Thank you for joining us tonight for our presentation on concept design portfolio tips from the College for Creative Studies. I’m Olivia Ezinga, and I am the Assistant Director of Admissions here at CCS. I work with undergraduate first-time freshmen, and I am joined by Christina Phillips and Julia DePinto, both of whom are admissions counselors.

We will be discussing portfolios and how to develop a concept design portfolio, including what goes into it. During the presentation, you can put your questions in the chat, or you can unmute yourself at the end when we will have a question-and-answer session.

Now, let me go ahead and share my screen. Christina, can you let me know if you can see the presentation?

Yes, I can.

Great! Is that the first page?

Yes, it is.

Perfect, thank you!

For concept design, we want to see a well-developed portfolio that showcases everything involved in that portfolio, which we will discuss tonight. Just to keep in mind, if you are a senior applying to concept design, your portfolio is due on February 1st. This is a firm deadline, unlike the deadlines for the rest of our majors. We can also discuss this further at the end, but it’s important to note that this is a significant portfolio to put together compared to some of our other majors. Therefore, you want to ensure that you are putting ample time and effort into managing your time effectively while preparing it.

When we discuss concept design, we mean that your portfolio should be centered around one cohesive story. This can be an original story that you came up with on your own, or it could be a reimagining of an existing story, such as one from a video game, movie, fairy tale, or book. We want to see you build a world for your story, complete with scenes, architecture, and all the different elements that contribute to it.

We will talk about how you will visually convey the eight parts of a story that you see outlined here.

Setting: We want to know where your story takes place. What does the setting look like, and what is the atmosphere like? Consider aspects such as colors and lighting. Describe the spaces where your characters will live, play, and where conflicts will take place. This is a good place to start, as having a clear story and setting impacts everything else in your portfolio.

Characters: You do not need to flesh out every single character in your story, but we want to see your main characters, such as your protagonist, antagonist, and a couple of supporting characters. This is enough for us to grasp the essence of your story. We want to understand who these characters are, what their personalities are like, what they wear, their styles, and how they make decisions. It is also important to show us how these characters interact with each other. For example, illustrate how your protagonist looks when interacting with the antagonist for the first time. We want to see how they are holding weapons or certain props that carry along the story and reveal their attitudes and emotions.

Plot: While we do not need extensive text throughout your entire portfolio, this is a piece that is super important, and we want it to be at the beginning of your portfolio. A chunk of text that looks something like this is what we want to see: you will want to include a title for your story and a brief synopsis. Paint a picture for us by describing what the setting looks like, including character names, time, and place. Give us an idea of what the conflict is and what the end goal or objective of your story is. This text does not have to be lengthy, but it should be enough to prepare us for what is going on.

Conflict: This is about the objective of the story and what it is all about. We want to see how your characters, environments, and props interact to support that conflict and keep the story moving along. It is crucial to make the viewer emotionally invested, and we want to know how you plan to achieve that. If you only have character studies and they are not interacting with each other, that will not help us get a good idea of what is happening in your mind.

Key Frames: This is an extremely important element that we want you to pay attention to. Create studies of characters and key frames in their environments, and show them from different angles. This will help illustrate what your story might look like in a live-action movie or video game.

Theme: We want your portfolio to be cohesive. Every page should feel like part of the same story because it is. Use visual cues that carry throughout, such as textures, designs, and the overall graphic design of your portfolio. Make it look cohesive and presentable. Sometimes, these elements can add visual distinctions that support the storyline.

Point of View: This is helpful in conveying the emotional tone of your scenes. Think about how exaggerating a scene, such as through perspective angles, can make the viewer feel overwhelmed, intimidated, fearful, excited, or anxious. Consider how the different scenes you convey help build the narrative and evoke emotional reactions. This is also where your style comes into play.

When creating sketches, especially for your final renders, consider how your line work and style contribute to the overall tone of your story. You do not need to be able to draw digitally to have a concept design portfolio. If you want to create traditional artworks and then scan them in, that is acceptable. We can discuss this further at the end.

We want to emphasize keeping everything cohesive again. Your portfolio should reflect consistency in color, texture, and style, even though each character will have their unique personality. You want to ensure that all elements fit together well.

We have an example of a student who did their own take on “Beauty and the Beast.” This student is currently a sophomore or junior in our concept design program.

Lighting: This is one of the most important aspects of any artwork. Lighting can make or break a piece, whether it is a photograph, drawing, painting, or film. Consider how lighting impacts the mood of your work. It can create foreshadowing or evoke a sense of fear or excitement. We encourage you to incorporate light sources into your scenes and environments. If you only use flat values, your pieces may not feel lifelike, and we want to see your technical skills reflected in your work.

Style: As mentioned earlier, maintain consistency and variety across your elements. Ensure that your architecture, props, vehicles, and weapons are all relevant to your story. For example, if you are designing something in a post-apocalyptic setting, you probably do not want to include a steampunk torch, as that would feel out of place.

Here are some examples of portfolios from accepted students to CCS in concept design. This slide illustrates effective graphic design and layout. Notice how students are laying out their ideation, sketches, silhouettes, and other elements cohesively. These thematic elements tie everything together.

I also want to mention that having a synopsis at the beginning of your portfolio is beneficial. Including a little bit of text here and there throughout your pages—such as character names or the names of vehicles and props, along with how they function—can provide helpful context for the viewer.

Inspiration photos are also great to include. They show the sources of inspiration that helped you create your world or vehicle. We do want to see mood boards, sketches, and the different processes you went through to arrive at your final designs.

When preparing your presentation, cluster your work into sections. We want to see work from the following categories: environments, characters, architecture, and hardware. This includes accessories, props, and weapons that help propel the narrative along.

We have noticed that there is often less experimentation and emphasis on the categories of architecture and hardware compared to character design. While it is understandable that character design is fun, we want to see equal attention given to all these different categories in your portfolio. If your portfolio is overly focused on characters without much emphasis on architecture and environments, you may not have as strong a chance of getting into concept design. It is important to demonstrate that you can do it all for both your portfolio and the industry.

Please include inspiration images, mood boards, and silhouette studies, especially for characters. Grayscale variations, key frames, and final renderings are also important. Remember, these final renderings and studies do not have to be digitally rendered; traditional mediums are completely acceptable.

Additionally, include key frames of pivotal plot points. These should represent significant moments in your story, such as the beginning, climax, and resolution. Aim for 15 to 20 pages in a single PDF that includes all these different categories.

I understand this is a lot of information, and it may feel overwhelming. I should also mention that multiple-page PDFs are sometimes preferable because they can accommodate higher resolutions.

When formatting your pages, horizontal layouts are best, so consider using dimensions of 11 by 17 or 11 by 14 inches, with 11 by 17 being preferable. In some cases, students create multiple PDFs: one for environments, another for characters, and a third for architecture and hardware. However, try to keep your total to 15 to 20 pages across all submissions.

These are the credits to the example portfolios that we saw. I will stop sharing my screen, but I wanted to discuss the concept design application process. If you are a senior interested in applying for concept design, you need to fill out the online application and choose concept design as your major. The application also allows you to select a secondary major in case you change your mind about concept design or do not get accepted into it.

We require your online application, transcripts, and portfolio submitted by February 1st; this is the absolute deadline. We typically make admissions decisions for concept design students in the first or second week of February, and you will receive your acceptance letters by mail.

I will check the chat now. Someone asked if we have this presentation in person. I apologize for interrupting, but a few people have messaged me directly asking for the recorded version. Yes, this presentation is being recorded, and I believe admissions will send it out within a few days to everyone who RSVP’d or registered for this webinar, so you will have access to it later.

Another question was about the early action deadline and its benefits. That’s a great question. Our early action deadline can be a bit confusing, but it primarily applies to our other majors, not concept design. If you are applying for illustration, transportation design, game design, or others, and want the most consideration for merit-based scholarships, you should aim for the December 1st deadline.

If you are applying to concept design, I recommend submitting your portfolio by February 1st instead. Submitting by December 1st may create more stress due to the time crunch.

Regarding the alternative major you can choose on your application for concept design: if you are interested in concept design and another major, such as illustration, you can select an alternative major on the application. If you want to meet the early action deadline for scholarship consideration, you can build a general portfolio, which doesn’t have to relate to concept design. For example, if your alternative major is illustration, you can submit drawings or other mediums that showcase your strengths by December 1st. We will then consider you for acceptance into illustration, and if you are accepted, you will also be considered for merit-based scholarships based on your GPA and portfolio.

In the meantime, you can continue to work on your concept design portfolio and submit it in February. If you are accepted into concept design, that’s great! If not, you still have an admissions decision from your alternative major and any associated scholarship. I often recommend this strategy to students, and I apologize if I don’t explain it clearly. If you have more questions later, I can clarify via email.

Christina is nodding her head, indicating she agrees. I can put a link to the concept portfolio requirements in the chat box to reiterate everything we’ve discussed so students have a record of this information.

Regarding transferring into CCS as a junior in concept design, I don’t specifically work with transfer students. We have a different admissions counselor for those inquiries. However, my understanding is that typically, students transferring into concept design may still need to complete close to three to four years due to the class structure. The classes build upon one another, and it is challenging to find studio classes that will transfer in. To my knowledge, we have not had any successful transfers in this regard.

As for the early action deadline, I think we’ve covered that, and someone asked about the difference between key frames and final renders. Final renders are the polished, finished pieces you would see, such as fully developed characters and environments. Key frames, on the other hand, are more like rough sketches or value studies that carry the story along but do not need to be fully fleshed out like a final render.

Does CCS limit applicants to only one concept world, or can you add more? Some colleges may ask for two separate stories, but we only require one. If you are applying to other colleges, choose your favorite story and do not include the names of other colleges, as we appreciate professionalism in your application.

Is December 1st a hard deadline for the alternate portfolio? No, it is not a hard deadline. However, if you want the most consideration for merit-based scholarships for an alternate major, it is advisable to submit a general portfolio by that date. This portfolio does not need to include any concept design work. If you have charcoals, photography, or other types of artwork, you can submit those in your general portfolio.

Regarding portfolio submissions, someone asked if concepts for webtoons stories would work as well. Webtoons are online webcomics where individuals can create their own stories. As long as your submission follows our portfolio requirements, I don’t see why it would be an issue. It would be similar to showing concepts for a comic idea. However, we prefer to avoid stylized cartoon work and focus on more realistic styles.

Christina provided an example to illustrate this point. She explained that concept design refers to more realistic styles, as seen in live-action films and video games, while visual development pertains to more stylized, cartoon-like art, such as what is produced by Disney Animation Studios.

If you are interested in comics, I would recommend focusing more on illustration and visual development. Christina is better at explaining this aspect than I am.

Julia also wanted to reiterate something from the presentation. If you are considering other majors besides concept design, such as illustration or visual development, we will have an overview admissions presentation next Wednesday at the same time. I will be leading that one, so it’s a great opportunity to learn more about other majors if you find that concept design may not be the right fit for you.

If you are a senior interested in concept design and are unsure about what to include in your portfolio, you can schedule a portfolio review with one of us, either in person or virtually via Zoom. We want to assist you in preparing your portfolio, as concept design is a competitive program.

To clarify, for the art style, we prefer a more realistic approach rather than a stylized one. The quickest way to describe this is to look at the differences between concept art for projects like Star Wars or Blade Runner, which tend to be more realistic, compared to the visual development art from Disney Pixar films like Luca, which is more stylized.

If you want more examples of the styles we are discussing, I recommend looking at visual development portfolios on Behance. Searching for visual development and concept design portfolios will showcase the differences in style and technique. Once you see the examples visually, it should make more sense.

Yes, Tim Flattery is the head of concept design at CCS. Do we have any more questions? If not, Christina provided our contact information in the chat, so you can reach out to us if you have further inquiries. We are here to help you navigate the process and create a strong concept design portfolio.

Thank you for your participation, and we will send out this recording within a couple of days, likely by the end of the week. Have a good night!