In art study abroad, the ability of time management is the key. One of the most direct manifestations is the review of works at each stage. Today, from the perspective of the teaching and research center and overseas alliances, how can we effectively "manage time" the collection of works, and how can we make the collection of works studying abroad in this special time period? Avoid those pupils from the beginning!

How to make a collection of works for studying abroad?

STEP 1: Determine the theme

　　a. Find inspiration by collecting beautiful pictures on major design websites

　　b. Hot topic in the current society is the first choice

　　c. Promote and other teachers to assign curriculum tasks

The three points listed above may be the easiest way for students to find inspiration when they are just preparing to make a collection of works for studying abroad. Objectively speaking, the three methods can achieve the goal of finding the theme, but the time cost and the quality of the theme are often not in direct proportion.

In this year's application season of "internal and external troubles", on the one hand, the overseas epidemic situation is not clear, and many colleges and universities have taken turns to "play devil", which has brought many uncertainties to our application path; On the other hand, after 3-4 months of isolated life, the preparation of students' work collections was forced to slow down.

On this premise, "time management" is one of our primary tasks at this stage to make preparations for the production of overseas study works. It is undeniable that the longer the preparation period and the more sufficient the time, the greater the space for the creation of the collection of works. But more importantly, how to do more useful things in the effective time.

So we should try our best to find the next goal "quickly and accurately" when determining the project theme in the first step. The probability of finding good ideas by simply sitting in front of the computer and searching major design websites and looking through second-hand materials is very low; However, passively choosing "social hot spots" or relying on others' help is not the creative way of "mature art students".

Secondly, for admissions officers and colleges, the criteria for judging whether the theme is excellent is not just "unique", "popular", "standardized", but whether students' critical thinking, emotional expression, and artistic value can be seen from it. For the admissions officers who have scored countless papers, what can really impress the admissions officers must be the most sincere expression.

Therefore, the most efficient way to confirm the theme is to return to the essence, strive to expand your knowledge reserves, rely on your own brain that is good at thinking, learn to observe the details of life, cultivate some ways that can make your perception become sharp, and obtain a pair of eyes that are good at finding inspiration.

STEP 2: Research

　　a. Accumulate material only by network search

　　b. Research=project background summary

　　c. "Emotional theme" does not need investigation

For most students, it is the first time to make a collection of works for studying abroad, and the concept of research in overseas universities is very different from the way we learned in the previous learning process. So in the field of research, everyone who just started to create is at the level of "primary school students".

So the error that is easy to occur is that we first frame the shape of the work in our mind, and then carry out the corresponding research to achieve the final goal, that is, we will supplement the existing data when we see the missing data, and search and add some data when we lack the background introduction

Dylan's collection of works was admitted to Lunyi Studying abroad in Chunyi

However, such research can not achieve the fundamental purpose of deepening the theme, broadening the depth and extending the dimensions, but will form some useless data to affect the landing of our final works. So in the process of research, students should sort out along the logical main line of project design, so as to form the background of creation and the framework of the entire creation process. During this period, we will continue to find our own ability weaknesses, which need to be constantly supplemented and upgraded.

In order to achieve our goal of completing efficient tasks in a short time and achieving the strongest time management under special circumstances, we also have some "shortcuts" to complete the research:

The first is to use the rich resources of the network world. In the past, we introduced to use online platforms such as B Station, Map, Zhihu, Weibo, and search engine to collect information. These platforms have a wide range of information, which can help us quickly build a basic understanding of the fields and people we do not know. It is more critical to replace field research in this special period.

But for Collection research These materials are just the beginning. Many online information will inevitably have personal preferences and lack some theoretical basis. Therefore, we need to break away from them after establishing sufficient accumulation and transform them into more professional and personalized information through our own thinking.

Secondly, there is a simpler way of research, that is, to communicate directly with professionals in the field. In addition to seeking professional teachers' help in the academic field, the richness of social media gives us the opportunity to contact and recognize professionals in different fields, expand our thinking as far as possible, and obtain the most effective information in the most direct way.

STEP 3: Creative Practice

　　a. "Good looking" is more important than content

　　b. Too much emphasis on material and form innovation

　　c. Choose to give up halfway when encountering bottlenecks

The way of landing and visual presentation of project works is usually the most important step for students, and it is also the largest part that we reserve in time planning. However, the creation process of art works recognized by colleges and universities is not simple and aims at the final visual effect. On the contrary, our works rely on both the complete logical process of thinking and professional ability, which requires a lot of time, and can not be completed overnight.

Many students prefer to apply new materials and special creation methods in order to complete a "eye catching" work in a short time. But in fact, on the contrary, due to the particularity and freshness of the materials, a large number of experiments and attempts are required, which greatly increases the production time and uncertainty of the work collection.

Because there will be a gap between the actual presentation and matching effect of many materials and everyone's imagination, it will take a lot of time to solve problems and find appropriate methods. Therefore, do not take the initiative temporarily, take the edge for the sake of uniqueness, or move towards an "interdisciplinary" approach.

Instead, we should go step by step, and deduce a reasonable way of creation according to our earlier inspiration sources, thinking divergence, early research, and material experiments step by step, which will help us to complete the richness and quality of our works more safely.

Secondly, for students with limited time, they often use a long-term and high-intensity learning method to shorten the gap with other students, but in this way, students are prone to low learning efficiency and burnout.

Exhibition of student Yongxin's works of natural light

Therefore, we also suggest that students try not to stay up late, and keep a reasonable rest and regular learning state; If the project cannot be promoted in the bottleneck period, first of all, students should not question themselves or their previous work. Instead, students can jump out of the framework, learn some skills, or see art exhibitions. Only when they are relaxed can they keep themselves in a healthy state of receiving new knowledge and constantly outputting it.

Many students will think that for art study abroad, the earlier you prepare, the more time you have, the better the quality of your portfolio. Although in terms of probability, the longer the preparation period is, the greater the room for improvement is, but the time is not absolutely proportional to the application result and the quality of the work.

In natural light, we have many student cases that have completed the production of overseas study portfolio in 3-6 months every year and obtained excellent application results. They all have a common feature that they have a strong concept of "time management".

Of course, joking is joking. When we talk about time management, we don't mean to compress the rest time and carry out multi line tasks at the same time; Instead, we rely on a professional team such as the National Teaching and Research Center of Natural Light to develop customized learning tasks and curriculum plans for each student, and guarantee the final learning results through a strong overall ability to avoid risks!

This year's application season is about to kick off, and the students' collection creation has officially entered the preparatory stage. Natural light will also continue to help every student and parent gain considerable gains in this difficult application season through efficient response measures, high-energy course reserves, and reliable back-end services!

Recommended articles for more works of studying abroad:

What if there are too many inspirations for works collection? How to screen efficiently?

How to reasonably use the "photo" elements in the production of art works

This article belongs to the original article of Natural Light International Art Education Team. Without permission, it cannot be reproduced commercially in any form. If it is found, it must be investigated for legal responsibility.