in my portfolio i focused a lot on showing as many different things as possible! this includes an unfinished oil painting and a lil clay dude i made in art class, some screenshots and behind-the-scenes concept art of an unfinished visual novel i made for a high school project, a small 6-frame pixel animation of a frog, a fake parchment puzzle/prop i made for my dungeons & dragons campaign, and my flipanim accounts! i think it's incredibly helpful to include any experience you have with animation, as this can be a dealbreaker when they're accepting people! they also look at the probability of you making it through the 1st year, so if they know you 1) have any experience with animation at all, 2) are interested enough to even TRY such a time-consuming art form, and 3) enjoy it enough to do it more than once that's a huge asset for you! sorry that this got long, i care about this subject a lot and want to give your questions the attention they deserve! please lmk if you want to know anything else!

applying to an art school is interesting! but DISCLAIMER! i am still a freshman and i only have experience with my school (HKU / University of the Arts Utrecht), other places may consider different things when accepting students so please take everything with a BIG grain of salt! we were told that some big things they looked at were: 1) experimentation: it's a huge part of art school! so try out different mediums, art styles, genres, etc! put it in your portfolio, even if you HATE how it looks! 2) the ability to draw dynamically: this is one of the reasons they often ask for unfinished work! in animation, suggesting movement in your art is more important than creating gorgeous paintings. gesture drawings are great for this! 3) an interest in storytelling: you don't have to be an author, you just need to show that you want to tell stories! this is why i advise against fan art, it's way better to show off your own OCs! sketches showing how you designed a character are great too! (3/4)

learning about the basic principles of animation (such as anticipation, exaggeration, and motivation) is also very useful! there are plenty of high quality free resources online, and knowing about these principles will allow you to make decisions more confidently when working instead of figuring something out by trial-and-error. knowing some basic film stuff is super helpful too! stuff like composition, shot types, camera angles and camera movements also apply to animation :) it's good to have at least a general idea of how to use them as it will also help you be more confident when creating a scene! (if enough people are interested, i might consider make a video explaining stuff like this using notes i've taken in class! it would be on YT tho) flipanim was actually very helpful for me! it's easier, more cost- & space-efficient, and faster than on paper, and the limited tools make it easier to focus on shapes and movement. (2/4)

ohh great questions, thank you! in my experience, learning and practicing go hand in hand! any time you animate something you are practicing and building up a 'mental library' which is part of learning! people sometimes ask me for advice on how to get better at drawing and i generally just say "practice lots, always try to go out of your comfort zone, and use references". for animation however, i think it's beneficial to approach it in a slightly more analytical way! mostly because it is a very time-consuming art form, so it's good to have a plan when you sit down to practice! real-life references are crucial! i make videos of myself or look at stock videos and choose a 'point' (like a wrist/chin/corner of a flag etc) to track (either mentally or by tracing) so i can see the 'path' it follows! it's very difficult to guesstimate a movement so this is a great way to closely analyze stuff. (1/4)

thank you for your kind words everyone! <3