Professor David Dibble of the Design Program of BYU gave the following advice to a student about improving her portfolio, in the hopes of her eventually gaining entrance to BYU’s Design Program:
1. Make master copies (master copies are drawings or paintings copied from artists that one admires).
2. Surround yourself with art that inspires you (this might mean hanging up artwork in your bedroom or in your studio that inspires you, or filling up your social media feed with the work of artists that impresses and inspires you).
3. Do figure drawings, preferably from live models.
4. Focus on representing whatever you are drawing or painting accurately. Expression and creativity can come later.
5. Draw and paint in “plein air” (plein air painting is about leaving the four walls of your studio behind and experiencing painting and drawing outside).