Art foundation recommendations

[maofteens]

My daughter is in Y12, but is anxious about what happens after A levels so looking in to it now.
She is considering an art foundation course, which she would like to remain at home for (we live in London). If she was to pursue a creative career, she might be willing to go elsewhere for the actual degree course. She is particularly interested in 2D animation.
My questions are: any recommendations for art foundation in London; is it possible to do an art foundation then a gap year then a degree, especially if the art foundation course is linked to a degree course?
Has anyone got experience of the Animation illustration course at Kingston? And I've heard it doesn't matter particularly where you do your foundation course- is that true?

It's probably too far but there are a few choices in Scotland, look at Edinburgh College or Glasgow Clyde College - both with excellent routes into Art Schools including Fashion & Design. For textiles look at Heriot-Watt they collaborate with different colleges.

Does anyone have experience of applying for art foundation after the uk applicant deadline? Do foundation places ever come available in "clearing"?

My daughter is looking at art foundation courses outside London: does anyone have any tips for us? She loves drawing painting etc, not so much of the tech stuff!

Do you mean properly outside London? Off top of my head there's Loughborough, NTU, Leeds, Falmouth, Northern School
Of Art, Manchester Met......
Closer to London there's UCA which runs it's foundation at Farnham and Canterbury and Kingston Uni.
Hope that helps

@HeadlessChickadee She could apply to local colleges that offer it, as it is a FE course. The Student Room have a list of colleges and universities that offer it.

DD is doing one at our local college next year ( Bristol School of Art). I think most kids stay local for the foundation. Many local colleges run them.

Hey OP back after a name change! In case you never saw original one my daughter is lower 6th now looking for a London foundation course (wants to go further afield for degree) and her interest is animation (mainly 2D, but not exclusively).
We went to Ravensbourne open day yesterday - so informative! Mainly due to talking to the guy running the degree course and him being very frank. It was interesting to find out their degree is mainly 3D animation- I looked back at their website and promotional stuff and nowhere does it say this - it just refers to 'animation'. We also spoke to a Year 0 student. I had thought year 0 was the same as foundation year (but you stayed on for your degree, making it a four year degree), but it isn't. And what she and the degree guy said about the foundation year put us off it. No doubt they produce graduates with very marketable skills, the area was buzzing, but not a good fit for my DD. Though @Localher0 the fashion there was amazing and far better than what we saw at Camberwell foundation show - who knew? I thought Ravensbourne was mainly digital media. Well worth considering.
Kingston was fabulous. Such amazing facilities. Foundation years get same access as a degree student too. The course leader who gave the talk was enthusiastic and though my DD disagreed with some of her assumptions (mainly addressing the parents with those) she did like the emphasis on drawing.
We went to the Camberwell Foundation Year show rather than the open day (slots were full), and it wasn't as good as Ravensbourne. No tour of facilities - one next week but DD in school so hoping there's another (why have open days during term?).
One thing @TizerorFizz is most of the foundation years we have looked at are quite specialised. You may have five weeks of testing out a few other areas but they are all related (so design, or fashion and textiles, or fine art - hence the different foundations offered at UAL and at Ravensbourne). You are expected to pick your specialty by mid October. Only Kingston did two weeks each of the separate areas (art, fashion, design and 3D design) on one foundation course, but you still specialise in one area after that.
My dd is doing two week long courses at UAL and Kingston this summer, one for animation one for creative writing and illustration. This may help her see it from the inside so to speak.
And A level criteria pretty low, even in Art (which seems a tick boxing exercise anyway) - The portfolio is all important.

Hi @easyday thanks for the update! Your research is brilliant and will definitely benefit other parents when they find this thread!
My DD has got a place on the foundation course at Kingston this year and is super excited. I will report back on it in a few months. She's deferred her Uni place until '23.
Totally agree that portfolio is all - academics are not so important. If I remember correctly Kingston also expect applicants to have attended the open day.... DD also did their short course foundation prep last December and really enjoyed that. Their short and summer courses are highly rated.
Good luck to your DD 🤞

We went through a similar journey last year! If your DD is interested in drawing, maybe have a look at ARU as well? What sold my DD on the Illustration course there is how much traditional drawing they do, as well as the small class sizes (30-40) and emphasis on live briefs. Cambridge is a lovely city, too, and the art/design courses are in their own separate little unit ("Cambridge School of Art") with a fantastic building.

She got an unconditional offer on the strength of her portfolio which took the stress out of A-levels, too!

Good luck!

(Just noticed that you're looking at London for foundation... but no need to stay in the same place for the full course!)

dd and i went to wimbledon college of art open day and she liked it,
but she did her foundation at brighton, also part of ual

so that is even nearer to your home op

dd also struggled that you had to pick by october, she assumed the foundation course would give you longer to decide.

Congratulations to your daughter @Localher0! Did she have to go for an interview at Kingston? I think a friend told me that someone who she though very talented did not get in and it was the group interview he was a bit taken aback by, but I'd have though if his portfolio was good enough a poorer interview would not have mattered as much. Would you recommend the portfolio prep course? I see it runs over Autumn half term. Her current art teacher seems (naturally) more focussed on getting a good A level result, rather than a portfolio for art school.
@PhotoDad she definitely wants to go outside London for her degree and will give ARU a look. At the moment Falmouth, University of Hertfordshire and AUB are on the list to visit, perhaps Nottingham Trent and even Uni of Edinburgh- I think because she likes the traditional look of the place, though the art buildings always appear to be more modern. Poor student satisfaction ratings there though.

The Student Satisfaction ratings currently have HUGE differences, mainly because of how well places handled remote-learning through Covid. Those with high rankings are probably more flexible and student-oriented in general?

Little anecdote: my DD's art teacher offered to check DD's portfolio (which was kind!) and insisted that she include quite a few "fine art" pieces she'd done for A-level. (There was still room left for actual illustration work.) When DD met the course-leader (not a formal interview, long story) at ARU, he asked her why she had put "all that A-level stuff" in the portfolio!!

I don't think that the 'fine art' and the 'design' communities always see eye to eye!

Thank you @PhotoDad. Some universities are quite descriptive in what they want in the portfolio, some less. Kingston one of the better ones for this. Others more general 'just show us some ideas and development' - I'm pretty sure the portfolios are more organised and slick that that! My daughter is big on drawing and character development and is more inclined to a program that values that (Falmouth seems to for example), whereas I've heard from TSR that Bournemouth University is more in to teaching the technical skills rather than developing the creative storytelling side.
What they put on their websites can be misleading!
Surprisingly, even though she rejected Ravensbourne as an option, their Foundation Year show was much better than the Camberwell one. Plus the kids at Camberwell seemed to be doing that 'I'm a whacky art student with dyed spiky hair with a charity shop wardrobe' thing whereas at Ravensbourne they looked... normal. My daughter is definitely in the latter mindset!

@easyday My DD has said that her act of rebellion is NOT dyeing her hair!

You probably know this already, but one more thing I learned in case others find this thread: I had encouraged my DD to get her applications in early, to get some certainty in the process. But art teacher advised, very sensibly as it turned out, not to send the form until the portfolio is also ready. All of the places that DD applied to replied VERY quickly, saying "now please upload portfolio."

In fact the process from pressing SEND on the UCAS webpage, to accepting her unconditional offer at her first choice, took about three weeks in total!

Falmouth has a great rep for illustration (and animation) but was a little too far and the classes were a little too big for my DD. Best of luck!

@PhotoDad am I to understand that your daughter went straight to a degree course from A levels or is she doing a course that includes a foundation year?

Hi @easyday,

Yes, straight to Year One of a degree. She considered a foundation, but decided that she was absolutely certain that she wanted to do illustration rather than any other art/design speciality. Her A-level art teacher advised that foundation courses are aimed mainly at people who want to try out all the different areas, and that this is a shift which has happened over the last 10 or so years. (Previously a foundation was expected for everyone.)

She has picked a four-year course, but the extra year is an extended placement (between academic years two and three).

Thanks @PhotoDad. Most of the degree courses we have looked at have said foundation diploma under their admitting criteria, though not all and Edinburgh, which is a four year degree, seems to indicate you apply for second year entry if you've done a foundation year. . And most foundation diplomas are pretty narrow! Only one (Kingston) has them do two week rotation in other disciplines outside the main area of interest, the others we've looked at expect you to have at least decided whether it's graphics/communication or fine art or fashion/textiles.
My daughter is fairly certain it's animation for her, but would still like to try out other things (so Kingston number one), would like to try the animation software not available in school or for individuals plus I also think wants an extra year at home! She'd have loved to have done a gap year first but that would mean five years before she graduated.
I've been looking up ARU - it has a good mix of illustration in the animation course so thank you for the tip!

That sounds like an excellent plan -- good luck to your DD! My DD really wants to break into Children's Book Illustration eventually, and ARU has a very strong reputation for that. Exciting times!

Just chipping in here... my DD applied for textile design degrees at NTU (#1), Southampton (#2), AUB, Loughborough & Edinburgh. She has done a textiles A level. All offered her a place without a foundation diploma so she could have gone straight to Uni. She actually withdrew her application to Edinburgh as she really liked NTU and they're a bit naughty in that they release all their accommodation at the end of March so if you haven't firmed by then you're unlikely to get the best accommodation. (As it was Edinburgh didn't offer until well into May which is bloody bonkers!)
But she has opted to do a foundation year at Kingston while still at home as she thinks it'll be great experience while also staying home for another year as she's had a few health issues. Plus it's free!!

That's very interesting @Localher0. Well done on all those offers for a start! My daughter's teacher is of limited help - for example on the higher education evening he listed Goldsmith as doing a foundation course (it doesn't). The majority of the students interested in art are focussed on fashion, I think my daughter be the only one he's ever had interested in animation.
My daughter is now dragging herself in for the last couple days at school, has a weeks break then starts her short course at Kingston (not directly related to her future plans).
The accommodation things seems to be very stressful- as it was when I went to uni decades ago (in another country so seems a universal problem).