Art schools, like other universities, now prefer online applications. Take clear photographs of your work and upload them to the portfolio section of your application. Include information about each piece: its title, dimensions, medium, date and any additional notes you'd like to add.
Art schools prefer your portfolio to focus on works completed in the previous 12 months, as this provides the clearest examples of your recent accomplishments, current ability, influences and style. You can include older works, but the majority should be completed within the last year.
A fine art portfolio for art school should include examples of the student's best work thus far. As stated in the section above, the fine art portfolio should include your work from the last year, but if there are examples that you are particularly proud of that are older, include them as well.
Submit digital portfolios on CD or DVD that will open on a Macintosh computer. California Institute of the Arts recommends sizing images to 1024-by-768 resolution, and limiting submissions to 20 images. Video submissions should be limited to 10 minutes.
Generally, fine arts schools request a one-page essay detailing what you plan to achieve artistically from your education, what your career goals are and what you've achieved thus far. Schools such as the New York Academy of Art follow these requirements for the essay. Other schools, such as the California Institute of the Arts, request that you also include any artists, periods and pieces that have influenced you. Consult the art school's admissions website to be sure that you meet all of their essay requirements.
Art schools are looking for your personal styles and inspirations, so avoid submitting your class assignments as part of your portfolio. This will demonstrate the point of view of your lecturer, not you, so focus on what you've worked on outside of class to create the best fine art portfolio for art school.