NCAD brief

Xenzo

Anyone have any good tips or advice?
I'm just wondering how anyone else who's doing the brief is finding it?
I'm on the last section now with about 12 days to the deadline, its becoming quite the pain with my mocks starting soon as well!
Its got to be the most time consuming thing ever, I know they said you should spend 30 hours or something for the whole brief but thats a bit ridiculous..


I've got some portfolio things i've done uploaded in my deviantart gallery if anyones interested http://xenzo.deviantart.com

spinandscribble

i only starting working specifically on the brief two weeks ago, i think its grand, wish i'd started sooner but c'est la vie. I'm in a plc course so its handy getting daily feedback but it'll come to the crunch i'd say. Its not the only college i'm interested in but i'd still like it to be a option. there will definitely be some late nights coming up.

kanedaly60

I've been doing the brief on and off since June, but I've really only done any proper work on it in the last two weeks. I've hardly slept or done homework, and I've still got to finish half the sheets. :S I'm starting to panic!

spinandscribble

don't panic, seems you've alot of the background work done, just focus on what needs to be done and set yourself a schedule. I'm pretty much just hoping to focus alot of a few things and just tick the boxes on some.

Xenzo

Yeah same with me i've been working on it on and off since june but the last month or so been working alot harder with it. Havn't been doing any study at all, its difficult mixing both!

Xenzo

spinandscribble wrote: »

i only starting working specifically on the brief two weeks ago, i think its grand, wish i'd started sooner but c'est la vie. I'm in a plc course so its handy getting daily feedback but it'll come to the crunch i'd say. Its not the only college i'm interested in but i'd still like it to be a option. there will definitely be some late nights coming up.

Wow I couldn't imagine trying to get the whole thing done in two weeks that must be a lot of pressure!?

spinandscribble

well i'm in a full time plc course, so nothing else is in the way, plus i have been working on two of the objects for months.

Xenzo

spinandscribble wrote: »

well i'm in a full time plc course, so nothing else is in the way, plus i have been working on two of the objects for months.

Yeah well thats cool it would be so much easier just been able to focus on the portfolio. What courses are you applying for?

spinandscribble

edinburgh, lsad, galway and ncad.

Mark Douglas

Hi Xenzo
I appreciate what your going through right now as I have done the brief myself and know the deadline is looming. I run portfolio preparation courses, with specific knowledge of the NCAD brief, so if you would like some help finishing the work - look me up www.myartclass.ie.
Best wishes
Mark

Xenzo

Mark Douglas wrote: »

Hi Xenzo
I appreciate what your going through right now as I have done the brief myself and know the deadline is looming. I run portfolio preparation courses, with specific knowledge of the NCAD brief, so if you would like some help finishing the work - look me up www.myartclass.ie.
Best wishes
Mark

Thanks Mark appreciate it!:)

kanedaly60

How heavy can it be again? I nearly broke an arm plodding mine up and down the stairs. :S

Xenzo

kanedaly60 wrote: »

How heavy can it be again? I nearly broke an arm plodding mine up and down the stairs. :S

The maximum weight is 10 kilos mate. Have you got much left to do?

kanedaly60

Is it definitely? Oh dear... fecking portfolio case alone weights 3kg... I've got all the sheets pretty much done, just four to touch up and I've gotta fix up my notebooks. How about you?

Chorcai

Anyone else find they just did endless amount of sticking photo's+prints down for memories ?

Emmpty

The brief has swallowed up my life for the last two months or so and it seems never ending. I've got loads of notebook stuff done but haven't a clue how to do the worksheets, are they supposed to be kinda like prep sheets or what?

Chorcai

Emmpty wrote: »

The brief has swallowed up my life for the last two months or so and it seems never ending. I've got loads of notebook stuff done but haven't a clue how to do the worksheets, are they supposed to be kinda like prep sheets or what?

Yea you kinda put lots of ideas/ cuttings/ collage/ drawings/ very short and to the point notes/ etc on to a sheet ie A1/2

Emmpty

Crap thats what I've been putting in the notebook. I think I've been doing this arseways. But would it really matter once the ideas are good?

Chorcai

Emmpty wrote: »

Crap thats what I've been putting in the notebook. I think I've been doing this arseways. But would it really matter once the ideas are good?

Not really cause everything relates to your worksheet, Im only going on what we have been told, but then again the brief is so fookin vage its anyone guess as to what is right/wrong should be done/not

Xenzo

Emmpty wrote: »

Crap thats what I've been putting in the notebook. I think I've been doing this arseways. But would it really matter once the ideas are good?

As long as you've got how you came up with your ideas in your notebook and how you explored them etc you should be fine

Xenzo

kanedaly60 wrote: »

Is it definitely? Oh dear... fecking portfolio case alone weights 3kg... I've got all the sheets pretty much done, just four to touch up and I've gotta fix up my notebooks. How about you?

Yeah I still gotta weigh my case should be ok tho:) I've just got my notebook now really to finish(I kind of neglected it) and a couple of other bits here and there:) Yeah nice one man its nice having that pressure off your shoulders isn't it? I'll be dropping mine in on Friday afternoon with my mate who is also doing it.

spinandscribble

does anyone know how i can use a video i made on a mac fit the formatting?

kanedaly60

It has to be in quicktime format, yes? Did you make it on imovie?

Chorcai

Got this email from IDAT, fecking laughed when I read it

"What if I have prepared a 'special project' portfolio for NCAD - do I have to prepare a second portfolio for IADT?

Some institutions now limit you to the completion of a “special project” as the only content for your portfolio. At DIT and IADT, we do not ask for a “special project” because we recognize that every applicant is different, and as such the portfolio should show your individual abilities, interests, and readiness to join one of our innovative programmes.

If you have completed a “special project”, or you are working on one – that’s fine. If you are pleased with it, do include it in your portfolio. But please remember, we want to see the work that clearly shows you are ready for the exciting, individual opportunities offered by our programmes."

sligo.

hello there! im a 4th year student in sligo (obviously:L) so i will have all this ahead of me next year!! id love 2 go 2 NCAD! last week seeing as i was on my hols i took part of the brief you guys did. it was in section c...make a map of your face! i just attacked it really and did it all in 1 week, 2 worksheets. did any of you do the same part by any chance? i should put up pictures of my worksheets i was thinkin of doing "half destroyed" this week....ideas?!!

spinandscribble

sligo. wrote: »

hello there! im a 4th year student in sligo (obviously:L) so i will have all this ahead of me next year!! id love 2 go 2 NCAD! last week seeing as i was on my hols i took part of the brief you guys did. it was in section c...make a map of your face! i just attacked it really and did it all in 1 week, 2 worksheets. did any of you do the same part by any chance? i should put up pictures of my worksheets i was thinkin of doing "half destroyed" this week....ideas?!!

while its nice to practice, the brief we did will be useless to you if you try and complete it as they release a new one each year. so until 6th year you will not have the right brief for your entry. I just did the brief and was accepted with a good score so heres some advise i have if you'd like some.

its all about discovering your objects, exploring them and the ideas that arise from them. Start with an object that interests you. For example I had chicken feet as one object. The textures, shapes, meaning and what it reminded me of, made it an object with a long life span. studying objects isn't about lots of "finished" pencil drawings of it from a foot away, you need to fill pages with studies of tone, contour, colour, texture ect you can use any medium you want to do this. through this you'll see different things coming through, reminding you of things, take pictures or notes of these things, record them in a book as you go along, the more unlikely the better. If you get into the habit now, in 4th year, you'll find the brief easy when it's your time.

I'd recommend practicing on your drawing and painting skills and try to get them to a higher standard. Even if you're great now and everyone says so you can always improve. There's no point settling.

It would also be good to experiment with different media/materials, photography, video, stop motion, print, making clothes, clay, jelly, sand, lights, sellotape, anything. I think this is important and can show a love of learning. Plus its fun!

I loved the part of the brief that was section B (i think thats what its called) where you take one object and make it take on aspects of another and vice versa.

Edit: Oh half destroyed That was great, had a very interesting time with it. lol Probably my favorite part of my whole portfolio

sligo.

thanks for replying spinandscribble! i'll take all your advice on board as someone who has been through this already:D congrats on getting in...i'm determined to work for this now!

I loved the part of the brief that was section B (i think thats what its called) where you take one object and make it take on aspects of another and vice versa.

you know for that section your on about taking two objects and merging them together, well how did you go about it? do you have a wild imagination? or could you make it up mostly from what you observed? im just interested:o i could be still asking you questions this time next year:P

spinandscribble

I wouldn't consider my imagination "wild" but i really like thinking, I over think like crazy lol.

The work sheets for section be is just that. I'll give you an idea of one of my sheets. an
egg taking on aspects of a camera.
-I made a pinhole camera in the shape of an egg, then took pictures of what a chicken might take photos of (market in town as if a chicken was on holiday for the day)
- Made a musical instrument out of an egg by punching holes in it and experimented with the sounds it could made. an artistic instrument the same way a camera is also one.
- A camera holds information so what if an egg held information? fragile egg? fragile information? I carefully filled an egg with little notes on information that was fragile on a string through a small hole and recorded it as i pulled it out.

There were other concepts that I just drew, collaged, made notes or diagrams for on that specific sheet. Thats basically how I approached those sheets, sometimes trying to actually make my ideas real and messing around with how it would work and other times just explaining other ideas. Really just filling the sheets but not just with the first thing that came into my head just putting the more developed ideas down. Honestly though out of the 6 sheets for that section I tossed two after NCAD for my next interview.

sligo.

yeah i suppose if you think about things enough and tease out all the options you could get from something. because really i don't have a deep imagination haha:) did you make many 3D objects as you did yur portfolio spinandscribble? and what about these visual notebooks? are they just like sketchpads with lots of sketches/notes and thoughts in them? did you have many of these notebooks?

spinandscribble

A few 3d, I do remember everyone saying to do more painting to me, I assumed I'd get a low score because I didn't have much, but I had one strong painting and a few little bits.
While I did try to follow advise about the brief I knew I actually had Intermedia at ECA as my first choice. I had an idea of what they wanted by going to the open day and by emailing a staff member so when I was doing the brief I tried to steer my work to suit.

I had maybe 3 ideas/sketch books by then, feb 5th but I could only include two due to weight restrictions. For ECA I had 5, lol I went into overload when I heard I got an interview lol. They are meant to be you exploring your ideas and tbh everyones looks different. I write alot of notes, thoughts and collage images, put photos in it, quick drawings, studies ect. when you're making 3d work its useful for taking measurements and making plans.

The books are important to show how your work develops, lol was so annoyed I couldn't include more for NCAD in the time but thankfully it didn't go against me.

sligo.

so did you do exactly the amount of sheets and worksheets they asked for? or did you add in any extra bits? (apart from the notebooks) yeah obviously they liked what they saw anyways, congrats again!:D

spinandscribble

i think i put in two extra observation sheets for the camera in a different context because I couldn't decide between them, I had lost a min map I'd done for food and had to put a ****ty one in, plus I had two dodgy sheets for section B because I ran outa time. Our tutors said its ok to concentrate on some sheets over others because in their experience its important to show a interest and also its better to have some great work as well as not so good in favour of all middle of the road.

Chorcai

By the way !

2011 brief is out now.

http://www.ncad.ie/portfolio/

sligo.

Chorcai wrote: »

By the way !

2011 brief is out now.

http://www.ncad.ie/portfolio/

yeah i cant believe it i seen that alright! :eek: im delighted!! i have 9 months or so to do it and theres less amount of worksheets to be done in it!!! yee must be raging:p how long did yee get to do yeers? thanks for all the help spinandscribble!:D hey guys im just after setting this thing up so i don't have it that full but i have 3 of my paintings on it! have a look if you like and tell me what yee think! http://adamjak.deviantart.com/

spinandscribble

wow thats a decrease! probably hoping more will apply. Glad to see it, seems like you'll be able to concentrate more on what interests you then just ticking boxes.

Only thing I'll say is try not to work from photos, no college really likes it. I know its hard sometimes but where possible work from life. keep up the good work!

sligo.

spinandscribble wrote: »

Only thing I'll say is try not to work from photos, no college really likes it. I know its hard sometimes but where possible work from life. keep up the good work!

thanks:D yeah i totally agree with you, from now on i'm not going to work from photos. someone said that to me a few weeks aswell! as i was saying before i did a bit of your brief last week and i'm proud of myself because i didn't go near any photos or images! lots of drawing from whats around me from now on methinks:)

Chorcai

sligo. wrote: »

yeah i cant believe it i seen that alright! :eek: im delighted!! i have 9 months or so to do it and theres less amount of worksheets to be done in it!!! yee must be raging:p how long did yee get to do yeers? thanks for all the help spinandscribble!:D hey guys im just after setting this thing up so i don't have it that full but i have 3 of my paintings on it! have a look if you like and tell me what yee think! http://adamjak.deviantart.com/

Follow this and your in !

http://www.ncad.ie/portfolio/guidelines.html

All joking aside, draw things infront of you, the teacher in my night class (he works in NCAD as well) said nothing but...

Observation Observation Observation Observation Observation Observation Observation drawings.

oh and Visual Notebooks !!

sligo.

thanks Chorcai! im just after putting on another comment there above yours incase you missed it! i agree...OBSERVATION from here on in!:)

Chorcai

sligo. wrote: »

thanks Chorcai! im just after putting on another comment there above yours incase you missed it! i agree...OBSERVATION from here on in!:)

A good thing to do is get lets say a bannana/orange/fruit, peel it apart and draw it a few times, then put it in a lunch box seal it, come back to it when its half rotten, draw it, seal it, come back. you then can make drawing/collages/paintings of each of the drawings. you could fill a notebook with just this alone !

Xenzo

Hey who else got into ncad?!

Chorcai

Xenzo wrote: »

Hey who else got into ncad?!

Waiting list 0_o !

I know of 1 other person who did get straight in, she had amazing stuff, I was so glad for her 2yrs of working towards it.

spinandscribble

Out of 13 applicants in my portfolio course and the advanced level 6 group, 10 got in, including myself in that, and the other three are on waiting lists. Many of them say they wont be going as they prefer lsad or financially a move to dublin is out of the question.

kanedaly60

Xenzo wrote: »

Hey who else got into ncad?!

I did!

Emmpty

kanedaly60 wrote: »

I did!

Me too! I'm dying for September to come around.
I didn't get into Lsad though ah well.

Chorcai

Emmpty wrote: »

Me too! I'm dying for September to come around.
I didn't get into Lsad though ah well.

LSAD ? where is that ?

spinandscribble

Chorcai wrote: »

LSAD ? where is that ?

Limerick school of art and design- LIT

Chorcai

spinandscribble wrote: »

Limerick school of art and design- LIT

Ah :o

Emmpty

Thats what the Limerick ones called isn't it...?

spinandscribble

Yeah it is, some would just refer to it as LIT though.

Xenzo

Well congrats and fair play to the people who got it!!! =D
Hopefully see you guys next September!
As long as I get my 2 C3s that is..

I was talking to a girl who's doing the core year at the moment and she was telling me all about, it just sounds tremendously whopper!
She was saying for the first 6 weeks or so they were givin tasks like "Attach 3 objects together" and "Describe what the inside of your mouth feels like" .. :O Really weird stuff like!
Then you go onto the workshops after that.
She also said the amount of people who change there minds about what they want to do is really high! Like right now i'm planning on doing Vis Com.
What are you guys planning??

And I was kinda leaning towards IADT but after that conversation I think NCAD is the one! =D

spinandscribble

I think if I had decided to go instead of ECA I'd want to join Media in second year. Alot of people want vis com from what i've heard, its very popular.