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Drawing a skeleton or how ÚJOP prepares students of art for entrance exams and more

The Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies (ÚJOP) offers two preparatory programmes for foreign students interested in studying art and architecture at Czech universities. They are Art and Architecture COMPLEX and Art and Architecture PROGRESS. Both of these programmes include, in addition to intensive Czech and art history classes or a socio-cultural seminar, the preparation of a portfolio. A students' art portfolio is the key factor in the admissions process for most arts disciplines.

This course also includes excursions to museums, doors open days at the best Czech art schools and, for instance, also visits to the botanical garden where students practice drawing live plants.

ÚJOP puts great emphasis on the portfolios also because admissions to schools in the Czech Republic take place already in November, so there is not much time for preparation left. ÚJOP recommends that its students arrive in the Czech Republic with a portfolio they have already worked on in their home country. If they do not have one, this course is the way ÚJOP offers them support. Those who already have a portfolio will receive professional help and advice on how to improve and compose the portfolio to make it as attractive as possible for the school.

In the video, you can meet the renowned artist Nonna Lorenz, who once studied at ÚJOP herself and is leading this preparatory seminar at the Prague - Krystal Centre at ÚJOP.

In this lesson, which took place on October 15, the teacher decided to use a model of a human skeleton from the medical students' preparatory classes as Halloween was approaching. The students were tasked with drawing this skeleton in pencil and learning how to properly capture the canon of body proportions on easels. The teacher continuously guided the students, pointing out possibilities for improvement and directing them to a correct depiction of the proportions and shape of the human skeleton.

Towards the end of the lesson, she asked the students for their homework assignments from the previous class. These assignments varied according to the field of study the students planned to apply for. Students with an interest in art or design were tasked with capturing more abstract assignments such as the wind, themselves in the future or during the day. Special credit was given to students with creative and novel interpretations of the assignment. Students preparing to study architecture were assigned to draw live flowers and trees.

In another class, when the teacher took the students to the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science of Charles University, they got a chance to practice drawing and photography en plein air. Here they worked on drawing live specimens of plants and animals kept in this garden. Some tried to capture in detail the feathers of parrots that were observing them from a large aviary, while others tried to capture the shading of the leaves of the plants growing around them. Students with an interest in photography practiced the art of composition and capturing the atmosphere on a digital camera. This gave everyone a great opportunity to develop their talents outside of the school studio.

If you too are interested in preparatory courses for artistic fields of study, you will find all the information about them here.