-dimensional divergence of the project, you can deepen the aesthetic understanding.
For example, today's example of You, in the early course, the teacher guided you through a large number of high-quality cases, helped her check and select materials, provided high-quality cases to explain each step of the project process, helped you to sort out your own thoughts, and after you completed each step, you would also carry out corresponding critiques, To avoid rework and unnecessary duplication of labor.
In this process, you also spent a lot of time to reshape her aesthetic awareness, but a variety of high-quality cases, as well as the conscious guidance of the teacher, also allowed her to rebuild the aesthetic system while having her own understanding of art design.
One of the landscape design portfolio projects combines her original major, environmental art, to select a large space with the concept of storm flood management site for research.
Collected Works of You
b. Same major application
Compared with any other type of application, the application for master's degree in the same major is the most advantageous, because at this time, you have mastered higher professional expression skills, and have a certain understanding and mastery of professional foundation. At this time, if you want to improve your aesthetic ability, you can try to create and practice some topics focusing on social, experimental, conceptual and other topics, and use your professional foundation to expand your depth in the project.
Above, I have explained how students should solve their own aesthetic problems under different backgrounds of applying for art study abroad Art study institutions For application, these methods are only "in a rush".
Especially in overseas art colleges, even if the students have applied for a master's degree and have a solid professional ability, they will still arrange some general humanities courses for students, so that students can constantly shape their aesthetic ability and critical thinking.
It is not impossible to solve the problem of "death aesthetics" in the collection of zero basic works of art study abroad, but it is absolutely necessary to improve the aesthetic awareness, and it is always progressive and changing.
More zero foundation art collections are offered for studying abroad:
The interaction design of the University of Sydney, six months without foundation, and six majors in exchange for an offer from the University of Sydney?
MCAD Minneapolis School of Art and Design Official: Suggestions on the Creation of Overseas Collections
Interdisciplinary study abroad application for major change and zero foundation can still be offered by famous schools such as London Media LCC and Pratt
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