Selecting a concentration topic is of paramount importance when it comes to developing the AP Studio Art Portfolio–students must select something that offers enough engagement and interest to complete 12 works all based upon the same subjects. Here are 99 topics to get you started thinking creatively, and each of the 99 has been used to receive a passing score on the AP Exam.
For some students, deciding on a concentration can be the starting point of something spectacular–they find a topic that they are passionate about, they begin creating immediately, and they develop the concentration part of their portfolio almost effortlessly. For others, however, making a final decision brings their work to a screeching halt. They cannot find enough angles or approaches to the topic that interest them, they struggle to engage, and procrastination becomes worse than ever. For those students, this list can be used to start the preliminary process of creative thought, conceptual development, and brainstorming. A final topic doesn’t need to be a forced decision, but it never too early to begin the process of its development. This is a good place to get you started.
Interactions
- Cliques and Social Groups
- Accidents or Chance Encounters
- People’s Interaction with Music
- A Family Through Any Number of Years
- Encountering a New Person, Place, or Experience
- The Clash of Two Enemies
- How We Avoid Encounters We Do Not Want
- How People Meet, Talk, and Act Online
- A Party (Kid’s Birthday, Retirement, Weekend House Party, etc.)
- When Disparate Cultures Come Into Contact
- Between Human and Animal
Technical Concerns
- Light and Shadow
- Reflections on a Variety of Surfaces
- Folds and Fabrics with Pattern
- Creating Depth through Use of Line
- Illustrating a Single Story Using a Specific Artistic Style
- Hands in Various Poses, Done with Various Media
- Landscapes (or other subjects) Painted in Varying Color Schemes
- Drawing with Nontraditional Materials/Drawing on Nontraditional Surfaces
- Positive and Negative Space
- Closeups that Show Texture
- Water and Refraction
Combinations and Juxtapositions
- Plants and Organic Material with Buildings
- Transportation Through Natural Areas
- Urban v. Rural Life
- Technology with Old/Antique/Vintage Items
- Size Distortions that Equalize or Enhance Everyday Objects
- Indigenous People in Modern Life
- Uniting Against and Enemy
- Twins and Their Lives
- Animals and the Food They Become
- Instruments and People Playing Them
- Disparate Objects Placed Together in Still Lifes
Society and Human Interaction
- Society’s Greatest Advances Come at What Cost?
- Costumes and Clothing from Different Parts of the World
- Settings and Costumes from Various Time Periods
- Consumers and Consuming
- Dichotomy Between Rich and Poor
- Bad Choices Teenagers Make
- Beauty in an Impoverished Environment
- Lifestyles of the Homeless
- Social Issues
- Work Based on Crime
- Document Your Community
Environment and Human Effects
- Using Nature as a Basis for Design
- Architecture and its Surrounding Environment
- Landscapes Over the Course of Multiple Years
- Fences and the Divisions they Create
- Site Specific Artworks
- Nature Taking Over a Decrepit City or Abandoned Buildings
- Impermanence/Ephemerality
- How Can a Solitary Figure Alter an Environment?
- The Destruction of Natural Disasters
- Flowers as a Representation of Human Emotion
- Development Encroaching on Habitats
Journeys
- The Journey of an Animal (Salmon Swimming Upstream, Birds Flying South, etc.)
- The Slow Disintegration of an Object or Group of Objects
- From Young to Old
- Through the Seasons of the Year
- The Evolution of an Illness
- Metamorphosis
- Working Through Fears, Pain, or Illness
- Life Cycles
- Time Travel
- The Life of an Athlete, Musician on Tour, Circus Performer
- Documentation of a Road Trip
Feelings or Emotions
- Abandonment
- Vulnerability
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Phobias and Fears
- Obsession
- Humiliation
- Joy
- Repulsion
- Courage
- Empathy
People’s Unique Qualities
- What Will People Do to Be Different?
- What Lengths Will People Go To in Order to Be Extraordinary?
- Idiosyncrasies of Peers as Captured in Portraits
- Fashion Choices and Accessories
- Tattoos
- Portraits Focused on Hair
- Showing the Work that Goes Into Developing Talent
- Goals and Future Plans
- Habits
- Unusual Life Experiences
- Images of Beauty Throughout the World
Single Object or Single Events that Represent Something More
- Masks
- Shoes
- Childhood Toys
- Biographies Through Personal Effects
- Quinceanera
- Sporting Events
- Souvenirs from a Family Vacation
- The Best Meal You’ve Ever Eaten
- First Paycheck
- An Important Sporting Event
- A Move Across the Country