Help with GCSE Art

Hello there,

I'm a GCSE Art student with a bit of a dilemma,
I've got about five weeks to complete three full
folders of work (none of which have been 'properly'
started) on the subjects: Overhead & Underneath,
Self-Identity (what a pain) and Barriers.

Very possible undoubtedly, but It'll take some
commitment and hard work.

Could anyone give recommendations for final
pieces & PREP, things to draw or just tips for
high scoring?

Also, any previous art students with grades B+
who could give me a bit of one-on-one eh? :wink:

Very much appreciated,

Regards,

Unsung.

Reply 1

MetroGnome

That's impossible! :O
Though I'm a really slow drawer. But 5 weeks? What happened to the rest of the year?!!

Um I'll try and give some help if you've got initial ideas of what 'direction' you want to go in :smile:

(I got an A for art GCSE last year)

Reply 2

KatieUni08

What board are you on for art?

I got an A* for GCSE and A of AS level so here it goes

If it's aqa think of your work in 4 areas (I'm pretty sure this will be similar for most boards but for a level and gcse I was son AQA)

RESEARCH - this includes sketches, initial drawings, photographs, drawing from your photographs, collecting any information you may need for your project.
ARTISTS - here find artists you like and that will influence your style and subject matter in your project, find their work, print it off, write a small biography, copy a piece of their work then do a piece of work in the style of the artist, do this for 2 or 3 artists
DEVELOPMENT - this is where you need to experiment with materials and compositions, try mixing different elements of your artists influence, using different media in your work but make sure all of this branches off from your research, if your a dab hand at Photoshop, do some photoshop work here, and come up with about 4 different ideas for your final piece
FINAL PIECE - basically do one of your compositions in big!
ANNOTATIONS - through your work you should annotate to show a clear path from beginning to end, saying WHY you did things and WHY you like them/ dislike them not WHAT you did or HOW as the examiner can see this for themselves

So for example, for self identity:
1. do a shoot of yourself, print off the pictures on a contact sheet and then select your favourite to print off large, annotate the contact sheet
2. do GOOD tonal drawings from these pictures (make sure these are to a good standard) you'll need 4-8 of these
3. Look at 2-3 artists copying at least one of their pieces directly with a small biography and then say WHY you like their work.
3. Recreate, say, 4 of these images in 2-4 different media 1 in the style of each artist you've looked at
4. Look at other elements, what do you want in the background? how are you going to arrange the pictures? are you going to have more than one image? etc. etc. try out layering, background etc. so you have 6-10 different 'experiments'
5. Pick your favourite media/style and favourite form the experiments and produce 4 different compositions moving around images etc.
6. FINAL PIECE no larger than A1

Do you see how this flows? showing a clear journey from the start of the project to the end? That is what your trying to achieve to get the best grades.

I'm afraid this is the only advice I can give you as the ideas have to be your own, everyone likes different styles of work and different artists and works differently, unfortunately art isn't a simple subject with a right and wrong answer.

Try and aim for what I have just told you, if you mount your work onto A1 sheets, you should try and aim for 2-3 sheets of research, 2ish sheets of artist stuff, 3-4 sheets of development, 1 sheet for compositions and then your final piece.

Good luck!!
Seeing as you only have 5 weeks to get everything done, you may not get everything I've written here done, try and aim to do as much as possible but in the end it comes down to quality and make sure your work flows from start to end and shows a clear journey.

x

ps. I may have said to do a little too much as I'm an A level art student but my sister is doing GCSE is this is pretty much what she has done to get an A

Reply 3

tom_tom_tom

i got a A in art

which was a suprise

but anyway

make sure you research, give examples of the research, abit of written about why you researched this, and then try somethin in the style of the reserched artist.

then create your own idea, using some of the reseached skills and looks you have

then develop the idea try different colours textured and designs, and evaluate these on stregths and weaknesses

then you final piece do a rough and neat example of your final piece!

then do the final piece

this is what i did took up about a 200 page book, when i had finished

it is a challenge to get a A* or a A you have to get very high UMS to get these grades!

Reply 4

mikemike

Wow you guys have given wicked advice! I got an A* in GCSE too, and if theres anything I can help with, any tips I can give Etc... Add me on Msn, it's:
[please don't post your email address - use PMs instead]

Reply 5

Unsung

Hey, thanks for the advice everyone. Much, much appreciated.

As far as I've gathered from the intarweb I tightly follow &
integrate the guidelines, mostly as KatieUni08 (thanks) has
posted clearly showing progression, development of idea's,
links to artists & quality for high marks?

Anyone care to be so kind as to break down the process for me in a hierarchy towards an A*?
I have the following: -

research & record idea's > conclude concept of final piece > research artists relating to concept > .... > prep work & final piece.

Thanks again.

Kind regards,

Unsung.

Reply 6

KatieUni08

If you follow what I wrote above then you should get high grades as far as content goes. By doing that you'll show a clear progression BUT I can't emphasise enough how much quality comes into any art qualification. It's all very well having 10 tonal drawings but if they're not to a good standard then you can't expect to get the 13, 14, 15 marks in that area. It's better to have 6 good quality drawings than 10 not very good ones.

As far as a kind of process:

1. Research ideas around your theme,
2. Conclude a general sub theme (you don't have to think about your final piece here just a general direction your project is going to go in)
3. Find two or three artists that link to your sub theme or style you like working in
4. Take photographs, all of your work will branch from photographs so do this asap!!
5. Initial drawings
6. Stylise the drawings, Photoshop work, Integrate artist style
7. Background and developing the general ideas
8. Chose the best parts from 6. and 7. and come up with final piece ideas
9. final piece.
10. annotate your work :smile:

I'm not sure this is what you meant by a heirarchy but follow all the advice on here and you should do pretty well! The hard bit is getting your project started but once you've found a style you enjoy working in or a concept that excites you the work should start flowing!

I will say though, it is extremely hard to get an A* in Art, I think once someone told me it is the hardest subject to get an A* :/ I think this is because it doesn't have a right or wrong answer and comes down not only to good thought processes but talent. As I said, follow all the advice and you should get high marks if you make sure quality and quantity work in conjunction with each other.

have you decided on starting point for all your projects yet?
And is there one particular style/artist that you love? This will really help as your ideas will be focused.

Any more questions/ advice pm me or carry on asking in here!!

x

Reply 7

Unsung

Ah, very concise. Thank you.

I think I will do fine now.

----
As far as talent goes I rank myself pretty advanced
with drawing and tonal work. Mastery of digital mediums
through freelance work including Photoshop, Illustrator &
InDesign/Quark Express. I love oil painting too.

I have an SLR camera and luckily a friend of mine has
access to a 60" compatible large format printer.

Any recommendations/tips? :smile:

Reply 8

KatieUni08

Wicked, well then if you do what I say then you should be on target for an A / A*

Photoshop will help no end as you can knock out loads of different styles and compositions in a pretty short amount of time. Pretty much the entire of my development for my only coursework unit this year was done on photoshop, I just then did media tests and I was away to do the final piece. I got an A which is pretty decent for my A2 final coursework piece!

You don't have to worry so much about the printing stuff, A simple A4 print off off an alright printer will do you fine :smile:

I think that is pretty much all I can say! Work hard and it'll pay off in art :smile:

Have you started any of the projects you mentioned in your first posts?

x

Reply 9

BFMVfan

Ok, I don't nkwo if anyone will be able to help me but, yes I've found this thread helpful but I have one night, (yes tonight) to get a developement sheet done. My theme is music, for this sheet guitars in particular. At my disposal I have biros, 2B pencils, colouring pencils and I think some paint (not sure about the last). I have some photographs but right now all I've got is secondary.
Any ideas, tips, or help in general?

Reply 10

BFMVfan

Um just check the date of the last message sent, uh oh.

Reply 11

Idk Names

Not my thread but thanks a loaddd KatieUni08, what's been said is really going to help me!

A* here i come :cool:

Reply 12

Aaron Bahdolby

Well i have until Monday to get my empty book done.

woo :frown:

Reply 13

tyrar

I got an E in art do i'm redoing it at BTEC and I find it easier. Make sure that you have at least one sketchbook it will be easier and you can put your thoughts into it. Also it means that you can store half finished drawings. Try and do drawings in media that you know you can work quickly with