I am going to be a senior next fall in High School and my first hour, first day is AP Studio Art. (not that it really matters when). Ive taken all the other Art classes at the school, and I know the teacher really well. I understand the class, but Im wondering if there are any things that I should know from people who have taken it. Or just people who want to, or are currently taking it, to discuss the class in general. The requirements and the possible gos or no gos for the portfolio.

Basically in my AP class, they just let us do whatever. I don't think it was very good because it was just painting or drawing whatever the whole time and they really did not teach us about much of anything. I wish they would have taught more rather than just telling students to draw or paint.

AP Studio Art was quite the class for me. It was a lot of work and much different from any art class I had taken prior to that.

I assumer you'll be putting together your portfolio for the grade right?

If that's the case then by the end of the year you are going to need 24 good art pieces. 12 of these will be a demonstration of your skill in different media and subject matter. Basically with these you want to show of your abilities. It's important to choose media your are good at, but also be well rounded. i.e. don't just choose one media.

The other 12 pieces will be your concentration. Think of this as themed work. You want these 12 pieces to sort of go together. Also, make sure your concept is easy to explain as you only get a little bit of room to explain it. I would suggest thinking of what themes you might want to do now, make sure it's something you will enjoy doing and can stick to.

There were three people in our class. Our themes were visual puns, European horoscopes, and mine was music lyrics. While my theme was fun it was very difficult to explain as I wasn't able to title my pieces so they ended up seeming very abstract and not very connected.

I got a 3 out of 5 on my work. You can view my work here: Mad-Jester356's Gallery Obviously, anything labeled with AP at the end of the name is from my AP class.

Be aware that you really want your pieces to pop. You will only be able to send in three of your actual pieces. The rest will be represented by 1 to 2 inch big slides viewed via magnifying glass. If I remember correctly, your work will be viewed by 3 different people, each piece getting about ten seconds and each persons score will be averaged together to give you your final score.

If you want to know anymore feel free to ask!