Annual Spring IDA Portfolio Review

SPRING 2025 UNDERGRADUATE ILLUSTRATION, DESIGN AND ANIMATION PORTFOLIO REVIEW

(Applications will be accepted starting March 12 and due March 14 by 10 a.m.)

This Spring review accepts 36 to 40 students into a combined Illustration, Design, and Animation Program. Students are not IDA emphasis until the passage of this second review. The first review is for admittance into the School of Art and declaring your interest in becoming an IDA student. 

IDA SPRING PORTFOLIO REVIEW Q+A

Join us for a Portfolio Review Q+A with IDA faculty and students. See sample portfolios and get info on building and uploading your portfolio.
Tuesday, January 28th, 5:15pm
In Person (Art Building Room 205) and via Zoom

ELIGIBILITY CHECKLIST

• I have taken most of my First Year Experience (FYE) classes.
• I have taken or am currently enrolled in ART 265 and ART 266. It is best to take at least one of these classes in the Fall before the review. However, there is no penalty for going through the review multiple times, so you should apply even if both required classes are being taken during the review semester. (Transfer students should make sure they have had the equivalents of ART 265 and ART 266. Check with School of Art advising to confirm.)

PORTFOLIO REVIEW PROCEDURES

• Portfolios can be submitted online starting Wednesday, March 12, 2025, and are due by 10 a.m. on Friday, March 14, 2025.
• IDA faculty will review and rank the applications. This procedure may take a few days.
• You will be notified via email of your acceptance and the required classes for Fall 2025. Please note that you will forfeit your place in the IDA program if you do not register for the required courses in the Fall.
• You will also be notified via email if you are not accepted into the program. Please make an appointment with advising to discuss your next steps and get feedback on your portfolio.

PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES

The IDA faculty requires that all work be original and not include characters, imagery, or other visuals sourced from the Internet without permission. Fan Art will not be accepted for this portfolio review. Fonts and photographs are acceptable when they support a larger IDA project and are attributed to the photographer/source.   

You may use this Google Slides template and find this document on Combining PDFs helpful to create a multi-page landscape 1024×768 pixels format PDF portfolio that includes the following pages.

SLIDE 1

This slide should contain your completed 2025 IDA Application Form.

SLIDE 2

This slide should show your visual response to the prompt of the below photograph and at least one word from the word list. Respond to the image and word pairing in a way that’s meaningful to you and incorporates your preferred medium, style, and format. Consider how combining images and words creates new meanings when brought together. Your visual response may be a poster, album or book cover, illustration, collage, animation, etc. Note the mood, directionality, composition, shape, color, and what you might bring to this visual by changing its context, scale, framing, positionality, mood, etc. The actual photograph may or may not appear in your final solution. However, your final solution should encompass your interpretation of the concept the image evokes combined with an aspect suggested by one of the words in the list below.

Along with your visual response to this prompt, please submit a brief (150 words max) written description of your concept for this piece, including your choice of word pairing.

Rust

Hidden 

Tongue

Trap

Heavy 

 Photo Credit: Adobe Stock Education License

A high-resolution image of the photo can be downloaded here. 

SLIDES 3 – 5 (use as many slides as necessary)

The following slides should showcase one of your projects from process to finish. This should include a project description, research including reference images, mind-maps, brainstorming lists, thumbnail sketches, roughs, iterations/alternate variations, color studies, etc. Use as many slides as necessary to clearly show your process of creating one of your assignments. Your chosen assignment should preferably come from ART 265 or ART 266. Transfer students may choose any project from prior classes or self-initiated work. Please note that this process is not about showing the evolution of a single illustration from start to finish (i.e., Partially complete to complete), but rather all the preliminary work required to showcase the development of your ideas.

NEXT SLIDES

The following slides of your portfolio should present 3 sample projects of your choice. For each of these 3 works, please include a short description and final image of the project. If your project is 3-dimensional or multi-page, use as many viewpoints and detailed pictures as needed to show your work clearly. Animations, videos, and websites should be displayed with a single still image from the project and contain a hyperlink to the work online.

FINAL SLIDES

Please scan or photograph 6 pages from your sketchbook that show how you utilize a sketchbook. These pages should not be finished artwork but show process, exploration, and personal interest.

Submission Process:
Please name your PDF portfolios using your last name and first initial with the .pdf extension. (Leslie-K.pdf). Your PDF portfolios should be under 100MB. If you need help reducing your MB size, you can compress your PDF file here. 

Upload your PDF submission to Portfolio Submission. If you have any problems with the upload, contact Nicole Antebi at nantebi@arizona.edu.  

EVALUATION, ACCEPTANCE, AND ADVISING

• The work submitted should: Show an eye for composition and application of formal principles (scale, balance, weight, texture, direction, etc.); Communicate an understanding of form and sensitivity to materials; Show a clear understanding of color relationships; Demonstrate excellent skills and attention to detail; Show a facility with software. Ideas embodied in the work should be innovative and strong. Digital uploads should be clear and readable.
• If accepted into IDA, your name will be placed on a list allowing you to register for the required courses* online. Register on time to get a seat in fall classes. You will only be guaranteed courses in the sequence indicated on the IDA grid (included with acceptance). If you do not register for the required classes in the fall semester, you forfeit your place in the program. If there are extenuating circumstances, contact IDA Program Chair Nicole Antebi  (nantebi@arizona.edu) to discuss.

*You must maintain a 3.0 GPA in IDA classes to be guaranteed admission into IDA classes. Any IDA grade below 3.0 will place you on probationary status for the remainder of your studies.

2025 IDA Application Form