What does it mean to be 'good' at art? You can acquire knowledge through reading, watching, listening etc but you must be able to apply that knowledge to specific situations. Use the links on this page to gain the knowledge of new techniques, and the artists that use them, and complete the tasks to apply this knowledge to your own work.
new techniques
To truly make your work stand out and be as individual as possible you need to explore a wide range of techniques and media. Click on the links below to try new things and discover the work of new artists. Make sure you watch the video on each sheet too.
evaluating and analysing work
It's very important to explain each piece of artwork you create with a small amount of writing, but it's easy to write the wrong things, and hard to use the right artistic language. Following the five headings and using the phrases on this sheet will make your evaluations better, and help you show you understand how to improve the quality of your work.
Don't forget you also need to analyse the work of other artists. Choose five questions at random to add information to research pages; when fully analysing a piece of artist's work try and answer every single question - look at the example projects to see how this works.
Don't forget you also need to analyse the work of other artists. Choose five questions at random to add information to research pages; when fully analysing a piece of artist's work try and answer every single question - look at the example projects to see how this works.
You have both of these sheets in your Knowledge Folder but why not save the images above to your phone so you have them handy whenever you need to use them?
presentation
Layout and presentation is an area that many GCSE students struggle with – often spending hours adding decorative features to their sketchbooks that make little difference to final grades.
Your sketchbook is NOT meant to be a complete a book of finished artworks and illustrations; it is meant to be a creative document of exploration and investigation. A place where you think, works things out and learn.
Some key tips:
Click the images below for more help with the presentation of your work.
Your sketchbook is NOT meant to be a complete a book of finished artworks and illustrations; it is meant to be a creative document of exploration and investigation. A place where you think, works things out and learn.
Some key tips:
- Let the artwork shine - Do not spend weeks preparing beautiful backgrounds if this compromises the amount of time you spend on the artwork itself. Producing quality art or design work is your number one goal.
- Vary page layouts to provide variety and visual interest - Some pages should have many illustrations; some should have single, full-page artworks; others should be somewhere in between. Make sure pages are well-composed.
- Use a consistent style of presentation - Some of you will prefer an ordered presentation style; others will prefer messier, looser, gestural work. Neither is better than the other: both can be amazing.
- Be selective. More is not necessarily better - Don’t automatically include everything. Select work which shows the journey your project has taken and presents your skills in the best light.
- Prioritise visual work above annotation - Only once images on a page are complete (or as complete as needed) should you fill some of the gaps with notes. Write neat and small in black or white pen: not ink that switches colour every sentence or is ‘enhanced’ by hearts on the ‘i’s.
- Give every page of your sketchbook some love - Use each page as an opportunity to remind the examiner that you are a hard-working, dedicated student who cares passionately about this subject.
Click the images below for more help with the presentation of your work.