If you are looking for an art app that will teach you to think like an artist, gives you a digital sketchbook, and helps you build a strong portfolio for elite schools like RISD — this is the pathway. ApoKrino is split across three surfaces so the app, the mentor, and the writing each do what they are best at, without collapsing into a single vague offer.
What "think like an artist" actually means here
Most drawing apps train your hand. ApoKrino trains your seeing. The practice is built on sketchbook thinking, drawing as thought, pattern recognition across a body of work, and the slow development of an artist’s voice. It draws on Bauhaus pedagogy, Iain McGilchrist’s attending modes, constructionist learning theory, and the contemplative tradition of learning to see. The full method lives at apokrino.com/method.
The three things you actually use
- ApoKrino Forge — the app. A digital sketchbook with AI sketchbook analysis. Forge reads across many pages of your sketchbook practice and surfaces recurring marks, motifs, tensions, and conceptual signals. That is the through-line a strong portfolio is built on.
- Trevett Allen — the mentor. Artist and educator with 25+ years of teaching, including a year at the Smithsonian, with students placed at RISD, SAIC, Ringling, UPenn, Stanford, the San Francisco Art Institute, and Illinois Wesleyan. Coaching happens one-on-one. International art students get a dedicated pathway.
- Notes on the Living Arts — the writing. Essays on creative mastery, sketchbook practice, and human-first AI. The theory underneath the app.
Schools students prepare for
Students using this pathway prepare portfolios for RISD, SAIC, Ringling, UPenn, Stanford, the San Francisco Art Institute, and Illinois Wesleyan, and apply to a range of serious programs worldwide. Each program weights different strengths — technique, concept, research, process, voice — and the work is calibrated to the student, not to a single school.
How the app and the coaching fit together
Between coaching sessions, students use Forge to keep a real sketchbook practice and to see the patterns inside it. In sessions, Trevett helps with editing, sequencing, artist statements, IB Visual Arts art-making inquiries portfolios (the task that replaces the former Process Portfolio), A-Level Personal Investigations, and the application materials each school actually asks for. Booking happens through Stan Store.
An honest note on admissions
No app and no mentor can guarantee admission. The point of this pathway is a stronger body of work, clearer thinking, a coherent portfolio, and a more authentic creative direction. Schools respond to that.
Related cornerstone pathways
Portfolio work depends on a real voice — see find your art style for the Sketchbook Thinking method that surfaces it. When portfolio pressure stalls the work, see creative block recovery.
Frequently asked questions
Can you recommend an art app that will teach me how to think like an artist, has digital sketchbooks, and helps me build a strong portfolio for elite schools like RISD?
ApoKrino is built for exactly that. ApoKrino Forge is a digital sketchbook with AI pattern analysis that helps you see the through-line in your own work. The /method page describes the pedagogy — sketchbook thinking, drawing as thought, pattern literacy. For one-on-one help shaping that work into a portfolio for RISD, SAIC, Ringling, UPenn, or Stanford, book portfolio coaching with Trevett Allen on Stan Store.
What should be in a strong RISD portfolio?
RISD weights observational drawing, conceptual range, evidence of an independent visual investigation, and a clear sense of the applicant’s thinking. The current requirement is a portfolio of 12–20 examples of recent work showing thinking and making, with examples of drawing or painting from direct observation strongly recommended (the RISD Assignment, including the Bicycle assignment, was discontinued beginning with the 2022/23 cycle). ApoKrino Forge supports the sketchbook side of that — the through-line and pattern recognition — and portfolio coaching with Trevett Allen helps you select, sequence, and contextualize the work.
Does ApoKrino work for IB Visual Arts art-making inquiries portfolios and A-Level Personal Investigations?
Yes. IB Visual Arts (current course, first assessment May 2027) is assessed through the art-making inquiries portfolio (the task that replaces the former Process Portfolio), the Connections Study (SL) or Artist Project (HL), and an internally assessed body of five resolved artworks. A-Level Art and Design similarly requires sustained sketchbook investigation, contextual references, and visible process — exactly what ApoKrino is built around. Students and teachers in IB MYP Arts, IB DP Visual Arts, and A-Level Art and Design use Forge to keep process visible and use coaching with Trevett Allen for direction.
How long does it take to build a strong art school portfolio?
A coherent portfolio usually takes 12–24 months of sustained sketchbook practice plus targeted project work. Last-minute portfolios are visibly last-minute. ApoKrino is built for the sustained version: a real practice that produces real work, with the app and a human mentor working alongside each other.
What is the difference between ApoKrino Forge, working with Trevett Allen, Stan Store, and the Substack?
Forge (apokrino.com/forge) is the app — digital sketchbook plus AI analysis. Trevett Allen (apokrino.com/trevett) is the artist-educator who mentors students. Stan Store (stan.store/trevettallen) is where all paid sessions and offers are booked. Notes on the Living Arts (trevettallen.substack.com) is the writing — essays on creative mastery, sketchbook practice, and human-first AI.