Undergraduate / Body issues - What passion or inspiration led you to choose this study area? CMU SUPP ESSAY [3]

Here is the prompt:
Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that's developed over time -
-

what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study?

Word limit 300

I have two drafts (one is allowed). They are both really similar, but they are a little different as to how I am writing it. I have heard different advice and now I am really confused as to how to execute this prompt. Please let me know which one is going on the better direction and I can edit from there. Thank you.

Draft 1 Words: 292
I sat quietly in my high chair waiting for my parents to finish eating. I was quite bored, but the three-year-old me did not find anything amusing at a restaurant. Finally, the dinner check arrived and my short, plump arms immediately reached for the black, ballpoint pen. Confused yet curious, I clutched it with my left hand and drew my mother's face. I was astonished by the black marks and continued to scribble on the oil-stained paper mats.

Every day I spent at least eight hours doing art. No matter how busy I was with school, art was my priority. I felt in control and smarter using my creativity to portray my message through my artworks.

However, for the past five years, I kept pushing myself to find my own style. The frustration of disliking what I've drawn and the inability to create something original was destroying me. I wanted to be better and I kept striving for success. I later realized the stress was overpowering me and I had to tell myself "it's okay if I haven't found my style." After a few days of relaxation, a spark hit me.

Because of how I have struggled with body issues, I thought of drawing a character that resembled the imperfections I felt about myself. The nose would be slightly bigger and the toes would be awkwardly wide apart. I felt connected with my character, and the more I drew it, the more I loved the way I looked. I felt CMU was the right place for me to open up about my insecurities and share my different side of creativity with other talented artists. Art has not only taught me to beautifully express my past pain but also appreciate the moments in life.

Undergraduate / Identify one piece in your portfolio that you are most passionate about, tell us the story behind it [2]

SYRACUSE SUPPLEMENTAL essay

Prompt:
Identify one piece in your portfolio that you are most passionate about and tell us the story behind it. 300 words max

Before you critique anything, I have two questions. It asks me to tell the story behind it so should my essay be on what the story is? For this one, I wrote about my process, so I don't know if that exactly counts as the story behind it. Here is my essay, and please let me know if anything is wrong, and I know my tense is wrong.

It was the beginning of October when my family and I decided to go on a weekly trip to our local grocery store. The second I walked in the door, I saw how there was a towering pile of pumpkin varieties. They ranged from tiny green gourds to gigantic pearl-white pumpkins. In an instant, the sight of the pumpkins gave me an idea of a possible artistic piece.

Without any brainstorming sketches, I immediately began working on the final piece. Halloween was around the corner, so I added a twist into my drawings by incorporating witches, mummies, ghosts, and all the other traditional Halloween characters. My illustration will minimize the space, but it will still retain a communal feeling. The use of color was important, because not only does my illustration need to be wary of the use of shapes, the color composition greatly impacts the balance of the piece. Through my illustrations, I always loved the idea of making my audience examine all the details I have integrated. Like how one of the Skeleton's missing bone or the Witch's black cat is hidden somewhere difficult to point out. Once I finished the drawing, I couldn't be more proud of how the colors all pieced together and how even though it was a time-consuming piece of illustration, I was glad I went grocery shopping with my family. I finished my piece titling it "Mounds of Gourds" because of how each pumpkin is stacked upon each other, in a playful and witty composition.

Undergraduate / What are your artistic interests/goals? Advice on CalArts artist statements. [3]

There really isn't much prompt but it asks me to answer this:
What are your artistic interests/goals?
What issues and concerns inform your art-making practice?
Why are you applying to the art program at CalArts?

I feel like my transition between the questions are not very good, so I need a bit of advice on it and how to make my artist statement flow. They didn't say how many words it should be, but they recommend between 500-1000. it is currently around 650 right now. It's my first draft so it's REAL rough.

Unleashing the Creative Mind

My artwork for the past 16 years have been heavily influenced by my own hardships, making it applicable to the societal problems today. Because of how I have lived through the times of struggling with an eating disorder, I wanted to portray my pain through illustrations and also integrate underlying truths about dealing with it. Especially in a world where internet is easily accessible, the pressure of looking like someone else is at high stakes. I unfortunately fell into a world of self-loathing and through my art, I hope people will understand how important it is to love themselves.

Coming to conclusions with my struggle was the toughest mountain to climb, but it only made me feel strongly inspired to create artworks empowering one's body image and self-love. I began exploring different styles to create a character that would resemble the feelings I felt about myself during the struggle. For example, my main focus would be on girls and for her features, I would make the nose in an odd "U" shape and have the body be slightly plump. I loved the originality of my character, but there was still something missing. It was the true feeling of my pain I had been hiding for many years, and my first character was still trying to shade away the truth. So I decided to create something completely new, a caricature that will able to portray the dangers if one were not to be precautionary about their mental health. This time, I truly felt connected, and tears falling down my face were produced by both joy and genuine pain. Several of my friends who have also gone through the same battles also felt deeply intimate with my character and soon realized how harshly they were treating themselves. I was so glad I was able to communicate with them through visuals, and I just hope I could do the same to the world.

Since I have a mind with endless possibilities of creations, I have always preferred making illustrations. However recently, I have also found a passion in both pastry art. I have linked the two interests and took them to another artistic level. For example, I would sketch first illustrate my pastry and transform my sketch into a reality. Because of how I have these correlating passions, I hope in the future I can somehow be both a baker and an illustrator. In relation to my mental illness, I still struggle sometimes with the ability to accept unhealthy foods, but luckily I found a way to make healthy foods taste amazing. My dream bakery will be comprised of nutritious pastries, alongside my art pieces to decorate the interior.

The ultimate goal of creating the combination of a shop and an art gallery is so I can promote the positivity of being a healthy, well being through food and art. I realized people feel an instant connection with food because of how the flavors ignites our taste buds, sensing our brain with overwhelming happiness. My inclusion of artworks also has the ability to showcase the deep message behind it. The interpretation of the illustration is subjective to the audience though, but my artwork should still grasp a sense of the feelings about one's self thoughts.

Over the summer, I attended the CalArts intensive, month-long art program. I was thrilled when I was chosen to participate in the painting class of 2019. The faculty were professionally trained and the program was very organized, making me feel like an actual CalArts wanting to thrive in art like other students.

Because of how much I have grown during a span of one month, I decided to apply to CalArts and participate with the most talented artists from around the world. When I first heard about CalArts, I was intrigued because of how different it was compared to other art schools. CalArts is a particularly new school that is divided into seven schools with programs incorporating the use of the digital world. Even though I chose to major in Art,

Undergraduate / Bakery and recipes - WASHU SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY [4]

Here is the prompt: Tell us about something that really sparks your intellectual interest and curiosity and compels you to explore more. It could be an idea, book, project, cultural activity, work of art, start-up, music, movie, research, innovation, question, or other pursuits. Min is 250, max is 500

My main concern is that I am applying for an art major, and I was thinking of writing this essay about something similar to art, like baking. However, many people told me to write about an art inspiration and how I am driven to draw, but my Common App is already filled with topics about art. So, should I write about baking to be more divergent or about art? Below is my essay on baking but I'm not sure if it answers the prompt.

my power of creating something original

The moment I walk into a bakery, I could smell the aroma of the fresh-baked pastries. I was so drawn towards the chocolate oozing out of the croissant with the sprinkles of coarse salt gently resting on top. My face pressed firmly against the glass panel because the fresh smell of the pastry was irresistible. I watched the powdered sugar fade away as the steam from the croissant rose above it. The perfect square shape of the croissant was beautiful, and I was so inspired to bake my own.

I researched and researched for the perfect croissant recipe, but it was nowhere to be found. I instead took the basics of a croissant and created an original recipe. I wanted the shape of the croissant to mimic hot chocolate because the holidays were just around the corner. Crispy, buttery layers of croissant were to be shaped like a donut, so once it puffs up, the pastry will look like a mug. To fill the "mug", I will melt both dark chocolate and heavy cream to produce a silky smooth ganache. Once bitten into the pastry, the chocolate will flow like how hot chocolate warms us internally. To add a finishing touch, I made peppermint infused marshmallows from a recipe I created, using peppermint extract I made six months ago. These marshmallows will float on top of the ganache and I would never have to worry about it melting. My dessert turned out exactly how I had imagined, and I was in awe of such a masterpiece. Not only did it taste absolutely amazing and reminiscent of Christmas, I have also just invented a work of art. Baking has manifested into my daily life, and I have never stopped unleashing my power of creating something original.

Undergraduate / Students presenting a portfolio in Art Practice must include an artist's statement [2]

STANFORD SHORT ESSAY REVISION

I went ahead and rewrote this prompt:
Students submitting a portfolio in Art Practice must include an artist's statement of no more than 250 words describing concepts, formal issues, process, and influences.

This is my second draft, so please let me know if there is anything to fix.

Words to some people may only appear to be composed of letters, but to me, words are the roots to a powerful usage of imagination and creation of an artwork. When I see a word on a poster, or in a book, I can immediately visualize how the word can be portrayed in my art.

Before I begin my painting, I mentally visualize the word several days before and think about the definition. From there I picture my canvas and think about the placement of objects I will place on there. I have always preferred thinking rather than sketching my ideas because I find this process much more memorable and thoughtful towards my art.

My artwork heavily relies mostly on color, shape, line, space, and pattern. Since my style revolves around illustrations, the texture is abstract and forms are usually exaggerated. I have one piece that consisted of 45 pumpkins where I used over fifty colors. After careful placement of colors, the composition was balanced. Some of the shapes were flat, while I added some shadow to the others to create forms. The spacing between each pumpkin is either tight or overlapped because I wanted to create a crowded but a communal effect. I love to use inconsistent patterns because even though there is an obvious repeating number of objects, the integration of a few distractions creates a more complex piece. From words to my imagination to the outcome, I have never been so driven to constantly produce masterpieces.

Undergraduate / A plan to pursue academic interests at USC, address your first and second-choice major selections [3]

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests at USC. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (250-word limit)

(Here is my essay below. PLEASE DO NOT COPY)

my own art style

For 12 years, I kept pushing myself to find my own art style. The frustration of disliking what I've drawn and the inability to create something original was destroying me. I wanted to be better than my age and my strive for achievement never ceased.

I figured my frustration problem was due to my lack of interaction with the world around me. My inspiration was limited since I only grew up with only knowing the Asian and Bay Area culture. But after taking a trip south to a part of Los Angeles, I was immediately entangled in the immense variety of culture just within a small city. There, I discovered USC, a university with the advantage of absorbing the different traditions around them. Because of how USC is situated at the heart of Los Angeles, I knew I could find my style within this university. Even though my interest leans towards illustration, design is a major influence in my creations." (160 words)

So I researched already and there really isn't much info helping me talk about why USC for their roski art and design program. I am not sure if I am going in the right direction or not, because I feel like I am not explaining enough why on my prompt. PLEASE HELP. this is actually one of the schools I want to get in to.