Whether specialising in Painting, Graphic Design, Photography, textiles or Sculpture, A-Level Art and Design students must begin by selecting a topic for their AS or A2 Coursework submission (examination topics are broadly set by the examination paper). One of the most crucial decisions a senior art student has to make is what subject or theme they will spend the year exploring. It is a decision that many find difficult – whether due to a lack of inspiration, an inability to discern between two or more possible ideas, or a general misunderstanding about the type of topic that is appropriate.
Below is a step-by-step guide that students can use to brainstorm, evaluate and select (in conjunction with advice from your teacher) an outstanding topic for A-Level Art.
Brainstorming Ideas for A-Level Art
Begin by writing down all subjects, themes, places, things, activities or issues that are personally relevant and that matter to you. The purpose of any artwork is to communicate a message – to comment or scream or sing about the world in which we find ourselves in. If there is no emotion behind the work, there is no driving force – nothing to direct and shape your decision making. Write down the things that you care about; that move you.
Photographic study of a sink by Aditi Kulkarni:
Art A-Level Ideas: Places, spaces or things that have importance to your life, such a messy, paint-filled art room sink, can be excellent sources of inspiration. Think of all the places you work in, live in or pass by: a classroom with a light streaming in the windows; a graffiti covered train station; a milking shed filled with cows; a chicken farm with featherless birds trapped in tiny cages; a hospital waiting room with a plopping water cooler and creased magazines...
Continue to gather ideas, slanting your thought process to include topics that are unusual, challenging, controversial, gritty or inspiring: those that fill you with passion. Students who select substantial, heartfelt issues that they really believe in are more likely to achieve great results than those who choose aesthetically pleasing but superficial subjects. A tried and true subject can still be approached in an individual and innovative way, but choosing a topic that is novel and fresh has certain advantages. Strong, contentious issues are those which the assessors themselves have a reaction to; they provoke an emotive response. Such topics make the markers and moderators sit up and take notice: it gives them ample opportunity to see the merit within your work.
Photography coursework folio boards by Louise Hutt:
Art A-Level Ideas: This student has cleverly merged photographs of x-rays, surgical instruments, stark hospital corridors and emergency signs to medical theme. (Note: This is part of an NCEA Level 3 Photography Folio Board - the New Zealand equivalent of A2 Photography coursework).
Painting coursework folio boards by Lauren Day from Green Bay High School:
Art A-Level Ideas: This student has used provocative imagery to explore the contentious issues surrounding human consumption of animal flesh. (Note: This is an NCEA Level 3 Painting Folio Board, awarded Excellence and Scholarship - the New Zealand equivalent of A2 Painting coursework).
Painting coursework final piece by Hera Lorandos:
Art A-Level Ideas: This emotive final piece, exploring a topic of self-harm, is rich and raw with emotion. Based upon a student's dream, there is a gutsy honesty to the work.
Painting coursework folio boards by Michaela Coney:
Art A-Level Ideas: This student has used explored obsessions with beauty and our dieting / pill-popping efforts to achieve an immaculate figure. (Note: This is an NCEA Level 3 Painting Folio Board, awarded Excellence - the New Zealand equivalent of A2 Painting coursework).
Evaluating Art A-Level Ideas
Think carefully the topics you have written down. Eliminate those which are ‘cheesy’ (i.e involving pink hearts and Brad Pitt), insincere (i.e. a theme of ‘World Peace’, when really this is something you couldn’t care less about) or overly “pretty” or lacking in substance (i.e. bunches of roses).
In order to create artworks, you will need access to high quality imagery. For example, if you are exploring the way in which humans kill animals in order to consume their meat, access to the inside of a butchery or abattoir/freezing works is likely to be essential. Reliance on photographs taken by others is unacceptable. No matter how awesome a theme appears, if you are unable to explore any aspect of it firsthand, you will not be able to do the topic justice. Remember also that it is likely you will need to return to your source imagery several times during the A-Level course, so a submission based upon a particular plant that only blooms for a couple of weeks out of the year, or a view of your village during a rare winter snow storm, is very risky. The ideal Art A-Level subject is one that you can physically return to, whenever you need – to draw, photograph or to experience firsthand. Eliminate those which do not meet this criteria.
Next remove the topics for which the source material is excessively simple, i.e. containing only a few forms, textures and patterns. A small pile of cardboard boxes, for example, might inspire a great drawing, but if this is the starting point for an entire year’s AS or A2 work, the straight lines, rectangular forms and flat box surfaces do not provide enough visual variety to explore for months on end. Overly busy source material, on the other hand, is not an issue – it is much easier to simplify form and detail than it is to add back in.
Then eliminate those topics for which the source material lacks aesthetic appeal. Do not mistake ‘aesthetic appeal’ for pretty. In fact, some of the ‘ugliest’ things can be stunningly rendered in an artwork or design. Art teachers (and artists in general) often speak of finding the beauty in the ordinary or mundane: seeing the magic in that which others have discarded or forgotten. This does not mean, of course, that any old thing is suitable for your A-Level topic. Some scenes are genuinely unattractive and unsuitable visually. Certain object combinations (due to their particular shapes, colours or textures) are extremely difficult to compose in a pleasing way. Similarly, some items – particularly disproportionate drawings or designs by others – are very challenging for a high school student to replicate. A drawing, for example, of a doll that is proportioned unusually, may appear to be an inaccurate, badly proportioned drawing of an ordinary doll. In other words, the examiner may not realise that the doll is proportioned badly – they may think you simply cannot draw. (If you find ascertaining the aesthetic potential of your ideas difficult, discuss this further with your art teacher. Alternatively, you are welcome to make a comment below – I am happy to give you feedback).
A-Level (AS) Art Examination (final piece) by evgeniasamsonova:
Art A-Level Ideas: This final AS examination piece of empty coloured bottles illustrates the beauty of ordinary, discarded objects.
A-Level photography by Kate Dunn:
A-Level Art Ideas: This accidental swirl of butter creates the immediate potential for aesthetic exploration: a moment found in what seems to be the ordinary and mundane.
The next topics to eliminate are those which are common or over-done. It doesn’t matter if some other people have explored the same topic before you… With the millions of people in the world, it is highly unlikely that you will be the only one to explore a particular theme (this doesn’t matter – you can learn from them…and no one will make art exactly like you), but, as mentioned above, if EVERYONE is doing it – if it is a topic that the examiners have seen a hundred times before, you should think carefully about whether you have something sufficiently new and original to say about it.
Painting coursework folio boards by Melanie Nieuwoudt from Green Bay High School:
Art A-Level Ideas: This is an example of a tried and true portraiture theme being approached in a highly original and innovative way, exploring the interaction between artist and viewer. (Note: This is an NCEA Level 3 Painting Folio Board, awarded Excellence and Scholarship - the New Zealand equivalent of A2 Painting coursework).
Finally, ensure that the topic you choose is something that you really care about: something that can sustain your interest for a year. If you have more than one topic left on your list, pick the thing that you care about the most.
SUMMARY
A good A-level Art coursework topic keeps you enthusiastic, creative and eager to create more. It eliminates the need for slavish self-discipline. It opens the door for you become a real artist – making art about what matters to you.
Written by Amiria Gale [artist + experienced teacher]:
- Art and Design Teacher for seven years;
- Faculty Co-ordinator, responsible for the course design, curriculum development and assessment of Art and Design work in high-achieving private schools;
- Bachelor of Architectural Studies; Bachelor of Architecture (First Class Honours) and Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Secondary);
- CIE Accredited Art & Design and Design & Technology Coursework Assessor.
[This is the first in a series of blog posts aimed at assisting Art A-Level students to gain exemplary grades]
I am struggling with a theme to do my art A2 level unit 3. I was wondering if you can advise. I was thinking of seasons but cannot find much information or artists to research and this is important because I have to write an essay on the artist. I do not think this is a theme with enough information.I did very well in my AS level and got an A on both units. They were on Natural form (Fish) and Waterways. There was so much information on both these themes. I did the day of the dead festival for my GCSE and got an A*. I am trying to find a theme which has lots of information but am struggling. Thank you for your help.
Thanks for your question and congratulations on your past results – you are obviously a talented and hardworking student.
Firstly, I want to stress that the most important factor should be how personally relevant your theme is: the quantity of information available on this topic is much less crucial. The truth is that these days – with the prevalence of information available on the internet – it is very rare to find a topic which you are unable to find sufficient material. If you are finding it difficult to source information that relates to a ‘seasons’ theme, this may be because you are being too general in your investigations. I suggest that you think about what aspect the topic you are most interested in… for example, are you merely drawn to aesthetic aspects, i.e. tawny autumn leaves or a barren winter scene…or do you wish to conduct a more theoretical investigation – i.e. exploring ideas of regeneration / cycle of life etc? Once you have narrowed it down (hopefully to something that is gritty, meaningful and personal) begin Google searches for artwork that fits this specific subject. Hopefully this will provide you with more results.
If you would like to abandon the seasons theme altogether, and wish to start with something new, it is difficult for me to suggest something as I don’t know your interests and the possibilities are endless! If you are really stuck, take something ordinary – and do something unusual to it. For example, one of my most recent students took fruit, waited until it rotted and decayed…and then strung them up on the classroom wall using nails and string. She then took savage and beautiful photographs of these, and began the most intricate and detailed drawings and paintings. There were many painters of fruit whose work was helpful to her. There was also an endless supply of crazy, contemporary modern artists whose exploratory use of media was of relevance.
Forget about quantity of information. If you care enough about something, you will be able to write an outstanding essay with ease.
What moves you? What matters to you most in the world?
I’m about to begin my AS art and we have been asked to produce work over the summer on the topic they have given us. Although i won the art prize last year i am struggling with ideas for our theme which is Man Made. I like fine art and my previous works have been detailed forms of nature including horses, plants etc. To start with I have been looking at Leonardo da Vinci and have been inspired by his sketches on human anatomy, but i don’t know how to develop this into my own ideas keeping within the man made topic. Also after reading your tips i realise it has to convey emotion. Help!
Hi Sophia, thanks for your question. Your enjoyment of drawing natural forms, horses, plants and human anatomy drawings suggests you particularly like curving, organic forms – perhaps with a preference (at this stage) for realistic depiction. There are plenty of ‘Man Made’ items that also fit into this category, i.e. curving architectural forms; ornate utensils / kitchenware (old kettles etc); woven baskets; intricate jewelery pieces… If you do a Google image search on ‘curving organic form’ you get a good idea of the huge range of beautiful man made forms that fit into the aesthetic you seem to like… and which could thus form the basis of an AS portfolio. The possibilities, however, are endless, so is it better to ask yourself what things really matter to you – what do you want to communicate to the world? Your work is often best driven not just by an emotion, but by a message (which will then provoke an emotional response in you and viewers). So what things really matter? What bothers you? What enrages you? Once you have an idea, you can then start to think about ways of exploring this aesthetically… It makes it much easier if you start with the message / idea…rather than randomly stumbling around looking of things that appeal visually…as generally, talented, creative people are able to see beauty in a lot of things – which makes it very difficult to settle on one thing in particular. If you come up with some possible ideas / messages / themes I can give feedback on which of them I think has the most potential, if you like… Good luck!
Hi! I am really struggling to find ideas for my theme of landscape this year. Last year i received an excellence on my board which was surrounding humans and birds. My art often surrounds humans and animals but i cannot do that with the theme this year so i am really stuck! i was thinking of doing rural vs urban but am in love with Venice and other historical buildings that i feel the need to paint them for my art board!!
i don’t know how i could incorporate these ideas (rural, urban, historical buildings) or if you have any other ideas for the theme of landscape it would be MUCH appreciated! thank you!
Hi Abigail,
What particular aspect of a Rural vs Urban theme would you focus on? The encroachment of urban sprawl on the rural environment? Conflict at the boundary where the two meet? It is possible that Venice architecture could play a part in an urban/rural theme if you looked at, for example, vines/creepers crawling over decrepit buildings / nature taking back a manmade structure etc. However, such interpretations are reasonably common and don’t seem to be that personal – i.e. historical buildings seem to be something a teenager might like aesthetically, but don’t appear to have much personal relevance (correct me if I am wrong).
When thinking about a ‘landscape’ theme, remember that the word landscape can be interpreted quite widely…i.e. it doesn’t necessarily limit you to ‘pretty’ outdoor scenes, but could involve digital/virtual landscapes and how these interact with the physical world…or perhaps human despair / disenchantment manifested in dirty, graffiti-filled urban alleyways. Whatever the case, as suggested in my responses to the above two questions, you need to begin by identifying issues that really matter to you and using these as the starting point for exploring landscape. For example (this is just a random idea, to illustrate the point
), you might be disenchanted with the rigidity of school life and how the education system has been reduced to spoon feeding students with small capsules of information. You could then begin to explore this idea through the depiction of schoolyard landscapes – focusing perhaps on grid-like patterns (repetition of rectangular classroom windows etc) in dreary disconnected architecture. As your work progress, you might end up abstracting the architectural forms in an effort to better represent/communicate/express your ideas.
If you find it easier to start with a physical subject and let the ideas flow from there, then select something unusual and interesting. Not a pretty building or a valley containing flowers – but perhaps a dead cattle carcass decaying in long grass or a smashed up car abandoned on a verge. It’s not the macabre is necessarily more appropriate than pleasant imagery, but that the world is already filled with a million depictions of pretty landscapes. To put it bluntly, they’re fast becoming very boring. Unless you are an absolutely amazing artist (and you are clearly very good, having gained an excellence last year) then you are doing yourself a disservice by selecting a mundane, ‘pretty’ subject. And even if you are absolutely amazing, it can be far more exciting to pick something unusual and crazy!
Hmmm, it is late at night and I think I am rambling. Hopefully I was of some help. Please feel free to seek further clarification if you need to. Good luck.
Hey! I’m having a problem choosing a topic with my five page(AS level portfolio ). Inprefer natural over man-made. Any idea as to what I can base my five page on?
Hi Haya,
It is difficult for me to suggest something, as there are so many possibilities! However, if you indicate some topics / themes you are considering, I can give you some feedback on them…
So far I’ve been working on different postures of the human body wrapped with drapery in an attempt to symbolize repression..a characteristic well known to myself as I’m a repressive person. Throughout my work, the true identity of the model is hidden. I was wondering if my topic needs to be developed any further ? Also for my five page, I was thinking of basing my work on something man made..but can’t think beyond man made :p don’t know what I could possibly do under man made. I hope this message is not as vague as the previous one. Also, your site is absolutely awesome. Thank you for all your help.
Thank you for your kind words
. I really like your repression theme. It has a lot of potential. You could explore such things as the results of repression and whether this damages you / makes you withdraw / put up facades / conceal your true personality etc. The theme may lend itself to using acrylic gel mediums etc to achieve transparency and translucent layers…exploring what is seen / what is not seen / what is hidden etc.
It is difficult to say whether your topic needs to be developed further without seeing it – but the body of work as a whole portfolio should show development…from a starting point towards a resolved work. If your work seems to be simply repeating the same subject from a different angle etc it is time for ideas / compositional strategies to be resolved. Looking to other artists for inspiration is the best way to move forward if you are stuck.
By five page submission, do you mean the preparation pages for your examination? My students completed International Cambridge A-Levels, so our requirements are likely to be a little different to yours (although the content of the teaching programme is very similar). If it is work that relates to your repression theme, you might like to select man made items that are connected to both fabric and ideas of repression …i.e. metal buckles on clothing and stitched ties / cords / zips etc – all of which invoke ideas such as tying shut / restraining / confining etc. These objects have more structure and rigidity than merely draped fabric and the human form (and would thus provide you with some welcome variety) but also can be tied in nicely with your earlier themes. If this five page submission is completely unrelated, however, you could choose anything!
hi am farhan.. i have started my AS.. i have chosen the subject gardening equipments for my work.. but i dnt knw wat i have to submit in the writeup.. can u please help me??? i like plants n tree a lot.. though havent found any aritist with my style of work…
Hi Farhan,
Are you completing CIE A Levels? Are you referring to your Coursework or Examination submission? I am unclear which ‘write up’ you mean… Please provide me with more information. Thank you
For my AS i am doing urban decay. It has to have some kind of story developing through to the end but i cannot think of anything. ????
I love this theme! There are many possibilities… Literal interpretations, such as an area of town that is physically falling into disrepair and has some sort of history or story attached to it…i.e. perhaps a thriving industrial area that became disused for some reason and then became overtaken by graffiti / vandalism etc. Alternatively you could explore notions of communities being dispersed due to computers …i.e. the desertion (decay) of traditional urban social centres (i.e. malls / movie theatres) due to people favouring internet-based interactions from the warmth of their own homes…
Perhaps you could zoom right and look at things on a near molecular level…extreme close-ups, visually analsysing, for example, the rust and erosion that creeps across metallic surfaces – or mites that eat into timber. These could lend themselves to beautiful abstract works. The ‘story’ in this case might be to do with the circle of life and how physical forms are transient and illusory with no clear boundaries…the ebb and flow of atoms etc…
Another option might be the beauty in decay? Discovering something that has rotted away only to expose something beautiful…
Hi there, i am doing abandoned mansions for my topic this year. I have started off with some detailed pencil sketches of mansions but i do not know how to broaden and develop my ideas through the board. As it should be slightly absract/collage later in the board.Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank-you
Hi Harrison. This is a great question. From my own experience as a teacher, I know that this is something that many students are unsure about. I have decided to create a separate blog post on Coursework Development – I hope it helps!
Hi! Sorry, I’m in a bit of a pickle, as I have to COMPLETELY rethink my original idea for my folio board (NCEA Level 3) and I’m really struggling for conceptual ideas.
At the moment my new idea is the loss of innocence/complete mental destruction and changed perception of the world through the experiences of war, told from a third person point of view with a solider as the main character. (like a narrative)
Also weaved into that idea is the idea of being so easily manipulated/brainwashed by the government into being merely a playing piece/slaughtered in their ‘game’ of war.
Help! I need you advice, am I on the right track? or am I completely off?? I fear that the idea is way too cliche AND I’m also unable to take photos of the subject matter first hand
opinion?
P.S your site is a lifesaver, very easy to understand and straight to the point
Hi there,
Thanks for your question. I really like your ideas. They are not new, as such, in that others have explored them before, but I don’t think they are cliché. There is a slight risk that they could be presented in an obvious, literal ‘this is what I am saying’ type way, but this applies to most topics.
My first impression is that it sounds a little as though you have two separate ideas (with a linked subject matter) and that perhaps it might be best to settle on one? It might be hard to depict the two ideas (loss of innocence etc with brainwashing etc) within the one folio without the two ideas becoming unclear or convoluted. I could be wrong about this however – it depends on what sort of imagery you are using. I would be inclined to concentrate on just one and do it really convincingly. Both are strong messages and absolutely have enough ‘substance’ to support a folio board on their own.
In terms of firsthand subject matter, I would be hesitant about only using 3rd party images – and would be particularly careful if they are just commonly available photographs (i.e. those off the net). I am not 100% familiar with NCEA assessment criteria (having only taught CIE) however my gut instinct is that you should use first hand subject matter if at all possible. For example, do you have relatives who were in a war? Can you get hold of any of their old memorabilia – photographs, letters, guns (lol). Perhaps you could take photographs at a museum? Or an old bunker? If you were thinking more along the lines of Americans in Iraq etc, then newspaper clippings / magazine articles – perhaps televisions or computer screens with online news stories – could be used as physical objects in themselves (i.e. with you initially creating a pile of photographs or pinning articles to a wall…and then drawing them, with all the creases / shadows / three-dimensional elements). You could even take images and digitally superimpose them onto other surfaces (i.e. find a demolished building or something that appears to be some war scene ruin type thing…photograph it beautifully, then digitally superimpose other war based images over the top of it – perhaps in a banksy style (resulting in a digital image that is now primarily ‘yours’)… I would steer clear of American based imagery, however, unless there is some aspect of this that is particularly relevant to you, or you are convinced you can do this in a way that it appears authentic and genuine, rather than as merely a disconnected, theoretical commentary.
Have you seen this war-based folio board? The NZQA website has a small write-up on it. It looks like it doesn’t have original source material (it gained an achieved). There are some instances where third party source material is appropriate (usually when the resulting work is a far departure from the initial images)…but I would be hesitant. Discuss it carefully with your teacher. They will know your work and whether it will work for your situation.
I hope that helps!
There is also a war based folio board at the end of this document that may be of interest…
I have currently started my essay for unit three on ‘How has the portrayal of food through artistic means changed over time’? IT a look st the rise of commercialism etc. and how it is portrayed through art. However I am stuck with my practical work. How should I display it? I want something original ( and not a sketchbook – they can get really boring) I’m not sure what to do… please guide me!
Thanks
Hi Claire,
I love your topic (this is something that interests me a lot as well)! I have just written a blog post about Personal Studies that may be of help to you. A Personal Study is, I believe, the CIE equivalent of your unit 3 essay assessment. There are examples of more creative presentations at the end. I hope it helps!
Can you think of anything interesting to make the project stand out. I really want to get that A/A* alevel mark….
Hmmm….I guess it depends on which artists you are featuring in your assignment. The easiest way is pick one of the artists and make your presentation echo the visual language of the artwork. For example, a focus on Bill Barminski might lead to a presentation made of interlocking MDF boards that contained collaged / ripped / painted pieces, with the text incorporated into it (perhaps as if the paint had been scratched or peeled away to reveal the text etc); a focus on Wayne Thiebaud might involve a geometric presentation, with strong, colourful, vibrant borders and headings etc. You might take a controversial approach, such as in Brandon Knowledge‘s Obesity is Suicide work – in sculptural or digital form. Really, there are many, many possibilities. Use the artworks you are studying to inspire you, as ultimately the presentation of your work should link to these.
hi there,
Ive recently started my ncea level 3 painting board and im very confused and muddled with ideas.im worried that my theme
may be to superficial or not easy for others to understand.to the point where im thinking of re doing my boards.my “theme” right now is Arizona(desert),which was inspired by a dream i had of an open road journey,the paintings i have already done
have a lot of vast open spaces to show freedom,buffalo skulls and dark colours which depict death of the land,a main character(a girl)her tattoos and an old school car.i plan on making my second board more surreal and re-introducing this coyote as a spirit guide(maybe this would show the more dreamlike qualities im trying to show?)
also worried that i might be trying to cram to many themes or ideas into one making it complicated.
any ideas or pointers would be such a life saver
thankyou:)
Hi Kimiko,
Your theme sounds cool and crazy (in a good way), but it seems to bring together a whole range of elements and ideas, so it doesn’t surprise me that you are floundering a little.
Firstly, I just want to check whether you have (or have had) firsthand access to any of your subject matter? Have you been to the Arizona desert? Have you seen and photographed real buffalo skulls? Is the car a real one that you have access to? Is the girl you? Even if these things are ultimately depicted in way that is stylised and surrealistic, it helps immensely to have quality source material the beginning. Could you substitute cow skulls for buffalo skulls (your school science dept should have some)? You want the examiners to believe that this is something personal to you – you don’t want them to suspect you have produced the whole thing from second hand imagery sourced off the net. There have been some good folios based on second hand imagery – i.e. pictures from comic books – but in my opinion these are rare, and in these cases the students do clever and original manipulation of the image to make them ‘their own’.
The second thing that concerns me a little with what you have described, is the large range of objects/scenes within your work. For most students, becoming proficient with the representation of just one or two items within a year’s work is enough of a challenge, let alone trying to become competent at drawing landscapes, bones, human figures, cars, and (now possibly) animals all at the same time. I would probably refrain from introducing a coyote, especially if this is something that has not appeared anywhere else so far in your board for this reason…but it is difficult to say without seeing your work. If you are a strong drawer and can cope with a wide range of forms, it might be appropriate, as long as it could be integrated seamlessly within your board. What does your teacher think?
The real issue at hand, however, is whether you have established what your work is actually about. If it is hard for others to understand, it may be because you have not fully defined yourself what you are trying to say. You mention that you are trying to depict a dreamlike state, and also freedom and death of the land, but how are these things connected? Your art needs to be more than a simple depiction of a landscape you dreamed about, with hinted emotion. It needs to have a real message and purpose. What was the dream really about? What is the purpose of the landscape? What is the artwork trying to say?
Once you have established this, it should be easier to know how to proceed with your work. For example, if you are trying to communicate the thrill and fearful freedom that might follow an apocalyptic catastrophe (that is the result of humanity’s careless attitude towards protecting our planet, for example), with the earth is ‘wiped clean’ and the landscape as we know it gone, leaving humans free of the shackles of modern society and eking out a primitive existence etc… then little details in the desert sand could give hints at what happened and what has been lost – perhaps collaged littered remnants of society… The expressions, clothing and tattoos on the girl could also all contain clues about what has happened…
There are some NCEA Level 3 Excellence folios (on the NZQA website) that may provide motivation and help. There is one near the bottom of this page based on dreams and one based on cruelty to dogs (the second folio), this level two folio. The first two are print-making folios, but they are just as relevant for painting etc.
Hope that is of some help! Sorry, I know I rambled a little.
Hi Amiria,
For my AS art we are suppose to develop our ideas on the topic ‘journeys’ for coursework during the holidays before school. However I am struggling to find some inspiriration on what to do it on. We are suppose to focus on three aspects of the journey: object, place and person. I soon became inspired by a derelict house near mine(a large house,three floored, various dimensions to the house, ivy covered walls, largish grounds with overgrown bushes, lots of remains from squatters, burnt down wall, ripped and textured walls) and i went inside to take some photos of it. There are various things i could focus on which is good (objects, walls, doors), so my theme could be the journey and emotions/facial expressions through an abandoned house. However, soon after taking the photos i found out that the building will soon be pulled down to make room for 2 bungalows and 2 semi-detached houses. Does this mean i can’t use this house as i wont be able to take further photos? Can i use a range of derelict houses, although there aren’t really any in my area?
Also I haven’t been able to find many artists who do derelict houses apart from Kaja Þrastardóttir that i like (she only does a few however). This particular artist does rather somber, mysterious paintings which i think fits in very well to my idea of having more colourful, vibrant people and objects in a possible final piece idea.
i don’t know whether to now put this idea forward or change ideas (i have none, any help!), as with the circumstances it may not leave a lot of scope to work on. Any ideas would be very much appreciated,
Thanks
Hi Mimi,
I have a few thoughts about your coursework proposal… Unfortunately, I have seen many, many student submissions about derelict houses, so bear in mind that this is a very common topic and will require some very original (or highly competent) treatment in order to ‘wow’ the examiners. This does not mean you should disregard it immediately as an idea, of course, but it is something to be aware of before you proceed.
It is possible to work around the fact that the house will soon be demolished (assuming you are not a photography student – a photography student needs to be able to access their subject for the duration of the course), but you will have to take hundreds of photographs before it is demolished (I would suggest about 300-400, probably over several trips to the house, at different times of day). Show these to your teacher to ensure they are good enough – your teacher will know if they contain an adequate variety and level of complexity etc. Obviously it is not ideal, but if you are certain you want to choose this as a topic, it is definitely possible. (By the way, I wouldn’t use a range of houses – I would just stick to the one).
Another possibility is to make the ‘journey’ the actual transformation from old to new – the actual demolishing of the house to make way from something new. The ‘people’ in this scenario could be the traces of remains that are left in the existing old house (perhaps you could ‘fabricate’ some if there aren’t any) and then the new occupants of the new house.
In both this and your original idea, however, I worry that this is not something that really matters to you. I am just guessing, from the way you phrased your comment, that your main interest in the house is an aesthetic one – i.e. you like the appearance of the decaying house and see its artistic potential, but are not overly passionate about the house on a personal level. While visual appeal is an important characteristic of a good A-Level Art topic, it is far more important that the subject is something you are really emotionally connected to. If this house had belonged to your family and was the house you had grown up in, for example, it would be a different situation entirely.
I am sorry if I sound discouraging about your theme. Remember that ultimately the decision is yours – I always tell my students if they feel passionately about something, they should do it anyway (even if my advice is to the contrary) as inspired work about the ‘wrong’ topic is far better than uninspired work about a topic that the teacher thinks has potential.
If you decide to discard this topic and to think of a new one, a few ideas are:
. A cellular journey – i.e. extreme close ups of cells as they expand and multiply)…
- Journeys through time or emotional journeys (i.e. your own journey from childhood to young adulthood; your passage through a trying event…such as the passing away of someone close to you / the break-up of a family / overcoming illness etc);
- Journeys to a particular physical location (i.e. the mundane drive between your home and school…seeing beauty in the ordinary etc; your first visit to see something that moved you);
- The miniature journey (i.e. walking down your garden path – with viewpoint at your feet etc; brushing your teeth in the morning – the journey from arrival at the sink to bright white smile
Hmmm, that is all I can think of right now. The key is to start with things that matter to you, and then work out how they could be viewed as ‘journeys’…and then consider their aesthetic potential. Good luck!
Thank you so much Amiria, your post was very helpful and informative and I have reflected a lot on what you have said. I think my problem is that i’m a very content person and that i am not very connected to many things. I have been successful in many aspects of life and have strived to do them but once I have reached it, it is enough for me and I am happy with that, so i find it hard to move on, i think. And this has occurred in my art I feel, for my gcse I did ‘food on plates’ (using the artist Vic vicini) and for my examination project i did ‘family’ (using L C neill artist). These are the aspects of my life which I am connected mostly to, but I have already done them. So although I could do parts of them again, we have been strongly advised by school to do something new to broaden our range of artistic skills.
Before GCSE, I only did school art, and it was during gcse I realised that I had some artistic ability, however this has meant that i have not drawn a lot and therefore am a little bit nervous to try new things, such as landscapes etc for my AS, which is obviously very important and something not to screw up. I have come up with a lot of ideas, but these ideas seem only to be ideas and nothing with emmotional connections. Some ideas I have had are birds (i like the artist frank gonzales) but photography will be difficult. I also do like the idea of a journey of the feet/shoes through different terrains. A journey of an emotion, like from being relaxed to being angery. A journey through the marshes near my house.
As a possible future for me, which i quite like, is architecture. So it would be quite nice to incorporate that, but i’m not sure on artists. Having just said this, our university is near a lake and greenery, I could use this area. However, I don’t know what would be a good starting place for the journey, if the journey is the finding of the university through the green. How does this sound? This idea has just popped into my head but it feels strong. Do happen to know any artists who may suit this topic area? The architect of the university is Denys Lasdun.
Thanks again for your time and attention, I really appreciate your help and you’re such a lifesaver. Sorry for rambling on but i’ve seemed to progress quite a lot from the beginning of this post!
Hi again Mimi – I am glad my comments helped. I am glad also that you are a contented and successful person… and luckily this doesn’t limit you any in your A-Level Art subject choices. Many of the examples I have alluded to are negative or controversial in nature, but there are just as many joyful/happy topic possibilities available. You mention the two things – food and family – as being most important to you, so it would be my instinct to recommend you pursue something to do with them. These are both such wide topics, it is very unlikely you have exhausted them totally already. Obviously you don’t want to repeat the same interpretation of the topic you have already done, but there are many ways of exploring a single topic. For example, if you begin with the idea of family, you don’t need to paint/draw people at all. The artwork could be based on family heirlooms (a collection of intricate and beautiful possessions that are precious to you and your family…old photographs, crumpled letters, rings and necklaces etc). Alternatively, you could look at the preparation of food for your family – chopping / cutting / mixing – as long as this was sufficiently different to your ‘food on plates’ submission, of course.
In terms of trying new subjects, I wouldn’t worry about this. Any subject, when drawn, is just lines, colour and tone…some things are more complex – i.e. they have more details and shapes, and are thus time consuming – but nothing is inherently more difficult than any other (although with some subjects – such as the human form – errors in accuracy are more quickly apparent, as we are experts at viewing / judging the human form). Not sure if I have explained myself clearly here, but your drawing ability will remain constant across any subject matter. This shouldn’t factor into your decision.
If you are thinking of studying architecture, you are right, it would be a good idea to include this in your theme. There are lots of artists who explore architectural form (Edward Hopper and Peter Siddell are a couple who immediately spring to mind), but you shouldn’t worry about your artist selection yet (get your ideas sorted first). Whatever you choose, there will be artists you can learn from (even if they don’t use a subject in quite the same way – or use a different subject entirely). When I get a chance, I will make a post on good artists for A-Level students to study, so I will include some who are architecture-focused then, including some more experimental, contemporary artists.
I like the idea of basing your work on the university. If this is where you intend on studying, it definitely is a place that has (or will have) some relevance to you. Perhaps the journey in this case could be your journey – i.e. how you go about finding your own direction / place in the world. Perhaps to do with ambition / academic goals / success etc?? The imagery could be the physical setting of the university, perhaps with images of test papers / assignments / grades etc…as in the hurdles you need to overcome to get there…? I’m just brainstorming as I type – so these might not be appropriate at all – but I do like the general idea…perhaps this is more original and different than the food / family ideas too.
Good luck!
Hi there,
i’m having a little difficulty deciding on a project for my A2 fine art project. I begin this project in september but we have been advised to start brainstorming ideas and collecting relevant sources during the summer holidays to contribute to the development and stability of my project. This project is basically a personal experimentation project, so i can literally do anything for this project which is why i’m struggling slightly, to find an idea. I am generally quite an indecisive person unfortunately! So when i think of an idea, it has to be one in which i feel i will not ever get bored of and a project that essentially can be broaden. In my previous projects, i’ve always had trouble with keeping with projects consistently flowing. I tend to eventually run out of different ideas!
I have been thinking about doing ‘the seven deadly sins’ as a project, and i’ve done some research on this topic. Personally, i think this could be an interesting theme to explore. However, my concern is that my own research and gathering of sources (i.e original images) may be limited. If you have any suggestions i would be very greatful. If you also have any other suggestions as for me going in a different direction of topic, i would also much appreciate and anticipate any ideas. I enjoy paintingm sketching, chalk and i love mixed media work. I’d like to find a project in which i can incorporate all mediums.
Thank you for your time, i’m sorry this post is so long! I find your site very helpful and encouraging, so thanks
Jade
Hi Jade,
Well done for beginning your preparation early – your teacher will be very happy! My feeling is that the seven deadly sins is a very broad topic. Even just one of these would be sufficient for an A2 theme. It is much better to have a narrow, very well executed body of work, rather than a broad body of work that is scattered and incohesive. The key to picking a topic is to find one that is really important to you (on an emotional level, not just an intellectual level). For example, you could pick gluttony if you (or someone you are close to) struggles with dieting/eating/weight; or greed if people you are close to work themselves into the ground in chase of money, whilst sacrificing other aspects of their lives (i.e. a father who is always at the office and doesn’t spend time with his family); or envy if there is something you desperately long for…or someone who you see is being destroyed by envy etc… In other words, be driven by an issue that is really relevant in your life.
In terms of your desire to use many mediums – this is a great idea for all topics. Experimentation and trialling a range of mediums is beneficial for all topics, so don’t let this worry or influence your topic selection.
IS there anything In particular you would look out for when marking?
Hi Claire,
I suggest you ask your teacher for a copy of marking criteria your examination board uses. If it is anything like the CIE A Level Art criteria with which I am familiar, it will give broad guidelines only. This is because, unlike maths or science, in Art there is an infinite number of possible correct solutions! There ARE no specifics. Sorry – I know that is not the answer you are looking for!
Hi,
I have to do a NCEA level 2 photography board and I had the idea of photographing control by using mice and creating an enclosure for them and then photographing different types of control executed over them. I was just wondering weather or not this would be a good idea or if it would be too difficult?
Thanks,
Anna
By the way this website is so awesome is really helpful
Hi Anna,
This is one of the best ideas I have heard in a long time! I have not yet seen a folio based on mice – it sounds awesome! …You could consider having the folio based on a scientific experiment angle too (instead of, or as well as the control aspect…perhaps to do with our power/control over other species and our potential abuse of this control…). If you have mice, it shouldn’t be too difficult. Even if you don’t, I hear they breed fast, so it shouldn’t be long before you have an obliging team of photographic subjects!
Hi Amiria,
Thank you
I was wondering if you had any good ideas on artist models that I could use for my board because there don’t seem to be many relevant ones with a distinct well known style.
Thanks again
Possibly surrealist artists like Max Ernst (i.e. works like this), or Francis Bacon?
Hello,
I’m just about to start my second year of a level and i’m having trouble finding a good, sturdy theme in which i will always have different, interesting and unique ideas.
My teacher says it might be a good idea to move away from portraiture and generally, having my main focus not about people. This could be beneficial for me, but i have no ideas on what to do? I really need to find something interesting to do, something in which is unique and will create a lot of work. If you have any ideas i would be very greatful, i find your site a great help to me, thank you
Teegan
Hi Teegan,
Thanks for your question. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a ‘good, sturdy theme’ that will work for everyone. A theme that works for one person, and allows them to produce a bounty of quality work, might bore someone else to tears. So the question really is what interests you?
If you follow the guidelines set out in my post above, you should be able to generate some possible ideas. At that stage I will be able to help you more. I am more than happy to evaluate some ideas if you suggest them. Reading all the questions and answers above may provide you with some ideas, also. Good luck.
Thank you.
I have been thinking about doing ‘conflict’ for my art project. Obviously i could go in many different directions for this. I’ve been researching this morning and i’ve found some images of art work reflecting all different kinds of conflict. I’m interested in conflict in terms of war, but i think i’d like to bring focus to society, i just need some help with trying to broaden this idea, thankyou
Hi Teegan,
Conflict has a lot of potential. I think you are right to veer towards conflict in society as opposed to conflict in war, as, for most of us, war is disconnected from our daily lives and not something that touches us personally (there are always exceptions to this, of course – for the right person war can be an excellent theme). I would narrow your topic down further and focus on a particular type of societal conflict. It could be conflict between big corporations and labourers that work for them on low wages, in cramped and unpleasant conditions; terroris conflict; teenager conflicts…peer pressure to conform / drink / smoke / fit into society’s expectations etc; conflict arising out of a particular prejudice, i.e. racism or homophobia; conflict within the home – family violence etc…
Hmmm, do you live in London? There is potential for some pretty graphic societal conflict imagery there, right now!
I definitely advise picking just one of these things and really exploring it in great detail, rather than having a broad theme that encompasses a whole range of societal conflict…
Yes! I actually live in north london, so you can imagine the amount of conflict here right now!
Thankyou for your suggestions, they have been very helpful
No worries
Hiya!
Imogen
I’m really in desperate need of some help and advice, I’m all over the place. So I’ve just finished my AS Art and am going on to do my A2 Art next September. But my trouble is that my teachers have not explained what we will be doing in enough detail and so it doesn’t make any sense to me. You see,they have given us the topic of ‘Urban’ to work with, which is fine. But then they say that we have to pick an artist to do a personal related study on. So can I pick any artist I like, or does this artist have to be linked to the theme of Urban? And then I see people on the internet talking about A2 Art saying that they have to chose a topic for their art…why have I been given the topic Urban yet everyone else can chose their own? I really don’t understand, please help me if you can?! Thanks a lot, and thanks for the ideas
Hi Imogen,
I will do a post in the next few days explaining in detail how the A2 Art course works. I will let you know as soon as I have done it!
Thanks a lot, that will be a huge help! It’s best that I prepare for A2 as much as I can whilst I’m off for summer, and I always need to be doing art so it’ll be nice to get started.
I have been uploading some posts which explain the A-Level Art course in more detail (they start here). Please note that the specifics in these posts relate to CIE A-Levels, which are the International equivalent of the UK A-Levels, so I am not sure if this applies to you? From what I understand, these courses are quite similar, so what I have written may be of use to you. In CIE A-Levels, the Personal Study no longer has to relate to the Coursework project, but this is a very recent change. It used to be that they had to relate closely – i.e. one had to influence the other. If anyone reading this post can provide further clarity on this issue for Imogen, this would be great.
In terms of being given a topic by your teacher, this relatively common practice, especially at IGCSE / GCSE level. There are advantages to this – i.e. there are more opportunities for sharing ideas in class and learning from other students and it is easier for the teacher to gather helpful resources and so on. Obviously it means that you are a limited in terms of your subject selection, which may disappoint some students, but the topic of Urban is very broad and can be interpreted in many ways.
Please let me know what type of A-Levels you are studying and I will see if I (or readers) can be of more help.
Hi there
I’ve currently chosen the theme of ‘recycled art’ and i found collages on the internet which include portraits/landscapes made out of recycled materials. One artist that interested me was Jane Perkins, her work is brilliant, but the one thing i’m struggling on is how to start the whole process of in my sketchbook.My book is completly blank, i dont know where to start :/ Do i draw pictures of rubbish or shall i start experimenting with different techniques
Hi Sash,
The reason you are finding it difficult to know how to begin as you have not really selected a theme, but rather an artistic approach or style. You are obviously inspired by artworks that use recycled materials, but this is not a theme, but a way in which you could use media. You are welcome to produce artwork using recycled materials, but you need an actual theme or idea to drive the decisions in your work. This is why you are finding it so hard to begin!
If recycling itself is something you are passionate about, you might, for example, locate a local area that is getting destroyed by litter or pollution of some kind, and come up with a theme that is about that…i.e. the devastation that humanity is causing to one little area of the planet (hopefully an area that is important to you). You would then begin by drawing / photographing / investigating this area visually. Experimentation with different techniques etc can only come after you have decided what it is that you are trying to express through your art.
I’m not sure if I have explained myself clearly – please let me know if you are still unsure.
Hi, yeah it does make sense what you had said, thank you.
i was hoping to express the idea of the amount of rubbish filling out planet onto an art piece,perhaps a collage of different recycled materials that portray a image of a familiar landscape. i like the idea of using a particular area that has been destroyed by litter , but i dont understand how i will investigate that area visually, what do you mean by that , thanks
By ‘investigate visually’ I simply mean to study or learn about something through drawing and painting. Unlike research for another subject, which might be entirely written, research in art usually involves painting, drawing and sketching something from lots of different angles and viewpoints, at different scales etc, accompanied by a few jotted notes…
aww thank you so much for your advice, it really helps a lot
Hi,
i have found your site really helpful as i am about to start my 2nd year of my A-level course in art and design. However i need some help in narrowing down my ideas, (this happens to me every time i have to pick a theme.) So far i have thought of many different themes but i’m not sure which could be portrayed and developed into a good theme. i am quite interested in simple living, that is countryside, country music, good home food, family, but these are the things i love about where i live. i think these would be accessible but i don’t think there really is a message there.
Another idea I’ve had is woman power, women in a mans world, really to address the issue that some people have that “women belong in the kitchen”. I think this would be a more powerful theme but not as accessible. Though this i suppose could potentially be more creative.
Also over past years i tended to stick to 2D paintings and drawings because this is were i am comfortable and my technique makes me stand out from others. But as i am doing a art and design course, 3D aspects need to come into my theme as well.
Thanks for the website help.
Tory
Hi Tory,
Thanks for your question and apologies for my delay in response.
I like the idea of simple living. The theme doesn’t always need to have a specific ‘message’ (although sometimes this can make it easier). You can simply endeavour to portray the beauty in a particular situation (this, in fact, is quite a common approach taken by students – and it can be very successful). In this case, however, it is strongly advisable to select a narrow theme, focused solely on one scene or still life arrangement, rather than a broad topic that has many possible interpretations. If you want to illustrate the joy, love and inner peace that is associated with simple living, I would pick one particular scene that you think sums this up – preferably one that means something to you personally. For example, you could base your submission upon a family meal, with family members gathered around a table with beautiful wholesome home cooked food whilst music is playing and people are laughing / moving / happy etc – perhaps with country scenes in the background (although you don’t want to bring too many elements into it – human figures, food and movement is probably more than enough). You could ‘stage’ this meal, as such, and take lots of lots of photographs (i.e. hundreds), and use these as your starting point. (By the way, it helps if the scene is something you can set up easily again, should you need to).
Your other topic is suitable, however it sounds a little ‘manufactured’ – i.e. something you think would fill the brief nicely, rather than something you are really passionate about. I would personally stick to an interpretation of the first topic. By the way, any theme can be creative and can contain 3D elements. The potential for creativity lies with you, not the theme!
Thank you for the help and advice, very helpful.
Tory
hello
im currently doing level 2 art in new zealand, and im a bit stuck about where to go with my ideas on my folio.
the teacher chose that we would all do organic containers,and i have done a whole board of skulls, seaweed, pumpkins, shells and gooseberries (which worked out fine) that board was just for generating ideas, but now i dont know what to do for my next board. i really want to go into some neater work, but the teacher wont let us, she wants us to be “free” (which i am not
) so i dont really know what to do for my next board!
any suggestions as to what i could go into, (themes and compositions) would be extremely helpful! also, do you know any “artist models” who paint organic containers?
thank you so much, im really stressed about this, and its due in about 7 weeks :O but i still have no idea what to explore in the next panel, or what sort of compositions or artists to follow!
Hi Maddy,
Sometimes it is frustrating when a teacher picks a topic for you, but remember there are benefits to this as well. For example, it is much easier for students to share ideas and learn from each other (this can be very, very helpful – as students often inspire and motivate each other, even without meaning to). It also has the advantage that the teacher can more easily gather examples and relevant artist models for you, as everyone is working with a similar subject. Seeing as you can’t change the topic, you may as well embrace it anyway, as there is no point wasting energy wishing for something that you can’t have – put all of your energy into creating the best submission you can and getting an Excellence! ‘Neat’ work can come from virtually any theme at the end of the day – they key is how creative you are – and how hard you work!
Okay, now to answer your questions…
‘Organic containers’ have plenty of potential visually (which is obviously why the teacher selected this)…what you need to do now is work out a way of interpreting it, so that it means something to you personally – make it your own theme, in other words. It seems that so far you have just drawn skulls, seaweed, pumpkins, shells and gooseberries – presumably because these are organic containers which you find interesting – but have not yet “generated ideas”. You need to try and establish what your art might mean…the message you could be trying to communicate. This is what your teacher means when she says that the purpose of Board 1 is to “generate ideas”.
For example, some possible ideas that spring to mind are:
• Bones are the hard structure to a living body. They are the framework upon which our body is built and give us compressive strength. Shells house and protect the soft vulnerable forms within them. They keep predators at bay and provide safety and sanctuary to those within them. Perhaps you could explore issues of protection and safety, and one thing being inside another etc… This might result in you putting different organic containers inside one another in weird and crazy ways… New Zealand artist Sally Burton might be an appropriate artist model for this. You could even turn it around…so instead of the organic container being the protector – you are now going to protect the container…(perhaps through playing with scale), as in these miniature baby sculptures.
• You might explore the discarded nature of many organic containers (this is more applicable to organic the pumpkin shells and papery gooseberry ‘wrappers’, but might also fit shells that are discarded after humans eat the shellfish interior). You could look at how, after eating the interior, the organic containers are thrown away or forgotten; i.e. an investigation into the beauty and validity of that which we throw away – the forgotten value and necessity of their existence. As a crazy thought – you could even turn the meaning of them inside out…i.e. instead of the broken organic containers being trash – perhaps you could turn them into trash receptacles (i.e. paint them as big, enlarged surrealist rubbish bins)! These photographs of a poor dead bird might inspire you (the bird is an organic container for trash). This sculpture of trash is also interesting… Obviously these are not paintings, but they give you ideas for paintings…
• You could look at the negative spaces left by the things that were inside the containers – focus on the emptiness – the things that are gone…;
• You could look at organic containers at a cellular level – in extreme close up, exploring ideas of atomic structure etc, and how at their essence, all living things are the same…
Hmmm, those are just some ideas I randomly thought of, but they should give you idea about how to think creatively about the topic you have been given. You should do this while looking at your existing work, because this will inspire you also. It is very likely that you have subconsciously been thinking about some of these things anyway. Once you have decided on your ‘idea’, you would probably benefit from going back and modifying your earlier work, so that it ‘supports’ this interpretation fully.
Once you have come up with an idea, it will make your decisions about composition and artist models much, much easier.
Hope that helps!
thank you so much, that was all really helpful!! you have so many good ideas! i really like the idea of the one thing inside another, and the discarded nature of organic containers. thank you again!!! that is a massive weight off my shoulders (for now
)
Hi, i’ve just finished my as level in fine art and during the summer holidays we’ve been asked to start thinking about the topic we would like to continue with for our A2 level in september. As it’s a personal study we can pretty much do anything we want to do but that’s the problem. I am very indecisive and I honestly haven’t got a clue as to where to start! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Tisha
Hi Tisha,
It is difficult for me to suggest ideas for you, as the possibilities are endless! I suggest you follow through the steps outlined in the article above (as well as read the comments and my replies, as these contain a range of ideas). Also, past examination papers contain many good starting points. When you have narrowed it down to a few possibilities, I am more than willing to give you feedback on them.
i’m finding it difficult to pick a topic for my A2 topic.. im torn between fashion or art nouveau. In my GCSE art the theme was ‘junk’ and i worked with alot of vintage antics and got an ‘A’ overall. i studied art nouveau in my AS level and worked with alot of clay, however finding an art nouveau musuem is kind of difficult since i live in northern ireland. Plus im contemplating studying fashion for a future carrer but im unsure on what to do. any ideas?!
Hi Niamh
Your topic suggestions at present seem more to be very broad. Art nouveau is a style of art and design, and fashion is simply one of the available disciplines you can work in. Neither of these are really themes. You need to have an idea that is separate from a style or discipline. If you are contemplating studying fashion in the future it would be great to have your A-Level art focus on this, but you need to find something to inspire you and to drive your decision-making process. Go through the steps outlined in the article above and brainstorm all the things/places/beliefs etc that are important to you. Then these can be used to form the basis of a fashion project. It can also help immensely to go through the topics in past examination papers (ask your teacher for some old copies). When you have narrowed it down to a few possibilities I am happy to help you evaluate them.
Hi Amiria, wow your blog is amazing!! its really helped me. Im doing ncea level 2 visual art board this year so not A2 levels or whatever they are called but still helped me a lot! The theme my teacher gave us is landscape. I am sooo stuck for ideas. I think i just need to begin with something and go with it but thats the problem, i can’t think of anything to start with!! As landscape is really broad i was thinking of doing dreams or landscapes of the mind or something along those lines.. but i dont know how to go about this. Eg subject matter etc.. Any advice please help i am stressing! haha thank you so much, Kayla.
Hi Kayla,
Thank you for the kind comments!
Has your teacher given you any initial instructions? Or are you free to interpret landscape as you see fit? A good way to get ideas is to look at what other artists are doing, and then see if any of these strike a chord with something that is important in your life. Alternatively, you can simply approach it from a very literal perspective…and ordinary landscape, but one which has a deep personal connection to you…
Artists that might give you ideas: Robert Ellis (motorways / aerial views of urban landscapes); Han Hyo-Seok (landscapes of the face / body; merging landscape imagery with another form…this could perhaps fit with landscapes of the mind, i.e. perhaps begin with image of human heads or even brains with other imagery then superimposed into them…); Richard Estes (reflections in an urban landscape, or the relationship between inside/outside – interior/exterior landscapes); Wayne Thiebaud (patterns created by man-made interference of the landscape / aerial view etc)…
Dreams are much harder – I think you would have to have a specific dream in mind, which would then suggest which subject matter to use…
Hi,
I’ve just been reading all your great ideas and one answer gave me a title I’d like to do for my A2 this coming year. I want to do “Thou shalt not steal” but would love to hear your suggestions how to develop the subject. I’m really rubbish with developing an idea. Thanks very much, Liz
Hi Liz,
Thanks for your question. By ‘develop’, do you mean ‘begin’? If so, I suggest you think about why this topic has resonated with you. For example, has something been stolen from you in the past? A boyfriend / family member / friend / possessions? Or perhaps you have stolen something yourself (even if only as a child) and thus know from personal experience the consequences of stealing, i.e. guilt / punishment / the difficulty of repairing broken trust etc. I would pick one specific example of stealing (relevant to you) and then use this as a basis for generating imagery. Hope that makes sense!
Hi,
Ive just recieved my as results and have decided to take art for a2. My theme is cultures and i have to start it before i get back to school. I wasn’t quite sure where to start or whether i should narrow it down to one or look at different of cultures. Is there any artist i should look at?
Thanks
Hi Leema,
You should definitely narrow it down, but how you do this depends on how you choose to interpret the topic. There are many ways to explore ‘culture’ in art…it could be a collection of culturally significant trinkets or treasures; cultural dresses or adornments; cultural battlegrounds in urban centres; racism in a particular setting etc. How you choose to interpret it should depend on what is important to you. You should select an aspect of culture that you are passionate about, so that you are able to remain engaged with the topic for the duration of the year.
The artist/s you choose to look at will depend on how you choose to investigate the topic and also your own preferences in terms of technique and style. It is impossible to suggest one at this stage as there are endless possibilities.
Good luck!
Hi am starting my A level sketchbook for when i start college in September. My original idea was to compare old and new buildings however i am finding the subject a little vague and lacking direction. After reading what you wrote above I am now considering starting again with the topic how buildings make a person feel/ react or do you think that’s a bit cheesy?
I chose to study Monet as i think his style of painting buildings is interesting and quite unique. I was also going to look at some modern impressionists however i have found David Atkins and love his work (which is not impressionism) can I still use him?
thanks for any help
Hi Charlotte,
Thanks for your question. You are right in thinking that your original topic idea is a little vague. It is also very broad. Your new topic is a slight improvement; however it still seems to lack any personal connection. If, however, you there was one building in particular that means a lot to you, and makes you feel in a certain way when you experience it, this could work. Another possibility is to look at the framing of views out windows – the indoor/outdoor relationship etc. Whatever the case, I think it would be best to select a particular building – or a group of buildings in a particular street or local environment – rather than looking at buildings in general.
In terms of David Atkins, there is no difficulty with using him as an artist model in addition to Monet. His work is actually not too distant from impressionism. While Atkins doesn’t use such thick, textural paint as Monet – or quite as many dashing brushstrokes – there is certainly an impressionist quality to his work: fast, gestural brushstrokes, capturing the light at a particular moment; loose, flicking, dashed paint application…
Hi
I am doing an art porfolio for level 3 this year and am struggling on deciding how to develope my ideas into something creative! My them is seascapes (possibly going upclose on the shoreline) as well as birds footprints in the sand and feathers (Sunsets is also a possibility). I have a few thoughts but would love it if you had any great ideas on how to develope it!
Thanks
Hi Sam,
I take it that your folio is already well underway? Did you begin by creating a range of realistic drawings and paintings?
A seascapes theme is a very common theme amongst New Zealand students – and indeed amongst adult artists – as New Zealand’s easily accessible and prevalent coastlines means that the sea is important to us. Given that the theme is very common, you are right to be seeking a creative way to approach it. The best way to jog your creativity into action is to learn from artist models. Artists don’t have to be painting a coastal scene in order to help you. They can simply give you an idea for a way to use media or a way to compose an artwork in an exciting way. Anyway, here are a couple of ideas: capture memories of the sea by putting random bits of it inside jars (shells, sand, seaweed etc); paint on objects at the beach (i.e. on driftwood etc) and then photograph and paint these; make sculptures at the beach using found natural materials, like Chris Booth; have a crazy collaged interpretation, in the style of Clara Mata…
Have you read this post on development? It may help clarify things for you (even if you are doing NCEA).
Hi again
I am a realistic painter so i have started with paintings/drawings in this style. Its just so hard to make it unique! I have started making the feathers fall and form into the waves, just struggling to go on from there. Do you think this is a good idea?
Thankyou vey much for your help it is much appreciated! Yes i am well underway
THankyou you very much for your, it advice will certainly help!!
Sam
….i also thought something with birds feet or footprints in the sand! So many ideas taht its hard to chose
Thanks again
In order to know what to do visually, you need to really determine exactly what it is that your artwork is trying to say. If you don’t have a message, there are endless options, and there is nothing to guide your choices. Even if you originally just selected this topic because you liked it aesthetically, it is more than possible to come up with a ‘story’ for your work after the fact (art students are often expert at creating stories). So I would come up with a message for your work before you try and work out how to proceed with your next compositions. For example, are you trying to depict the idea that the birds are a guardian for the landscape, and have some kind of eternal wisdom that supersedes the self-obsessed frivolity of mankind (just a random example
), or perhaps that this bird in particular has watched over this little pocket of landscape since he first cracked out of his egg and thus knows the inner workings of the landscape as if it were part of him? Perhaps you might be looking at the whole cycle of life…how things are born; die; decay into the landforms; utilised as nutrients by plant forms; eaten; become part of a living creature again… The latter two options might lead you to then not just have feather falling into wave forms, but the whole landscape becoming a bird, or perhaps translucent eggs, bird skeletons and bird footprints, as you say, tracking over the sand…
Hmmm, sorry, I know my answers are not very definite or certain… It is hard, as there is not just one correct answer!
Hello, I just finished my AS level art and was disappointed with a B grade because I was hoping to get an A. My two topics last year were Urban Decay and Dreams. I’ve been told by school that for next week I have to choose my A2 first topic, normally I can think of a few good ideas easily but I can’t think of any and would like your help if you can! I live in Northern Ireland and have to be able to take first hand photographs. I would love to pick a topic that is quite general and can be cleverly interpreted in my art, like energy or the circle of life. Although I would like something quite general, i’m interested in studying fashion at university so my final piece must be a garment. I’m interested in surfing, snowboarding, ballet, fashion (obviously), old movies, 1960s, 1970s, bob marley, surrealism and the sea. Just to give you an idea of things that are interesting to me. Your help would be much appreciated because I really am stuck for ideas!
Sophie
Hi Sophie,
I am curious as to why you wish to pick a topic that is quite general? In my experience, it is narrow topics (particularly those which have strong personal relevance) that are the most ideal A-Level Art themes.
To generate a topic, I would begin brainstorming ideas that are related to your interests and then ascertain which of these have potential in terms of fashion design. For example, if you are interested in surfing, there might be a particular surf beach that is really important to you. Investigations of this location could lead to beautiful detailed photographs of seaweed or sand patterns etc which could then be developed into intricate textile designs. And investigation in ballet could lead to an exploration of the movement of dancers, with photographs overlapping / merging into one another, kind of fragmenting the images and creating flowing organic shapes that might then lend themselves to becoming garments…
There are many other possibilities. I am happy to provide feedback if you narrow it down to just a couple of ideas…
No that has really helped me i assure you
It is much appreciated so thankyou! You have given me some really great ideas and im sure i can develope one of them.
Thanks again, this is a really great site by the way
Hi Amiria,
I finished as art at the end of the last school year, and have decided to carry it on to a2. Out teachers asked us to over summer find artists or art movements that we can base our project and our essays for next year around. My plan for university next year is to study illustration and animation, so I have been thinking of looking at artists or movements to do with either of those. So far I’ve researched ‘the golden age of illustration’, and I’ve looked a bit at lowbrow. I suppose what i’d really like to know is if looking at these, and doing work in similar styles to the artists of these movements or any other movements relating to illustration/animation, is something that would get me marks. I don’t want to do something that’s seen as too simple or too easy and lose marks, if you understand what I mean haha.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! And thank you for creating such a helpful blog, I’m sure I’ll be back here for help again before too long! haha
Katie.
Hi Katie,
It is not really that any art movements are ‘better’ than others or are more suited to getting a student good marks. Even a ‘simple’ style of artwork very often has complex ideas behind it. What is more important is how you respond to an art movement, learn from it, and use this knowledge to creatively and skilfully execute your own work. You should select an illustrative style based on your level of enthusiasm for it, rather than contemplating its suitability for getting you good marks. Any style that is consistently approached with skill and enthusiasm can get you outstanding marks.
Personally, however, I would select a theme before selecting an artist model or art movement. Then your ideas can drive your aesthetic decisions, which makes the whole process a whole lot easier!
hi, i’m just about to start my A2 art and we’ve been asked to come up with a theme over the summer. and i have no idea what i want to do. i want something challenging, different but something that i’m able to do quick studies of. and also something i’m able to explore in a abstract way and also classically i really enjoyed using inks last year and acrylics seem to be my strong point. as i got and A in my AS i’m desperate to maintain this grade.
any help or ideas/inspiration would be appreciated thanks! Charlotte
Hi Charlotte,
The only suggestion I can give is to follow the process outlined in this post, and then read all the comments and replies (as these contain many more ideas) and also read this post. When you have narrowed it down to a few possibilites, I am more than able to help you evaluate them. It is too hard for me to suggest any at present, as virtually anything would fit the requirements you list above!
Good luck!
hi
i had a thought about what you said and stumbled along some amazing photos of lit vintage lamp shades in the middle of a wood. it got my thinking of how maybe i could have my topic title as light? and explore obvious interpretations of light and then maybe go down the avenue of absence of light with dark rooms or scenes? i was wondering if you had anymore ideas that spring to mind when thinking of light?
thanks
Hi Charlotte,
Light is something is always something that visually interests artists, so there is a lot of potential for a great Coursework submission to do with this. In terms of an actual topic, however, you really need to narrow it down a whole lot further than this – preferably to one particular aspect of light that is very important to you. For example, if you are thinking of exploring the absence of light in dark scenes, perhaps you could base your work on a childhood fear of the dark / nightmares etc. Alternatively, there are many other possible A-Level Art themes that are related to light, including:
• The pale glow at the end of a cigarette (smoking / addiction / peer pressure);
• Lights that guide us home (lighthouses or a house light at the end of a dimly lit hallway)
• Your own shadow;
• Light falling on animals (or any other thing) in a field (or any other particular location);
• Glowing neon lights in suburbia;
• The scientific aspect of light – bulbs / refraction / reflection etc;
• Paintings inspired by experimental photographs of light, such as those by Lichtfaktor….
…and so on!
That’s all I can think of for now!
Hello. I got a B for AS art but I really want to get that up to an A next year. We have had the Summer to think of ideas and make a start on our project by doing things such as collecting primary resources. I have been looking into ideas such as urban decay and how people damage the environment (rubbish, vandalising, pollution etc.) I have visited the dump and taken some photos on my SLR but am a bit stuck where to start with this project idea. Can you suggest any ways to go from urban decay/the environment idea? Or anything I could do/take photos of? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Katie,
In order to know where to start, you need to clearly define what your topic is and understand the message your art is trying to portray. For example, I suggest that your work should not just be about how people damage the environment, but should communicate a specific viewpoint related to this. For example, perhaps you want to express irritation that corporations package tiny products in masses of plastic and other non-degradable materials (in which case you might begin by photographing absurdly large packages containing tiny items) or perhaps you might take on an ambivalence to the litter…accept it as something that is there and cannot be changed (recording it with the disconnected eye of the observer…merely looking for the beauty in shape and detail and form). Perhaps you look at junk food and focus on packages that list artificial additives and inedible sounding ingredient names… etc. Once you decide what in particular you are trying to say, it is much easier to know how to proceed!
hello!
thanks
i am currently working on my NCEA level 3 art folio (3 panels) but im running out of ideas to make it more creative…i have already finished my first panel and it has painitngs and sketches of seascape and wood. i have developed that by focusing more on the wood and painting small pools of water in the wood crevasses. my teacher suggested i should add a small stream of flowing water that leads to the small water pools in which i could start adding objects (e.g. bottle) i am not sure how to develop it further..any advice/suggestions would we very much appreciated!!
Hi Payal,
I did get your earlier message, however I have been quite restricted for time, so haven’t been able to reply until now. My apologies.
As I have noted in some of my earlier replies to others, when a student is struggling to know how to proceed, it is usually because they haven’t clearly defined what it is that they are trying to say. Do you have any actual message or viewpoint to communicate within your art? Or have you simply begun by representing a subject that you find visually pleasing? If it is the latter, I think you need to fabricate some kind of ‘meaning’ for your work (ideally this meaning comes first, but as you are well underway with your boards, there is no other option but to apply it as an afterthought). For example, this painting of a coastal landscape inside a shell (one of my own paintings) explores the feeling that you get when you are bowled over by a wave in the ocean, and are tumbled over and over, sometimes catching glimpses amongst the swirling water before you are smashed under again. Another of my paintings, also of a coastal landscape, is about memory and how this becomes distorted with time and with different voices retelling a story; experiences overlaid upon each other until the truth of an initial event becomes obscured.
It doesn’t matter how crazy the story is (although the more ‘truthful’ and personal it is, the better), you just need something to drive your decision making.
Your teacher is likely to have suggested a stream of flowing water with a bottle in because he/she is introducing meaning of their own into the painting (in an effort to help you). For example, your teacher might be imagining a stream bringing pollution and litter to an idyllic scene, or possibly they had in mind the kind of bottle that carries messages from a far off land…
hi, oh that’s alright
it was my mistake, i thought my comment hadn’t been posted so i wrote one again…
yes, that is the kind of message i am aiming to send across but i am not sure how to creatively develop my paintings. i would like to show the affect of pollution but in a more unique way. i am just not sure how else to do it.
Okay… Here are some ideas related to pollution that spring to mind…
- Rocks and landscapes replaced by rubbish – i.e. at a first glance they appear to be landscapes, but then you see they are in fact paintings of rubbish…i.e. rocks could be black crinkled rubbish sacks etc…
- Sculptures made from litter – like installations in the landscape;
- Dark, emotive images, surging out of a roiling sea (along the lines of this girl’s A-Level work);
- Surrealism / playing with scale, i.e. massive litter objects, perhaps in the surrealist / photo realism style of Till Rabus;
- Bleeding litter objects – staining the land…
- A dead sea creature, tangled in litter;
- Mixed media collages – i.e. painting the landscapes on actual glued in litter – unfolded cardboard packages etc…
Hope that gives you some ideas to work with. Note that things will have to be seamlessly integrated, and it is difficult to suggest which of the above options would be suitable, without seeing your board…
Good luck!
Hello,
I emailed you earlier and asked me to post on the blog if I has any other questions, if you could answer these questions for my artist research page that would be amazing.
What is your favourite media to work in and why?
How did you get into painting?
Where do you get inspiration from?
Why do you paint seascapes and shells?
How would you describe your style of painting?
How large do you usually make your work?
Many thanks
Hi Libby,
I have written a reply to this comment on this post, as it relates more to this post topic. Thanks!
oh that helps me a lot, those ideas sound great! thank you so much
this has been really helpful!
Hello,
I am currently beginning my A2 fine art course and i have been having trouble finding a good theme to explore. Giving that our topic for this term is basically a personal investigation, we can do whatever we want really; i always find that projects where you can literally do anything, is always a bigger challenge.
I’ve thought of an idea, and brainstormed different things to do within it, however, i feel that something is missing from it. I feel that i need to add some kind of twist to my art work to make it stand out and unique. I dont really have a title for my idea as it has so many different things. Basically i want to explore how objects or interior or possessions can tell a story about someone. I then developed this idea into possibly exploring old houses, and deteriorating things that can tell the story of someone who used to exist. For example an abandoned house that the residents have passed and no longer live there, from this i could tell the story of the people who used to live there. So this is basically kind of a narrative project. I was also thinking of going to central london and taking photo’s of the london bridge, or the tower of london as these two historical monuments/buildings tell powerful stories about lost souls.
It’s a very ‘jumbled’ project, in which i need sorting out. Firstly, i really can’t think of a title for this whole project! If you have any suggestions on how i can improve, develop and stabilise this project i would greatly appreciate it
Thank you,
Heidi
Hi Heidi,
Thanks for your comment. I think your topic has a lot of potential, however you are right when you mention that you currently have a number of different things going on. While your overall idea (deteriorating things that tell a story of someone who used to exist) is excellent, it seems as if you presently have two different interpretations of this – the old house versus the London monuments. I would strongly advise narrowing it down to one. You should select the one which has a greater personal connection, i.e. perhaps you have an old relative who has left behind keepsakes (old photographs / diaries or possessions etc) or an ancestor who is connected in some way to the historical monuments? There is definitely more than enough material to satisfy a Coursework submission in just one of these topics. If you try and combine them, I think you will struggle to present a cohesive body of work.
In terms of the title – this is just a formality, and not something you should worry too much about – it is the quality of the work itself that matters. Possibly something to do with memory?
Good luck!
HI, I was wondering if you could help? I am about to start AS level art and before we go back to school we aare supposed to have initial ideas but I am really struggling eith the themes we have been given – ‘symmetry’, ‘light and dark’ and ‘in series’. I did GCSE art and GCSE photography and got an A* in both. I really liked doing abstract paintings in art and a lot of my work focussed on colour. In photography, I took photos of ordinary objects and manipulated them in photoshop and through working on them and then scanning them. I would like to do something similar because I know I can do it well and I enjoy it but I can’t think how within those themes, any help/ideas would be appreciated
Hi Natasha,
Hmmm, so you are looking for ordinary objects that could be interpreted creatively within those themes. Here are some possible ideas…
Symmetry: butterfly collections in museums; asymmetrical people or faces (perhaps faces or bodies with scars / injuries etc); reflections of something unusual (the reflection creating the symmetry); mother and child – i.e. similar genes creating a kind of symmetry; two halves of things that fit together (a locket with a photograph of two lovers etc); forms of one thing that are reflected in another, ie these paintings by Don Binney, in which bird forms are reflected in the landscape…
Light and dark: (see suggestions on previous comment)…
In Series: perhaps snapshots of a child growing up (i.e. yourself or a family member) or something else that grows and changes over time?
I’m having some problems choosing a theme for art this year. I really wanted to do concerts and music and had some really great photos to work from but my teacher was against the idea. I usually paint and draw people but she wants me to branch out from portraiture etc. to show a wider range of my talents for a portfolio that’ll get me into university. Any ideas for a theme for this year?
Hi Chloe,
I really like the idea of concerts and music. It would be possible to explore this theme without including people. For example, you could make paintings that portray the instruments and movement (similar to these beautiful photographs by Mirza Ajanovic). You could even find old instruments and paint on them, making sculptural installations that you then draw and paint…
Hey,I have recently started A2 level for Art and design ,and I need to choose topics for two components.I have few ideas but i’m sure about them.I have tried brainstorming and I have thought a lot about what topics should I base my artwork on but somehow I’m not able to find anything.I don’t know how to choose a topic that will interest me.The first topic is optical illusions,I’m exploring the work of some globally famous op artists and I’m also exploring the work of local artists in my own country.I have been looking into the work of Salvador Dali and I find his work extremely interesting but I don’t know how to think of my own original ideas and use his work as an inspiration.Now for the other topic I have few vague ideas but I don’t know what to do about them.You know those black and white pictures published in newspapers.They are really simple but each picture has a story behind it.I want to do something like that.But it seems like a very generalized topic because it will not have one theme.I was also thinking about something like showing the downfall of a country , its consequences and the cause of its downfall.I’m also interested in doing a topic on Isolation.How people are bound to act according to certain values and set standards and in different cultures a specific gender is obligated to conform to the societies values.I think i can’t think of anything good.I’m extremely confused because I don’t how to recognize my interests.So your suggestions and comments will be appreciated.
Hi Fariha,
The topics you suggest towards the end of your comment sound very interesting and contain a wealth of potential for an excellent A-Level submission. It sounds as though you may be confused about what a theme actually is, however, and this may be part of the reason you are finding it difficult. The topic ‘illusions’ is far too broad to be very useful. It is almost more of a compositional strategy (i.e. a way of composing a picture so that an illusion is created) rather than a driving idea behind an artwork (although if you interpret it in a specific way, it could work).
Similarly, black and white newspaper photography is a style rather than a theme. Virtually any theme could be depicted using a photo-journalist style (in fact, the ideas you suggest at the bottom would be perfect if illustrated in this way).
In terms of how to recognise your interests… the only thing I can do is remind you that it should be an idea that you need to retain interest for, rather than a particular style of artwork. You will constantly be exploring new work and learning new methods of making art, so your interests in this field can be somewhat fickle…but the driving idea needs to be something you are passionate about. So if there is anything that is really important to you, then you should pursue this. The downfall of a country etc and all your other ideas are great!
hey.. i was wondering if there are any interesting themes that could help with my A2 art? i was contemplatin fashion?
im so confused!
Hi Katie,
Unfortunately your question is so general I cannot answer it, as there are endless possibilities!
I suggest you follow the process outlined in the blog post above, and also read through everyone else’s comments and replies, as there are many ideas contained within them. Have you also seen this blog post which briefly outlines possible art project ideas?
If you come up with a few possibilities I am happy to help you evaluate them!
Hey! Your blog has really been helpful in clearing out many of my confusions!
Okay so the thing is that I didn’t take GSCE art but just started Art and design A’levels. And i’m confused about the themes. I was thinking of light for my component 2 (the one with the 9 paintings) and Automobiles (known as rickshaws in India and Pakistan) for component 3 (the one with the 20 paintings).. I want to know whether these are good themes.. And could you tell me the artists i should research on for these topics, if you think i’m considering good ones. Please reply ASAP. I’m in a crisis. =(
Hi Aiman,
My specialty is CIE A-Levels, so I am unfamiliar with the specifics of your course (the 9 paintings / 20 paintings etc) however themes in any A-Level course have to operate in the same way. The most helpful themes are those which have some message or strong idea attached to them – something which you are trying to communicate – as this message then guides your compositional choices and directs you towards appropriate artist models. The themes of light and automobiles are therefore far too broad. If there is something in particular about these topics that you are trying to communicate, this is a different matter entirely. For example, if you wanted to convey something about a particularly dangerous street, where the rickshaws are crowded and cause accidents, then this could be a suitable topic, as you would now have something to focus on and a message to convey (this is just an example – you should choose something that is meaningful to you).
Once you have chosen a topic, you should then begin Google searching and visiting galleries, looking for artists whose work inspires you. It is impossible to suggest which artists would be appropriate, as it depends on your own strengths and artistic style, as well as your topic and interests. In the next few weeks I will write a blog post listing some good artist models, but it will be quite a general list, so these may not be appropriate for you.
Good luck!
Hello,
I have just started my A2 for Art and Design and have not a clue what subject project I want to do!
I had a few ideas on doing a textiles piece, a dress maybe?
Like you have said above it has to be something I am passionate about and drives me to do the work. I was thinking maybe an event such as 9/11 but how would like link in with making a garmant?
PLEASE HELP!
Hi Jade,
Is the 9/11 tragedy something that has impacted you personally? It is best to select a theme that is really important to you, as this ensures you will remain passionate and engaged with the work for the duration of the course.
If you do select something like this, there are many ways that this could become a fashion project. Shapes and forms could be abstracted to become a textile pattern, or you could make a political statement type graphic to be printed onto fabric etc… Other aspects of the topic, i.e. flames / burning buildings could also influence garment forms…
Okay so i thought about it and realised that rickshaws is not what i really want to do.. :/
How about “Colours” ? Is that classified as a *theme*?
Hi Aiman,
Unfortunately colours is even more broad than rickshaws, so this is not an ideal starting point either. If you read through the questions that other people have asked above (as well as my replies) you may gain a better understanding of what makes a suitable A-Level Art theme…
Hello Amirah
I’m just starting AS level art at college and was just looking for help on ideas. The starting points I was looking at are “people and spaces”, “reflection”, “geometric/organic”. I very much like to think of things metaphorically and i always like my art to try and portray a brutal or poignant message. I have a few ideas but I am not sure about them and what i could do with them. With people and spaces I was thinking about how people change within certain or vice versa or how we (humans) impact on the space around us.
With geometic/organic, going with the definition on organic – with no human tampering, i was thinking along the lines of how supposedly humans have ‘destroyed’ the world. These ideas are quite heavy and it would be hard to find alot of things to photograph which go with these ideas which is what my teacher is wanting.
I was just wondering about any idead you may have on the topics given and maybe narrowing down mine abit and giving me ideas on how i could start or possible even end? Thankyou for your effort and time!
Mariam
Hello Mariam,
I would only go with an idea if it really resonates with you. For example, you mention that people have ‘supposedly’ destroyed the world…through tampering with their surroundings etc. If you personally don’t feel that humans have actually done this (which is the impression I get from your use of ‘supposedly’) I would not choose this topic. It needs to be something you are really passionate about.
The influence of people on spaces and vice versa is quite interesting, but again, needs to be something you are really interested in, so that you are able to remain enthusiastic about the topic for the duration of the year.
Visually, there are quite a few possibilities. A couple that randomly spring to mind are:
- Somewhere where a beggar sleeps…i.e. a little hideaway under a bridge, where you can see that someone has been living rough…just remnants / traces of human existence etched into the surroundings;
- An area of your school where generations of students have carved their name / added graffiti etc…i.e. layers and layers of students physically leaving their mark on an environment (i.e. often school toilets get covered in scribbled messages / graffiti, as do wooden desks…)
Good luck!
Hi im am starting my level 3 art portfolio with Theresa Reihana and Robyn Kahukiwa as my artisit models, i can’t mix these two artists together even though they are both Maori artist and on top of that i have not a clue what theme i should be going for and what exactly am i wanting to paint. Also this is my first year of doing art and never have done it before, i am failing please help me. I absolutly need these credits.
Time is also running out.
Hi Kenny,
Has your teacher guided you to pick artist models before selecting a theme? Sometimes it can be easier to do it the other way around, as then you can select artists to match whatever theme you pick.
In any case, the two artists you have mentioned don’t seem too dissimilar. Both have strong vibrant works featuring portraiture, often with symmetrical compositions. Have you been asked to use them in a sequential fashion (i.e. first one and then the other)? Because the obvious order would be to use Theresa Reihana first, as her works seem to be more realistic, and then develop into works that are more like Robyn Kahukiwa (more gestural / with stylised panels / text etc).
A straight forward theme would involve portraiture and identity. If this interests you, you should try to come up with an aspect of your identity that is particularly important to you…something you believe in, or a defining aspect of your heritage or something… As mentioned in the blog post, things that have some kind of controversy or real guts to them can be ideal… i.e. issues relating to peer pressure, eating disorders, bullying etc… Hope that helps!
Hey i was just wondering if you know of any artist that draw/paint horses because that is my main focus for my three board portfolio.
Hi Kelly,
- Franz Marc;
- Leonardo da Vinci (he did some beautiful horse drawings);
- NZ artist Rosemary Parcell;
- Robert Joiner…
By the way, you don’t have to choose artists that paint horses. You can learn from artists that paint other things (i.e. using them as an artist model for use of media or technique etc)…
Hope that helps.
Amiria
Thanks for your input and have opened a real portal for my portfolio.
Another question is , what type of colours should i use ?
I have started just drawing plain and simple maori faces only with just the neck like Robyn but i dont know how Theresa Reihana draws , as my art teacher says that im copying their work and not using their techniques.
The colours should be appropriate for whatever ideas you are trying to convey. Probably vibrant colours are best, as these link in to your artist models, but don’t select the colours until you have resolved exactly what your theme is…
I think the reason your teacher thinks you are copying from their work and not using their techniques is because you are drawing Maori faces. Are you Maori yourself, or are Maori people an important aspect of your theme? If not, you are merely copying the theme of your artist models, which is not the best approach. I suggest (as per my previous comment) that you select an aspect of identity to focus on – i.e. your own identity – and start drawing figures that relate to this (i.e. yourself). When you draw yourself, you then do it in the style of Theresa Reihana… so you are learning technique from her, but are applying it to your own theme. Thus, instead of using Maori patterns / symbols in the background, you would use imagery that relates to your own identity…
As for not knowing how to draw like Reihana, have you tried copying parts of her work (i.e. within your sketchbook etc)? This is the fastest way to learn how to draw in the same style as someone else. It seems that, in many of her works, the shapes and forms of the people are quite realistic, but the backgrounds are simple and stylistic, with large areas of flat colour etc. It is difficult to guide you via the internet, without seeing what you are doing…but, essentially, you should begin by painting flat grounds and then building up layers of tone over this. Your teacher should be able to help with this. Good luck!
Hi Amiria
Yes i am Maori and i have found a theme called Tangata Native o Aotearoa , which i think for me is appropriate and stands for who i am as a Native Maori of this land and all aspects of Maori tikanga.
Thanks for alot of help and i have now more ideas than i could not have thought before, im starting my portfolio boards now , and i will keep in touch with you with my progress if i may.
Thanks Heaps.
Oh cool – that is a very appropriate theme then. I would love to hear how your boards progress. Good luck!
hi amiria ..an doing A2 artand my teacher thinks i shouldn’t be ther..eventhough ihave got an A in as art but i got it because while i was doing my gcse my teacher[from the previos school] thought i was good enough to enter my work to be marked as ASlevel instead of gcse…and i got and A out of it but lnow am struggling to come with ideas on what to do ..the new teacher [in the new school] gave us the theme of time.matter and movement and i have to come out with 3 project each to do with one of the theme but i do not know what artist to use …or any ideas and the studip teacher is not helpful at all…all she want is for me to drop the subject because as she puts ity ” i will not benefit from the lessons” her job is to help me but she is not doing anything ….i do not know what to do please help thank you
Hi Alex,
If you received an A grade for AS while doing GCSE you must be talented indeed.
Here is my advice…but most of it is going to relate to the situation you describe with your teacher.
Even if your perception is that the teacher does not want you in the class, I can promise you it is not true. All that teachers want is for their students to get the best grades they can. If students get the best mark that they are able, this reflects well on the teacher – it makes it look like we are doing our job well and this makes us happy. What we don’t want is people there who make teaching them or others difficult (by being rude or disrespectful etc) or who don’t show any signs of effort (this panics us, because students who don’t understand the value of effort are the hardest of all to turn around…and their habits are contagious). In essence, all we want from a student is a) kindness and b) effort…because students who are lazy put the fear of god into us and students who are unpleasant make us feel sad.
The best way to get an good mark is to team up with your teacher – to have you and her both working to get you an outstanding result. This will be far, far more helpful than any advice from someone like me could be. You need to make it your top priority to get your teacher on side, and to do this, you need to look at it from her perspective, and work out what it is that might have caused her to resent your presence. Once you have identified what these things could be, set about rectifying the situation and proving to her that you are worth her time and effort. Because once she realises that you sincerely want to do well (and the very fact that you are researching online and seeking guidance elsewhere indicates that you are) and actually want her help, you will realise that she had nothing against you at all.
Ultimately, all people are the same. We hate conflict. We want others to think well of us. It sounds silly, but at the heart of it, teachers are just human beings. Be nice to her.
From the way you phrased your question, I am guessing you are probably at the point where you have given up on your teacher, and perhaps she has given up on you. But nothing is beyond repair. If I was you, I would stay behind after class one day, or at some other time when no one else is around, and tell her that you know things have gotten off to a bad start, and that you are sorry for [whatever – just apologise for everything you have done, or might have done – even if you think she was partly or mostly to blame]. Stress that you really want to do well, and that you are willing to work really hard to do well (even if you haven’t demonstrated this so far), and that you’re going to change your [whatever...attitude / work ethic...whatever you think might be the cause of her resentment towards you]. And then ask her for her advice about the next thing she thinks you should do is. If she has just given your class instructions, don’t make it look like you didn’t listen to a word she said, phrase it like “I know our next task is to do this, this and this… I was wondering what exactly you would advise in my case…etc etc”…and go away and work as absolutely hard as you can on whatever it is, and then bring it back to her as promptly as you can and ask for more feedback and advice. And even if you think she is a sour old cow, I strongly advise testing the power of a genuine smile.
I think you will be surprised how quickly the situation will turn around. Because she has nothing to gain from any angst – and everything to gain from you doing well.
Lol. I wrote you a novel.
In terms of your theme questions, here are some brief ideas:
Time:
- Sequence drawings showing movement over time etc (i.e. nude descending a staircase; photographs by David Gilliver; layered transparent drawings by Angela Palmer);
- Something to do with aging / growing up;
- The analytical side of measuring time / clock instruments pendulums etc;
Matter
- Analysing something at a cellular level, ie. enlargements at a huge scale / the building blocks of matter / cellular division / how ‘solid’ objects turn out to be nearly all space (when analysed at an atomic level);
Movement
- Sequence drawings, as above;
- Any action relating to something meaningful to you, i.e. a favourite sport / people moving in a crowded subway / people in a school cafeteria…
Good luck! Hope that helps!
Heya :’)
I’ve just decided that I wanted to do Art for my A levels AS. Our theme at the moment is Dead & Decay and we have been told to take photos of places, such as old homes, graveyards and etc, but I haven’t done Art for GCSE and I’m unsure on how to start my folio work. We are working on a collage of different photos that were taken by my teacher. Would be great if you had ideas of the photos I could take to work on and if there is any other ideas of images I could possible add into my folio work. Thank you in advance
Hi Samantha,
Many apologies for the delay.
I would steer clear of the obvious interpretations of this topic, such as old homes and graveyards – especially if your teacher has suggested these – as this is what everyone else will be photographing! I would try and think of unusual and personal interpretations. Here are some suggestions, to get you started…
• Decaying teeth;
• Sagging, wrinkling skin;
• A really old animal of some kind;
• A rotting animal carcass;
• Hanging carcasses of meat in a butcher shop;
• Dissection of an animal in a science lab;
• Perhaps instruments / scenes inside a morgue or funeral home.
That is just some examples to get you thinking! Hope that helps.
Heeyy, my friend’s doing FAMILY as her topic and she was a little confused as to what sort of pictures should she paint and stuff??
Could you help specify what exactly she should be looking for?
Your friend should be painting whatever images best convey her ideas. The first step is for her to decide what it is exactly that she wants to say about ‘family’. For example, she might be exploring an abusive family relationships. In this case she might draw broken, shattered belongings in a hallway. Alternatively, she might be exploring the love a mother has for her child. In this case, she might approach the topic literally, and paint a mother holding her young child in a protective fashion, using a warm rosy colour scheme. Both of these are possible examples – and there are millions more. There is not one best approach (although the second option certainly has the danger of being more ‘cheesy’ and superficial than the first).
Please look this post about artist models, as some of them deal explore ideas relating to ‘family’ in their artwork. This should help give your friend some understanding of what to do.
Hi,
Could you please help me out on my photography folio board? I am doing my NCEA Level 2 Folio Board External at the moment, and i am struggling. The theme i have chosen to do is documenting about skateboarding and skateboards. What skateboarding means to skateboarders (e.g sense of freedom, way of life etc.) and so forth. Also, trying to take as much interesting photos of a skateboard as I can thru use of photo manipulation like double exposure, light trails etc. I have taken photos already, documenting skaters at a local skate park, taking photos of items or “symbols” (e.g tools, bag, skateboard, grafitti, “no skateboarding” signs etc.) that depict a skater’s life and so forth. I have also taken photos of a skateboard itself. taking different angled shots, composition, close ups of parts such as the wheels, deck, etc, And i have also started a photoshoot of an exploaded view/diagram of a skateboard. Isolating every part of a skateboard and hanging it up on a plain white backdrop. I have also documented and took various photos of the creating and making process of this project/photoshoot i did.
Now to my problem. I have the photos and all, but i dont know how to put them together. its like they dont relate. I have never taken art before, and i dont know the whole concept of a good folio board. This year’s photography course is my first art subject i took in school. I need some sense of direction. Could you please help me out? Im really desperate as my folio is due the first day back in term 4 and im looking through thin air. I’ve asked my teacher for some guidance but he never really helped. I never really got what he said. He told me to drop the whole idea of a story and just take interesting/creating photos of a skateboard (e.g use of camera manipulation, printing a photo that i took and taking a photo of that printed paper again – taking a photograph of a photograph type of thing etc.) i have done some of that, hence the exploaded diagram of a skateboard photoshoot that i did. but i still dont know how to put them together. I also need some artist models to refer to. Could you give/recommend me some artist models please?
I already had an idea. on how they could connect. Instead of my folio portraying the whole concept and deep meaning of “Skateboarding”, i’ve decided to make my folio portray the “construction” to the “instrument to freedom”. since majority of skateboarders i have interviewed say that skateboarding is freedom. whenever you’re on a skateboard, the world’s your whole playground filled with endless possibilities. I thought of this since i have documented and taken photos of an exploaded diagram/view of a skateboard, and skateboarders in action, then i thought that could be a concept that can connect these two sets of photos in action. But my teacher dosent see that and told me to drop that whole idea and concentrate more on drawing ideas, how i could make a skateboard all interesting and so forth. After that, i just didnt know what to do anymore. And after what he said, i dont see it working either. I really need help. Any idea if i can make that “concept” of mine work? if so, how?
Some of my other questions are: Any recommendation/ideas on a concept i should follow relating to skateboarding? What would you recommend my starting and ending photograph would be on an idea like this? Should i take more photos? If so, what kind should i take? How should i lay my photos out? Any recommendations? Any changes i should do? What should i do? What can i do? Any ideas of photos i should take? Any ideas on how i can take more interesting photos that i can connect with my other photos? how can i relate my photos and how can i make them connect? any recommendations on how i should lay my folio out?
So yeah, If you can really help me i would really appreciate it. Sorry for all the questions, i’m just really lost.
i’m planning for an Excellence, or a Merit at least. and i dont think i am able to even get achieved with the state im in at the moment.
Thank you very much for your time. Sorry for any inconvenience i have caused.
Hi Ronald,
Thanks for your detailed question. I will endeavour to help you as well as I can, however I want to preface my reply by making it clear I have never taught NCEA Photography (I have experience in CIE A Levels) and thus my comments should be verified by your own teacher to ensure I am not leading you astray.
I should also direct you to the NZQA website. They have benchmark photography folios (illustrating typical credit / merit / excellence responses etc) from a range of different years, with comments by the examiners accompanying them. Here are the scholarship ones (you have to scroll down to the photography section etc). These resources are really valuable.
In terms of my own advice, it is this:
When you compile a folio, the best approach is not to complete a whole lot of different work that relates to one theme (skateboarding, in your case) and then to attempt to assemble it coherently upon a folio board. This strategy, as you have discovered, is extremely difficult, as the photographs simply will not relate. Instead, it is better to integrate different ideas as you go. For example, you might begin by photographing skateboarders at a skate park; then introduce symbols, such as skateboarding bags, by having them arranged sculpturally in the foreground of the shots, or perhaps digitally merge them in, so that the original skaters appear to be skating in and out of the bags (just a random idea to illustrate a point – I am not saying do this). Then you would introduce another idea, such as exploded diagrams of skateboards, perhaps by having them appear to be drawn as graffiti on the skate park walls.
Obviously, however, you shouldn’t just randomly introduce things as I have explained in the example above – you should be selecting and developing things that aid in communicating a particular idea.
As for what your idea actually is, I probably tend to agree with your teacher, in that your “construction / instrument to freedom” interpretation is difficult to understand. Skateboarding represents freedom – yes – but the reasons for then illustrating the construction of the instrument that creates this freedom is less clear. Generally, if a concept is difficult to express using words, it is just as difficult to express visually (although this is not always the case). Ultimately, however, the decision is up to you, and if you really think this idea has promise, you should pursue it.
One option might be to look at skateboarding from a scientific angle…ie. the angles of jumps etc…(the elevation and heights of jumps leading to the sense of freedom / escape from the earth / gravity / joy ) which would then allow you to tie in a technical drawing more easily (I can actually imagine the contrast of linear work with photographic imagery looking really good). Hmmm, perhaps this is perhaps not so dissimilar to your construction idea…in that the combination of physical forces and physical construction of items provide the environment or platform from which freedom can result (is this kind of what you meant)?
If you are interested in something like this, then perhaps a suitable strategy might be to begin with beautiful images of skateboarding structures + people jumping from them etc; then progress to photos with drawings / lines added over them in a scientific / analysis type way; then perhaps a kind of disassembly of objects and also the people jumping…as if you are breaking the scene down to its most basic elements to discover the scientific source of freedom and joy. You could even also the people into diagrams…i.e. their muscles / bones etc…
I am soon going to write a blog post with good photography models. I will let you know as soon as I have done this.
Hopefully that gives you some kind of direction. Look carefully at the NZQA examples linked to above, and don’t hesitate to ask for more direction.
Hello there!
Let me first thank you for doing such a kind job for all us Art students of A levels; it’s been such a tremendous relief to find this side and the fact that you take out so much time to reply individually to all the comments is really appreciated.
On to my problem regarding the topic to choose. I’m in A2 now and the idea of choosing a topic in which I portray how simple things can be seen from an entirely different perspective randomly entered my head. It’s probably because of my love of surreal art and the fact that my artwork usually depicts abstract ideas rather than realistic objects, but now I wonder whether the topic isn’t a little too broad and unspecific. I thought to name it along the lines of “smaller things, greater wonders”, where these smaller things would be everyday objects and situations in life, but I’m not so sure.
I wondered whether I should make it a bit more conceptual, for example having my work depict how typical cliches mar our own perspectives and the reality and beauty of things (or just include this as a sub-topic in my coursework considering it’s related).
I’d be really grateful if you could help me out with this bit of trouble. Thank you in advance.
Hi Trobairitz,
Thank you for your kind words and many apologies for my delay in response.
You have hinted at some great ideas within your question, however you would indeed benefit from making your topic less broad and unspecific. For example, referring to one particular small or simple thing and exploring the wonder or meaning this has for you is more than enough to base an A-Level submission on. Alternatively, exploring how one particular cliché mars your perspective would be fine too. The question is whether the thing you choose can sustain your interest for a year and whether you are able to generate visual imagery that is sufficiently complex and detailed. But this shouldn’t be a problem. Sometimes the simplest, smallest beginnings can offer the most. Good luck.
Thank you for your help!
After much deliberation I’ve thought of making my coursework on books and the concept of stories that goes with them (it’s their ability to carry us to completely other worlds that inspires me the most). Would you consider this a suitable topic?
I also wondered whether I could explore the feelings related to them, such as the pleasing comfort of being huddled up in a corner and reading during a rainy day or simply how the smell of old books makes me feel.
Yes, this could be a great topic.
Now you need to ensure you have really great imagery to go with this! I look forward to hearing how your work progresses. 
Thank you very much!
I cant express my gratitude enough.
So, with the photos i have already taken, do i trash them and start from scratch? Or work on them? What should i do with them? Thanks.
Hi again Ronald,
Whether you choose to retain the photographs depends on how good they are. If they are good, see if they can be integrated somehow (if it works with the progression of your boards). Otherwise, depending on how pressed for time you are, you could start from scratch! Do you submit a workbook? If so, perhaps they could form part of your initial investigations in there?
Hi
Like others, I have found your site to be a great source of inspiration and helpful in thinking about my own direction.
I’m a ‘mature’ student (in age rather than attitude!) and taking up art for the first time. I’m enrolled in AS level, so just getting started in my first project.
One of the reasons I’m taking up art is a diagnosis of MS has meant I’ve had to ‘retire’ from volleyball. It’s not an easy decision, so human movement and sport is very personal to me. I started with movement as my theme, and have begun to narrow this down. I’ve come across the ‘nude descending the stairs’ and it has made me think of portraying movement by including a number of images in one picture. Perhaps a series of images showing someone hitting a ball.
Some of the futurist artists are interesting, and I think my next step will be artists who have portrayed sports people.
Unfortunately I guess I now have a vague question around whether you feel this is appropriate, whether you have any suggestions for artists and if you feel the theme/topic needs any further development. Ok, so that’s three questions!
Thanks for any advice you can provide.
Hi Jo,
I am glad you have found my site helpful.
A topic related to human movement is perfectly acceptable. I think you are best to select a particular example, however, i.e. people playing a game of volleyball, rather than endeavouring to cover a range of different types of human movements. It is best also if you have something to say about the topic…even if it is as simple as wishing to express the unadulterated joy of leaping around a volleyball court. It could be anything really…perhaps to do with strength and human agility… perhaps something to do with how you feel at no longer being able to play.
Anyway, the first step is to really flesh out what your topic means to you and what you’re trying to communicate, as this gives you some direction as to how to proceed. Selection of artists usually comes a little later, and are selected based on the ideas that you are trying to convey. In this post I outline the process my students followed (within CIE A Level Art), which hopefully will give you some idea about the development process.
As for artists, there are many possibilities… Simon Birch has some cool movement-based paintings. I am working on a list of good artist models which may interest you if you haven’t seen it already (it’s a work in progress)…
It is difficult to suggest any until you have really resolved what your work is about, however…
Hope that helps! Good luck!
Oh ok then. Thank you very much, once again.
I have started to take the photos you have suggested and i can see them all connecting together. I am really liking its outcome. but i need more ideas for photos, and what types of photos to take. as i have only completed 1 out of 2 boards. Would you have any more suggestions/ ideas for photos regarding my skateboard folio? thanks.
At what stage do you need more photos? Have you already worked all the way through to breaking human forms into scientific elements etc? (Did you decide to take that route?)
Hello Amiria,
I have recently started my AS level art and the theme we’ve been given is ‘A sense of place’. The previous year for GCSE I did a lot of watercolours/graphite/colour pencil sketches of family members because it linked well to the previous theme (i can’t even remember what that was now haha) and I felt I was good at it, but this year my teacher doesn’t think I should focus on people and she’d rather I focused on places as its easier to relate to the theme.
I am finding it very hard to be productive drawing and painting landscapes because its not something that particularly interests me and is not something that I have really done before. I am really struggling to fill my sketchbook with ideas/pages because although I’ve got a place to base my landscape on and it relates to me because I’ve visited it it just doesn’t seem to provoke any ideas like portraits did last year for GCSE.
I feel the theme itself is quite closed and narrow and I cant think of many ideas to create an interesting piece of work or coursework related to landscapes. Perhaps there is something I haven’t thought about… Have you any ideas?
The other issue is my teacher has asked me to create multiple landscapes outside my book to help build my portfolio using different textures/mediums, and I’m struggling to create these, what I have done so far is created a landscape in acrylics on a piece of slate because the landscape itself (woolacombe)has lots of slate cliffs and rocks. Please could you give me some ideas as I am totally stuck which to be fair is how I came across this site
I really like how you have been committed to helping students and its a really great and such a helpful thing to do, so pleased I came across your site! 
please help 
Hi Jess,
Thanks for your question.
The way to make drawing and painting landscapes appealing is to interpret them in a way that really interests you. Personally, if you were my student, I would advise you to choose a different location. The one you choose should be more to you than just ‘somewhere you have visited’ – it needs to be a place you are really engaged with and passionate about – not one that you struggle to know what to do with.
There are lots of fun ways to approach landscapes – nothing is ever closed and narrow (even if I said ‘spoon’ was your topic, there would be heaps of ways to interpret this creatively)…I think the problem with landscape is that it is SO broad and wide a topic that you have decided it means ‘old fashioned boring picture of some land’ (lol) and thus your brain has shut down and refused to think about it any more.
I’m not sure if you read this reply I wrote to another student who was struggling with how to proceed with birds and coastal landscapes? I have cut and paste a bit here anyway, in case it helps:
You could also look at surrealistic landscapes.
As a final note, ‘a sense of place’ could actually be interpreted as much more than just a ‘landscape’. It could mean a tiny room or a whole city or perhaps even a country.
In terms of different mediums, there are endless possibilities, even once you exhaust your common options, such as graphite, coloured pencil, pastel, acrylic etc (I like your idea of painting on slate by the way)! The key is to get really creative with ‘grounds’ – i.e. the undercoat / ground coat you use. In many cases the ground should show through in places (often in ‘mid-tone’ areas), so it becomes an integral part of the artwork. Here are some suggestions:
• Make a ground from a wash of acrylic in a colour that relates to your subject. When dry, use graphite pencil to add the dark tone and white paint to add the light areas;
• Make a blotchy wash of Indian ink on thick smooth watercolour paper. When dry, use Indian ink for dark areas and white paint for light areas;
• Complete a graphite pencil drawing. Add shellac (old fashioned varnish) over the whole thing or over part of it). Use white paint for highlights if desired;
• Make a textured ground using modelling compound. You can press things into it to make patterns of shape into rough surfaces etc using brushes, your fingers, bits of cardboard etc. When dry, wash with acrylic. Make quite watery, so as it dry the pigment will sink into the creases and exaggerate the textures. Draw / paint over this;
• Get some non-degradable rubbish that relates to your site (i.e. old cardboard packages) and glue onto page. Paint with gesso – perhaps leaving bits showing through if the colours and patterns have aesthetic potential and relate to your art. Proceed to paint or draw over the top…
• Draw on newspaper;
• Graphite drawing on thick, shiny tracing paper (it’s awesome to draw on);
• Merge digital images with your paintings – i.e. paint on photos or merge drawings and paintings digitally…scan your drawings and overlay with textures etc…
That is just some ideas to get you started!
Hope that helps!
Hi Amiria hope you’re well!
I’m doing an a2 art project on ‘the passage of time’ and so far have explored the impermanence of time (A.Goldsworthy’s land art, love it)and also, I visited the Damien Hirst Exhibition focusing on his use of butterflies as symbols of fleeting beauty etc. But now I’m drawing a blank with initial ideas and how I may develop my project? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Needy,
I suggest you concentrate on establishing what exactly ‘the passage of time’ means to you, personally. It helps immensely if you interpret a topic in a personal way – so that your work deals with issues that really strike a chord at the heart of your being. For example, you could explore: the loss of childhood / a fear of growing up; the magical ability of human cells to repair and grow; old age and the loss of mental faculty… etc etc. Once you have a really specific interpretation, it will then be much easier to know which direction you should take… I take it you are looking at a sculptural submission? If you are a painting student, by chance, there are some artists on this list who deal with time…
Btw, many apologies for the delay in response!
Hi Amiria!
First let me me say how fantastic this website is, it’s been so helpful with my art, however I’m really struggling with a theme for my AS level coursework. My initial idea was the human form, however I know I need to narrow this now a lot, and that is where I get stuck.
Painting and drawing are my definite strong points, and I have good technical skill but lack the imagination and drive to develop my ideas to produce a full portfolio. I very much like Simon Birch and Florian Nicolle, which are both mentioned on your website. I love experimenting with different mediums to create unique looking artworks, but I prefer things to look more realistic.
I also wanted to incorporate emotions within my theme, such as pain, (I love the expression ‘love is like a drug’) as this is something I find I have always struggled with, and wanted to make it more personal.
My apologise for the essay, but any help or guidance you could offer would be most appreciated as my ideas are in such a jumble and I just want to get started! Thanks again!
Hi Natty,
Thank you for your kind comments
You are right that you need to narrow your theme down. It is difficult for me to suggest anything, as I don’t know your hobbies / interests / life situation etc… The only thing I can really advise is that you brainstorm as many things as you can which include the human form and emotions and which are of relevance to your life). It could be family celebrations like christenings / christmas / birthdays or other issues / events such as sibling rivalry / death of a loved one… Once you have narrowed it down to a few potential ideas (using the criteria outlined in this blog post) I am happy to help you decide which one to pursue.
This website is totally amazing! Thank you so much! I just started my AS level in Art and i have chosen the topic ‘Time’. However, after reading all of yuor advice, i’m beginning to think it is too common a topic. That’s one of my worries. My second problem is that i’m finding it a little too difficult to come up with ideas relating to time and finding artists that explore time! I’ve never actually put a sketchpad together so i’m not completely sure how to create mine! Please help Amiria!
Hi Daraa,
Yes, I would suggest that not only is time too common a topic, it is also too broad to be really helpful. The only thing I can recommend is that you go through the steps outlined in this blog post and brainstorm a whole lot of things that are of relevance to your life. If you are keen to do something related to time, there are lots of possibilities, including things to do with aging, growth, procreation, decay etc. The best option is to choose something that is really important to your life, i.e. a baby brother learning skills, or a grandparent that is suffering from dementia…
I wouldn’t worry about artists until you have refined your own ideas, as it is best that the artists support your ideas, rather than the other way around. I’m not sure if you have seen this blog post about artist models, but there are a number on here that deal with time-related issues.
I have also written this blog post about putting together a sketchbook, which may help.
Many apologies for the big delay in replying. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Good luck!
This website has helped me out so much!.
Ive just started my AS level art, and our teacher gave us a topic, mine was “wrap”. Im finding it hard to find things within that topic that actually engage me. Ive been drawing people and things, and some painting to see if I get any ideas but Im still not into it, it just isn’t interesting me at all, and because of that my work isn’t at the best of my abilities. But I feel as though Im loosing time, and I still havent got anything out of it :L
Hi Esra,
I am glad you have found this website helpful!
The best advice I can give is simply for you to go through the steps outlined in this blog post and try and brainstorm that things to do with ‘wrapping’ that are of relevance to you.
Here are some random ideas to get you started…
• Look at wrap, as in the concealing of secrets and memories. Get cloth and physically wrap up little objects that symbolise secrets or memorable occasions or events in your life;
• Wrap as in packaging, and the tendency of modern society to excessively package things with materials that don’t decay. Actually this could be kind of cool – i.e. awesome images of fast food packages etc…
• An entire submission based on a kebab or some other wrap (lol)…assuming this is something you eat regularly and are interested in and can think of some kind of theoretical stance to support it, like the nourishing of life
• Something to do with burying emotion / encasing / covering pain;
• This painting by Kang Can might give you some ideas too!
Hope that helps. Good luck!
Hi,
I’ve decided to become an artist but I don’t know what A levels to pick. At the moment: Art, Fine Art, Photography(?) and something else. Thanks
Hi Jess,
This is a tricky question for me to answer as it totally depends on your own strengths and interests!
Firstly, I would only very rarely advise a student to take three arts subjects, as the workload is very high. It can be much better to take only one or two and excel in them, than take lots and do badly.
Do you intend on attending a tertiary institution to refine your art skills? (I would recommend this). If so, you should read carefully over their entry requirements as many require you to have taken a language based subject (at least this is the case in NZ), such as English, History or Geography etc. By language based, I mean one in which you write a lot of essays etc, and thus develop your written language skills.
As for which subjects would be most helpful for being an artist…I would recommend:
* Those which allow you to become proficient at web design and internet marketing (I don’t know if this subject currently exists, but it is possible that computer studies of some kind may teach you some of these skills)
* Maths (it’s helpful for everything)
* Business related subjects, such as economics, accounting or Business Studies.
* Plus any other subject that you think you will get high marks in.
Please let me know if you need further help!
I can’t seem to get a topic I like and could actually do enough pieces while making it look unique and different. I have thought about the idea of doing portraits of sporting champions. Such as Ayrton Senna;I quite like most of these images of him(https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.215463005183650.54185.102440223152596&type=3), Lance Armstrong etc. but I fear I’m restricting myself. I can choose any topic I wish. I’m good at using pencils, pastels and water colour pencils. Not too keen on paints but I’m not bad at using them. Wondering if there is a wider topic that can relate to this sort of thing.
Hi Reuben,
Unfortunately I think that you are right to fear that this topic will restrict you. While it is possible, working from second hand images (i.e. photographs taken by someone else) can limit you immensely and has lots of risks attached. If you did pursue this, you would have to do far more than simply copying photographs of sports stars…you would need to do something to the images so that they became ‘your own’, perhaps making composite collaged pieces like Robert Rauschenberg or combining multiple images in one painting, similar to Amy Pleasant (these two are both included on my Artist Model post). An easier strategy would be to choose something which you can view in person and photograph yourself. If you are interested in portraiture and sports, there could be a local sports team you could visit or yourself engaged in a physical sport of some kind?
Have you seen this post for a brief list of ideas?
Hi,
i have to come up with an idea to develop in my AS level art, i can do anything and am quite uninspired.
I would prefer to do something large scale and abstract, but still with fine detail.. if that makes sense?
my art teacher suggested doing identity, and subcultures on different relevant textures-like a housewife painted onto a plate.
but i am not sure if i could manage to pull that together as an idea :/
i read above and thought about life experiences/things that mean something etc. and thought drug abuse would be good.. but how can i make this idea different and more interesting?
Hi Lucy,
Although, landscapes can be good subjects to morph into such works. I don’t know what you think of these works by New Zealand artist Jane Kellahan (also these ones). At first glance they appear to be just big abstract works, however, upon closer inspection, the detailed areas suggest beautiful, moody landscapes.
I know what you mean by large scale and abstract, but with fine detail – unfortunately this doesn’t help narrow down your subject matter selection!
Housewife issues is quite a cool topic, but if this doesn’t resonate with you then you should choose something different.
Drug abuse could be a really relevant topic for a teenager, but you would need to have access to good ‘imagery’…i.e. do you have friends who take drugs etc who you could photograph? (faces can be blurred to conceal identity)…or you could focus on paraphernalia…or on teenage drinking (alcohol being the most common drug abused by humans)…
To make this (or any) topic different and interesting, it just needs to be something which really matters to you… something that rips apart your soul. If you need to make it interesting, it is the wrong topic for you…
Anyway, here are some artists that could help spur some ideas…
* Ian Shults who has trippy, blurry paintings of party scenes etc;
Erin Pearce whose new series of paintings depicts people under the influence…
Hope that gives you some ideas!
Hi, Amiria!
I’m doing my A2 right now and i’m stuck on component 3, I cant seem to find a topic that is relevant to me and i’ve been trying to come up with a topic for the past month! I love fantasy and magic, but i cant seem to tie it up with anything. Any ideas on where i could start please?
Thank you!
Oh, i had also thought up the theme Betrayal, but i don’t know how to proceed from there:/ as the project has to be relevant to me and i’m not sure how betrayal would be relevant to me.
Hi Marika,
Fantasy and magic can be a good starting point. The key is to find some way to link this to something that is important in your life. Perhaps you could look at bringing a favourite board game or toys to life, or a story you remember from your childhood could be interpreted and explored through art. Perhaps you could investigate time travel (in a personal way)… Photos of distant relatives could be brought to life in a modern context – or your current self could meet yourself as a young child…giving advice / guidance – the things you wish you knew etc; or perhaps whole family could be depicted in an envisioned future. Try and think of the things that are meaningful in your life and contemplate how you could bring the magic or fantastic into this… Hmmm, it is hard to come up with many suggestions, as I don’t know your interests, hobbies or life situation etc…but hopefully that gives you something to start brainstorming with!
I wouldn’t do betrayal, by the way, unless there is some aspect of this that relates to your life.
Good luck!
Hi Amiria,
Thank so much for you reply!:D It’s given me so many ideas!
I’ve chosen Family as my theme and I was wondering whether it has to have a modern setting cause i’ve been reading through all the comments and most of what i read has a modern or at least a relatively modern setting. If i had work which was in a completely fantastical background- say an elven village- would that be ok? Also, should it be only my family that i base my art on or can it be that i started with my family and its the idea of family that i want to portray through my art?
Thanks again!
Hi Marika,
There are no requirements about your artwork having to have a modern setting (at least not in CIE A Levels, which is the qualification I am experienced in), however, there are considerable advantages to drawing from life (as this has a tendency to result in images that are more accurately and convincingly drawn). This doesn’t mean that you can’t have ‘fantastic’ backgrounds – it simply means you should be clever about how you create it. For example, if you want to create an elven background, you should look for ways of setting this up in reality…finding or creating an existing scene that can just be altered a little when you draw it. This will ensure that you get perspective lines and proportions etc correct. In my experience, inventing whole scenes or backgrounds is likely to lead to a student’s downfall, because they end up being drawn poorly.
For the same reasons, I would also draw from a real family…whether this is your own family or some other family who doesn’t mind being the basis of your art project. I would definitely not invent a family… Is this what you were suggesting by portraying the ‘idea of family’ – that you would draw or paint a generic family?
I must say that I like the idea of combining an image of a family with a crazy and unexpected setting, but I have a tiny bit of reservation about the idea of combining it with an elven village…but I can’t really think of exactly why. Maybe I am hesitant because it seems as though the art could appear insincere?
Hi again
,
Thanks for your reply! By “Idea of family” I had meant that I would show the bonds between people in a family, but then i realized that i was going off on another tangent! And i think i wasn’t too clear in my previous comment, but what i actually meant to ask is whether its ok if i personify the personalities of my family in different settings?
Like say if my grand-mum is this fun, loves-to-cook sort of person? can i draw a plump, cute looking witch baking a cake and around her are three small children busy eating icing and watching her, or should i actually draw her baking the cake and me helping?
About my reference artists:
-Is it ok if i choose a 19th-20th century artist (who has painted about family) in my research?
-Can i look at concept/digital artists who’ve dealt with fantasy environments for my fantasy element? Because i have no clue where to start if i have to stick to more traditional artists!
-Will i need to refer local artists who’ve dealt with family? and if i am unable to obtain images of the work or go to the artist’s gallery will it affect my grade?
-Would it be possible to refer some artists who’ve done about family please?
Also, “Cultural awareness” means the influence of the culture around me in my work right?
I’m sorry if i bother you with so many questions, its just that i’m part of the first batch of A2 students of my school, and its all pretty new and confusing!
Thanks!
No worries – that’s why I made this blog, so I could help students!
I would definitely draw your grand-mum as the witch. In fact, if you want to do this, I would dress her up as a witch and then photograph her… this way you will get a much more realistic and convincing drawings.
By the way, when using ‘imaginary’ subject matter, it can help to have ideas behind your work that link to things that are important to you in the real world. I’m not sure if you have read this blog post, but it gives a good example of this… what appear to be crazy fantasy images, with wild animals inside houses etc, actually explore issues that the student is concerned with in reality.
In answer to your questions….
- Artists can be from any time period;
- You can look at some artists from other disciplines (i.e. digital artists) but most should be from your area of specialty (i.e. Painting). Also, artists don’t have to explore the same theme as you – they can be of help just with painting technique or use of media etc;
- Amy Pleasant and Zhang Xiaogang (both featured in this blog post about artist models) deal with family. Surrealist artists might also help you, by the way;
- Visiting artist work in person is encouraged for your Coursework, but is only essential for the one who you choose to study for your Personal Study (read this blog post about the Personal Study for more info). You should visit galleries frequently though…just for ideas / motivation etc;
- Cultural awareness just means you should be exposed to artwork from a range of cultures – different countries / time periods etc. It basically just means don’t choose artists that are all the same, or very similar…but are from different places and times…
Here are some links to NCEA Scholarship Art folios that you might find interesting / helpful too. This is the New Zealand Qualification that is equivalent to A Levels – Scholarship is a special award given to top candidates; Excellence is the highest normal grade. The quantity of work required is a bit less than for A Level, but the process that is carried out is the same, so they are helpful for A Level students to look at. There are written summaries too, which are really helpful.
These two are Design folios, but the top one has a fantasy element, so I thought I’d link to it: http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/awards/scholarship/scholarship-subjects/scholarship-visual-arts/design-exemplars-2009/
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/Qualifications-and-standards/Qualifications/NCEA/NCEA-subject-resources/Visual-Arts/Exemplars/schol07-paint-exemplars.pdf
This is a printmaking one. You can see in the top folio that even though an ‘imaginary scene’ is created, the objects within it are realistic and drawn from observation: http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/awards/scholarship/scholarship-subjects/scholarship-visual-arts/printmaking-exemplars-2010/
These are the equivalent of AS Level: http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/qualifications/ncea/subjects/visual-arts/external-exemplars/l2-2010-painting/
Thank you soo much for taking the time to answer all my questions! Those links that you’ve sent have really helped in understanding what exactly i need to do too!
Thanks again!
Hi,
I’m currently in my second year of Alevel and my theme is ‘journey’. My ideas include cultural/society, history/war, man-made vs nature I’m exploring the way things change over time and the journey a country/person takes due to this etc… I’m not sure how to develop on these ‘sub-topics’ and artists to look at, any suggestions? Thank you
Hi Ellis,
Perhaps your uncertainty about how to proceed stems from the fact that the sub-topics within your ‘journey’ theme are all relatively disconnected from each other? Sometimes it can help to have one strong focus to a submission, rather than several alternate interpretations, as this can leave you not really knowing how to progress. It may be best to take the aspect of your sub-topics that resonates with you the most – preferably something which you are really passionate about and have some personal connection to (perhaps the way a relative changed when exposed to war, for example) and build on this (possibly integrating other aspects of the other sub-topics within it). It is difficult to guide you too much without seeing your work, but reading this post on how to develop an idea and also this one which lists some good artist models may help.
Are you studying CIE A Levels? Please bear in mind that my experience relates specifically to this.
Good luck! Please don’t hesitate to ask further questions – I know I haven’t given you much specific advice!
Hi
My second year A level coursework is ‘working from photographs’. I have concentrated on portraits and self portraits (my strong point realistic oil painting of faces). I want to combine family photographs of several generations with some very cool photos I took of tramps this summer. I want to focus on the contrast between young and old and emotion and expressions. Any help would be great, thanks.
Hi Ann,
Thanks for your question. My first piece of advice would be to spend some time defining your topic in more detail. For example, ‘working from photographs’ is more a method of working, rather than an idea. There are valid ideas associated with photographs (such as the limitation of photography – how a flat image can never really convey the true essence of something and is always an artificial surface reflection, sometimes one that is manipulated so that the person (or scene) appears better or different to reality…or how photographs are used to capture a moment in time and in doing so, take on an arbitrary measure of importance that the moment did not originally have). Looking at the work of Zhang Xiaogang or Amy Pleasant – both mentioned in this blog post about artist models – might be helpful. Once you have really defined what it is that you are exploring, your decision-making process will be much easier. For example, combining the images with those of tramps (I am assuming you mean tramps as in ‘outdoor walks’ rather than ‘dishevelled homeless folk’, due to your mention of summer
) should only occur if this somehow supports and helps you express your theme. It will also let you know if concentrating on the expressions and contrasting of emotions etc is the way to go.
Hmmm, I know this sounds a little vague, but I am unable to give you really clear guidance until I know what it is your art is trying to say…
By the way, if your strong point is painting realistic faces, this is a great sign! This is usually what most students find most difficult.
Hi, I’ve chosen Reflections for my theme. I’m finding it really difficult to come up with ideas and then draw/paint them! Do you recommend I change my theme? I’ve looked on youtube for any tutorials – but I’m interested in window reflections – any tips on how I could do this simply? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Hi Beth,
Reflections are never simple to draw, but you don’t want to choose a simple topic – it is good that you are challenging yourself!
As windows are a flat surface, the interest of the reflection depends primarily on the object that is being reflected (in other words, in order to create an interesting artwork, you need to find somewhere where an interested scene is being reflected). Alternatively, you could look at reflections in curving surfaces, such as shiny metal kettles or taps (although drawings of this nature are fairly common). I would also advise having a theoretical ‘idea’ behind you work, so that you are not simply ‘drawing reflections’ but expressing a particular idea related to the reflections.
I am going to write a blog post on observational drawing soon, which may help…
Hello
I decided to choose ‘birds’ as a theme for my a-level coursework, but I’m having a little trouble coming up with the development! I was thinking of maybe using another theme as well and then merging them together, but I can’t seem to come up with any ideas!
I’ve taken pictures of birds and painted a few, I’ve done some reduction prints, but It doesn’t seem good enough. I was wondering if you had any ideas to take my project further? Any help would be appreciated!
Thankyou!
Hi Nielle,
I am not sure if you have read this post on how to develop your ideas?
It is likely you are finding it difficult as you seem to have chosen a subject (birds) without an idea attached. It helps immensely to have some kind of message or intention behind the subject, so that you know how to progress. For example, it could be to do with a chicken and egg scenario (i.e. the inability to separate which event came first and thus the interconnection of all things – how one event is intertwined with all that came before); or simply a study of the scientific aspect of flight – looking at bone structure, angles of trajectory, the mechanism of flight etc; it could be a depiction of birds in their natural environment, perhaps looking at how humans have destroyed or interfered with their surroundings; perhaps it could be something to do with genetics and how traits are passed on (I think variations in finches initiated Darwin’s study of evolution). Or you could also look at birds subjected to life in cages (or perhaps battery farmed chickens).
It doesn’t need to be anything overly complex – it can simply be a matter of wanting to illustrate the beauty in one particular bird. But you need to establish this from the beginning, so that you know how to proceed.
Once you have formed some ideas related to your topic, I am happy to help further.
Thankyou so much for your reply, it definetely helped alot! The topics I have in mind that could work are either “over the edge”, “transition” or “natural forms”.
My idea, was so start of doing studies of only the egg, which ultimately end up as a dead bird in a market. So, I’d be doing the egg, then the free bird, then it caged, etc.
My teacher however, says that its slightly over complicated.. so, i was wondering you had an easier way in mind to approach this idea?
Thankyouu
Hi Nielle,
Generally you want to avoid something which can only be displayed through a long kind of narration – a story told through a series of pictures etc – and instead want an idea that can be conveyed entirely within one image (or a small collection of images). Has your teacher indicated that she wants you to drop the idea entirely, or does she just wish you to refine it a little?
Do you have access to birds in cages? I would say this is a prerequisite for a project of this nature. If so, I would try and set up some compositions with live birds and dead birds (preferably the same species) and take lots of photos and see where you go from there. Try some with the egg, but leaving out the egg might make it simpler. You will quickly see if the topic has potential and if so, it should spark lots of ideas. This AQA A Level Art project is a good example of how photography spurred on a painting project.
Good luck!
Hi im starting my AS level in art and the project we are doing is natural forms. we’ve been building up our portfolios for a while and ive had to produce 18 pieces which has all been fine. But now we have to choose an artist, do an artist copy, then a developement and a final piece. but im having a lot of difficutly choosing an artist. The exam board last year in my GCSE had a comment saying that they would like to see more traditional artists. So im trying to think of an artist to do. I am quite graphicy and i like all the art nouveau artists, and i find i can do the style well. I like strong outlines etc. But seen as though for my gcse i did art nouveau and i got an A, i cant do an artist from that movement again this year. So i was wondering i you could suggest a few traditional artists that would fit to my prefered style??
Hi Emily,
Just wondering whether you gained an A* or just an A? The reason I ask is perhaps the comment from the examiners about wanting to see more traditional artists indicates that you should branch outside of your preferred style? Often art teachers are quite wary of students using strong outlines as it can hinder a student’s ability to apply tone in a realistic fashion (obviously this is a generalisation and obviously not all work should look realistic…but it often helps to demonstrate to the examiner that you are capable of this at some point). The fact that you got an A means you must be talented student… perhaps the only thing holding you back from an A* was that you chose artists that didn’t allow you to fully demonstrate your skill?
My advice would be to forget about looking for traditional artists that fit into your preferred style and instead to set about embracing other styles.
But anyway, here are a few modern artists that perhaps you might like: Jason Thielke, Alexey Kurbatov and Mark Demsteader. Let me know if you need more help!
You may also be interested in this post listing some good artist models for painting students…
Hey,
Reading through most of these questions and answers, I felt as of
I couldn’t ask a better person for advice! I’m currently studying art at AS level. And we’ve been given a brief to follow. The topic is on Journeys and the brief outlines;
“In this frat project you are required to visually document a journey by creating a range of interesting images. Your first ask will be to use drawings and photography to visually record elements of your journey. Your images could be of places, landscapes, buildings, objects, textures, peoples, transport etc.. You will also be required to collect ‘journey’
Related items such as tickets maps timetables
Etc..”
However looking at what most students have chosen to do for their project all
Seems to be quite similar based on journey from home
To college or landscapes and nature. I was hoping you’d be able to give me some
Inspiration and more suggestions on possible project ideas. That would be great. Also I have left my email address above, would really appreciate if you sent a copy f your reply to that. Thanks alot, much appreciated!
Maryam.
Hi Maryam,
Thanks for your kind words!
Yes, I imagine the typical response is the journey from school etc or something similar. It is great that you are looking for something more unusual. If you have read most of the comments above, you have probably seen my suggestions relating to Journeys, but here is a summary of my ideas anyway…
• From old to new (old structure demolished for something new / old technology making way for new etc);
• A journey through time, such as a person aging / physical changes, or a record of memorable occasions in a life;
• Childhood to adulthood;
• Getting through an emotional circumstance, such as a loved one passing away or overcoming illness;
• Conception/pregnancy/birth;
• A miniature journey, i.e brushing teeth – from arrival at sink to looking in mirror at end
• The journey of achieving a goal;
• An academic journey – through school etc;
Hope that helps!
hi i was on the internet looking for help as a came to a block on what i was trying to achieve with my theme. i have concentrated on old age drawing and painting grandparents and so with a grand parent holding a grandchild. i have gotten to the point of development and i have come to a hult. i want my work to be meaningful, but i am lost as my theme is so broad. i was hoping you could give me some guidance to a more meaningful, and unique theme using the material i have?
thank you
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte,
Yes, it sounds as though you need to come up with an idea behind your work… Here are some that might help start the brainstorming process:
• Something to do with genetics (the passing down of traits);
• Regret for the decisions one has made in life – passing on lessons to those younger;
• Cycle of life / death / new generations etc;
• The weaving together of family;
• Telling of stories: the passing down of wisdom from old to young;
• Family secrets…
Hmm, that’s all I can think of for now!
This post on how to develop your artwork may also help…
Hi, Amiria. Im a student taking the Alevels Art course. I’m not sure if there’s any difference between AS level and Alevel, but i was just hoping to seek help from you. I am inspired by animal cruelty from human consumption of animals. However, do you think that it’s too narrowed-down for a start? I was thinking of starting the coursework with explorations into animal consumption in our daily lives. Hoping to narrow it down to cruelty later. im really worried that i might get stuck later on because im limiting myself to this fixed idea. Could you please enlighten me with possible perspectives that i can take for this coursework? Overall, i wish to do a series of painting or a fashion collection from this coursework. I appreciate your help and i look forward to your reply.
Hi Jackson,
I think your topic is excellent and definitely not too narrow. A focused topic gives you greater opportunity to develop proficiency in a certain area and can allow for greater clarity of ideas. By the way, you don’t need to further narrow down your ideas as your Coursework progresses. It is the composition of your works and your use of media and techniques that should improve/change/develop over the course. Animal cruelty can be explored right from the beginning.
Are you sitting CIE A Levels? If so, this blog post might help you understand the differences between AS Art and A Level Art (A2).
As long as you are sufficiently interested in this topic, you won’t become bored. The direction your Coursework takes largely depends on the artists you study. There are many possibilities, i.e. Francis Bacon or Victoria Reynolds. There are lots of meat paintings here that may help you too.
The artists (or fashion designers) that you learn from don’t necessarily have to have anything to do with your theme, by the way – you can learn technique or compositional strategy, even if they are working with a totally different subject matter.
Hope that helps! Please don’t hesitate to ask for further guidance if you need to.
Thank you so much. I’m taking GCE A levels. Now i’m confident on this concept. Im thinking of starting the coursework by exploring into the ways animals are used for human consumption, be it for food, entertainment, fashion, whatever. After I’ve done this, maybe i can look into animal emotions or something.:)
Hi Ameria,
Can you please tell me what is contextual research?
Can you please tell me what this phrase relates to? Is it used in the syllabus? I had a quick search and was unable to locate it.
Contextual research in education often means investigating how a topic relates to a student’s own world – i.e. where it fits into the context of their daily lives… But I am not certain what this is in reference to, so I need more information before I can answer you more clearly…
thanks thats been loads of help! i only got an A and what youve said has actually helped me to realise. i think branching out of my usual style is a good idea and so far its proved to have had success! i did an artist copy of Franz Marcs ‘tiger’ and that went really well and ive discovered i like using oil paints. I especially liked your suggestion of Kurbatov, i like the detail in the work and for my next case study im going to definately study this artist, and its different for what im currently doing. Another question, in my art course we have to either choose the fine art course or graphics. and im not sure which one to choose. before i would have gone for graphics because my teacher said it would benefit my natural style. but opting to study a different style of artist has made me wonder wether to do fine art because im really enjoying the variation from what i usually do. The graphics course has a lot of computer work and the final project is to make a stamp and presentation pack for it. and im not sure if i will actually enjoy doing that.. i much prefer the idea of the fine art course where we do our final piece in the style of an artist, but making it your own. But i dont know if i have the skills to cope with the fine art courseand as i said before, my teacher thinks i will find graphics easier. so yeah i was wondering if i could have some advice.. sorry this is so long! i just got back from a school trip so i havent had time to reply quicker. thanks
Hi Emily,
This is a difficult one. Probably your teacher knows your skills best and thus their recommendation is a good one. I don’t know if you have done much computer aided design before, but using Photoshop or Fireworks to create or modify images is surprisingly fun (much more fun than I ever anticipated), so you may enjoy it more than you think. The graphics students I have known get really into their work and end up spending hours and hours upon the computer… Also, it is more than possible to make designs that are a beautiful combination of hand drawing and digital work…through scanning drawings and textures and patterns etc and then combining them digitally etc. I am not sure about your school, but our Graphic Design students frequently learn from artists and designers and integrate these ideas in their own work…so this is not just something you would do in Fine Art.
If you think you will enjoy Fine Art more, however, then you should do that. It is better to do something you really enjoy and are passionate about…as you will put the most effort into this and thus will get better and better, resulting in a great mark.
In conclusion, I am afraid I am not going to be able to answer your question. Ultimately, it is up to you.
It may be possible to change within the first few weeks if you realise it is not for you? (I’m not sure what your school’s policy on this is, but our students have a couple of weeks to change subject if it’s not working out)…
By the way, feel free to vote for my blog in the Edublog Awards (see link top left). I would really appreciate it!
Amiria
Hi Amira
i am doing a2 level art. I have chosen a theme called metamorphosis and change through urban landscapes. but i am not sure if that makes any sense? I have been forced to look at expressionism but i am struggling on how to develop it.
So far I have looked at artists such as vlanminck and oskar kokoschka because of their expressive use of colour and composition. I have been looking at urban landscape from parks in London.
Hi Jacqueline,
Have you elaborated upon your theme at all? Because I think it may help to form a viewpoint about the metamorphosis of urban landscape…i.e. what are you saying about such change? For example, you may be saddened at how the urban environment is being transformed from beautiful historic buildings to bland, nondescript modern megastructures… or perhaps you are quietly observing the gradual creep of decay and misery over a particularly poor part of town. Whatever the case, it is these feelings or ideas behind your theme that will help drive your project.
I teach CIE A Levels, which are the international equivalent of the A Levels studied in the UK. You may find this post on how to develop A Level Art helpful, but it is focused on CIE Art, so may not be wholly relevant to you.
Are you able to select any expressionist artist? Will you be studying expressionism for the duration of your project? If you give me some more info I may be able to help you more.
Also i want to look at other mediums/materials other then acrylics but i am not sure if it is possible because i am looking at expressionism.
thank you for your time and i look forward to your reply
Hi again Jacqueline,
You should be able to use any range of media, regardless of the artistic style you are working in. You can also try painting on a range of different, inventive surfaces and textures. Will you be looking at a range of artists over the Course, or just expressionism? Either way, you can use many different mediums. This is encouraged!
Yeah thats what I though. Ive done a bit on photoshop but not too much. I think I’m leaning towards graphics and I do like doing photography etc and ive been told I can do alot with it in my graphics module. Thanks for your advice, ? and yeah I think there is a bit of time for me to change if I want to. I just voted for you for the awards
? I was wondering if you could give me some ideas on what medium I could do for my next piece. Ive done quite a lot of varied ones in my art so far, oil paints, acrylic, pencils, chalks, oil pastles, inks etc.. could you maybe give me some ideas on doing something outside the box because I feel like what medias ive been using a quite samey and I want to do something a bit different. I don’t know if you have any suggestions? Thanks for all your help ?
Hi Emily,
Thank you for voting
Your question has inspired to me to write a blog post about this… actually, it will be a four part blog post, with lots of different ideas for using media creatively etc. I have just uploaded the first one – inventive use of media for painting students. Hope it helps!
Hello Amiria, I’m halfway through AS art and feeling very uninspired because of the topic I’ve picked (decay and erosion). I got an A at GCSE last year and I really really need to get an A this year, I was wondering if you could help? Currently I’ve started into rotten fruit but my teachers told me to stay away from it as I was ‘struggling’ so now I’m doing derelict buildings and rust. I’m finding it hard to find artists and make my topic stand out.. For my final piece I’m thinking of doing something along the lines of a mixed media outcome so I’m also trying to find artists for that. I’ve never used oils and my strongest media would be acrylic if that helps? I just want to scrap everything I’ve done and start over.. Please help! :/
Hi Holly,
I hope you don’t scrap everything and start over! Even if you aren’t happy with some of your work at the moment, the good thing about Art is that you can keep working over paintings until they look good! This can result in work that has many layers – but this just gives it more texture, substance and soul
I’m sure it hinders you, however, to be doing a topic that doesn’t enthuse you. I would look at interpreting decay and orosion in a way that relates to your own life. For example, if you are painting decaying structures and you think “Lame – my art teacher has got me painting these stupid metal surfaces again,” your work will never turn out as well as if you were thinking “look at the way these flakes of rust peel away, revealing beautiful browns and blues…like the exterior of a person can be eroded away, to reveal a mess of emotions within…”
I am half asleep and rambling, but hopefully you get the idea. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what you paint; it matters what you think about it. And you have total control over that. You just have to generate a new interpretation!
I have just started a series of blog posts about using media (and mixing media) which might help you in terms of technique. If I think of any artists that may be specifically helpful to you I will let you know!
Good luck!
Hi Holly,
I just discovered an artist Seth Clark who does amazing mixed media pieces of decaying houses and other structures that you might be interested in. If you click the ‘next’ button at the top of the page I linked to, it shows close-ups… I think they have little sticks glued into it and everything. Awesome!
You might also like these mixed media paintings by Ian Francis. They are not directly related to a decay and erosion theme, but they remind me of the traces of humanity that is left in abandoned derelict buildings…i.e. memories of the people that used to occupy them… Here’s another one. Even if you don’t want to add in a human element (which is likely to make your theme to broad anyway), ‘memories’ can be conveyed by still life items…i.e. little forgotten objects that people have left behind, signifying that they were once there…
Hi there, i’m halfway through my photography project at A2 and i feel like i’m really coming to a stand still with my project.I realise this thread is focused on Art, though i’d really appreciate advice
My project is reflection and distortion and i don’t have long left to complete it. Initially, i focused on water reflections that mirror distortion, but they became very boring to me. I’m feeling so uninspired that i’m starting to worry i won’t achieve the grade im predicted. For AS, i got a grade B for my photography, and my aim for this year was to maintain that or even get an A. If you have any advice/inspiration or anything at all to suggest, i’d really appreciate it!:)
Thank you
Jade
Hi Jade,
I am very short on time tonight, but I will just quickly mention this post which outlines some photography ideas which may help you. I will write a more helpful response as soon as I get a chance!
Hi Jade,
I think you need to really clarify what your photographs are about. You say you are photographing water / reflections etc…but what message are you intending to communicate? What ideas are you exploring? If you are growing bored and feeling a bit lost, it is probably because you initially found water reflections aesthetically pleasing (which they are), but didn’t link this with an idea or message. This is very common among A Level Art students and is a quick recipe for boredom.
If this is the case for you, it would really help you to come up with an idea. Perhaps how people try to create an ‘improved’ image of themselves and make themselves out to be something they are not; or how things decay and change over time (i.e. an man could look in a mirror and see a distorted image of himself as a child). Perhaps you could explore something along the lines of parallel universes / double worlds / something along the lines of the matrix? Or something to do with body image / anorexia…?
What sort of things have you been photographing so far (i.e. what has been reflected in the water)?
hi amiria,
i’m doing my as level art coursework now,and i am half way there….my theme is innocence in street children.my first sheet basically shows street people and how got to choosing children and also innocence.the next 1-1.5 sheets have works which are all based on pictures i took of street children.one of the atists i decided to study is jonathan darby.he portrays how the innocent are vulnarable…i was hoping if you could share with me if i am doing fine….and also if you could sugest artists or the sought of artist i could work on…
thank you
samira
Hi Samira,
It is difficult to say how you are doing without seeing your work. Jonathan Darby is an excellent artist to study. Are you learning from him all the techniques he uses, such as painting on textured surfaces made from newspaper, splattered paint, drips of paint etc? His paintings allow the beautiful messy backgrounds to show through the image, even when completed. You should attempt to use these techniques in your own work (painting the children from your own photographs, of course). The next step is then to select another artist that interests you and add this to what you have learned already from Darby. You don’t just have to select artists that paint children. You can learn compositional techniques or painting styles from an artist regardless of the subject they explore.
It is difficult to suggest artists for you without knowing what ideas you are exploring in your topic. For example, are you simply trying to express the sorrow in the situation, or are you exploring other kinds of ideas and messages? If you are exploring ideas to do with how many street children there are and how an exploding population exacerbates the problem and makes it a seemingly impossible situation to solve, you might wish to learn from the compositions of Misha Gordin (particularly those in the ‘crowd’ section of his website). Although Misha is a photographer, he could influence the way you composes images, using repetition etc (in this case you would still keep the beautiful painting technique of Jonathan Darby). It is okay to study photographers if you are a Painting student, but the majority of the artists you study should be painters. This is just an example – there are many, many suitable artists.
I have written one article listing good artist models for painting students, but I am not sure if any of these really suit your project. I will write another article like this in a few weeks. If you subscribe to my blog (by entering in your email address in the top right corner where it says ‘subscribe by email’ you will be alerted whenever I write a new post.
Hope that helps you a little!
thank you so much this really helps a lot!i chose my next artist,he basically does missing children.his paintins are knife paintings and i am also using his technique in my works…i have a few doubts related to the final work for my coarsework. i will basically be doing multiple faces of children, with a blooming flower in the backgroung(which shos as you row old and get exposed in the world,the struggles you deal with…/same way a flower is opened to the harshness of the weather and does not have the protection of a bud)i plan on doing the flower in knife paint.and the background like jonathan darby.is this strong enough?or should i have something more substantial? :O
Hi Samira,
The plan for your final painting sounds fine, although it is difficult to say for sure without seeing it. The only thing I would be careful of is the flower. Flowers are an overdone subject and can appear ‘cheesy’ or superficial if not handled with care. However, I like how you have explained the link between the children and the flower, so in your case it could be very successful. Perhaps the flower should be depicted in the stage where it has been exposed to the elements and is already starting to decay/die?
The other thing I am not 100% sure about is your plan to have only single areas of your work painted using certain techniques. To make the composition balanced, it is likely that you will need another area of the painting to be painted with a knife, for example, not just the flower. (Textures often need to be balanced in the same way that shapes and colours do).
Also, make sure the flower is something you have practised throughout your coursework – not just included in the final piece.
In summary, your idea is ‘strong’ enough – it all depends on how you compose and execute the work. Hope that helps!
Hi there amiria, sorry to be a pain but i was wondering whether you could help me! I’m actually doing a fashion project and my topic is uniforms/suits/protective clothing, you can choose any so i’ve gone for protective clothing. I’ve got a starting point, the idea of using something different instead of the usual material that protective clothes are made from i.e plastic So ive started with plastic wallets as paper is an element which is protected like a person is protected by the clothing. I’ve started working with plastic wallets on a mannequin and its harder than i thought, as the material looks funny and cheapish but ive made a garment out of it. But i need more ideas on where to go next? I have a couple but i dont know, one being going from the plastic being see through i could go on to look at nudist cultures from ages ago eg Ancient Greeks had a habit of covering themselves in oils and other groups in paint. So maybe combining plastic with the paint or oil to create a new modern garment piece of protection? But i could go in to structured armour from the wallets giving this edgy look and go on to using metal but im really stuck, lost direction! If you could help that would be fab, thank you
)
Hi Kiran,
I am not experienced in fashion design projects, but I will endeavour to help you as best I can.
Another student (Nomita) recently asked me about fashion design and I think it would benefit you to read my response to her questions, which can be found at the bottom of the A Level Art Coursework Development post. One thing the syllabus mentions is that Candidates should explore personal solutions… and identify dress requirements for specific purposes, occasions and environments… In other words, you should start with a design brief of some kind – i.e. a problem that you need to solve (for example, you might need protective clothing for a particular purpose…such as for wearing in a factory or hazardous environment of some kind…or, perhaps, to make it more ‘art’ related, you could design a wearable art costume that is inspired by a particular situation, such as protective garments worn at an abattoir / meat processing plant (if you want a graphic / gory project lol). At the moment it seems as though your main ideas have related to materials, rather than an idea for the garment, which is why I think you are feeling a little lost and lacking in direction.
Once you have a specific purpose for the garment, you can then investigate and trial materials, including the plastic wallets etc.
Hope this helps! Make sure you read the response I wrote for the other girl – I think it will help!
Hi amiria,
I’m coming to the end of my art a2 project, which means most time now should be spent on creating final pieces. My project is derelict homes/buildings and how they tell a story of someone who existed. I’ve done a few final pieces which, one is a big canvas of a scary hallway in an abandoned warehouse, the other is a ‘pastiche’ painting on a board i found in my shed, which i’m going to rough the edges to make it suit my theme of deterioration. So generally, I need to create some more final pieces that capture a kind of deteriorating theme.
If you have any suggestions, i’d really appreciate it,
Thanks
Teegan
Hi Teegan,
I am guessing you are not studying CIE A Levels (as most CIE students have to post their work away and thus cannot paint on wooden boards etc), so please bear in mind that my comments may not be 100% relevant for you (as I am only experienced in CIE). Normally, in my experience, the final works should evolve from your preparatory work and should not introduce new ideas. However, if you are looking for additional ways of using mediums to help support your theme (I really like your theme, by the way) you might consider using transparency (whether by using gel medium to make paint transparent, or by using overlays of your drawings printed onto acetate/plastic film). Transparency could be a good way of suggesting memories / traces of prior existence etc. I would also really get into surface and texture. You might think about gluing cardboard onto a board, and when dry, ripping lots of it back up, to create ragged, unpredictable edges…symbolising how a derelict property might have lots of different layers through time etc…
I have recently written this post on creative use of media which may give you some ideas too. I am going to write another post about this as soon as I get a chance (if you sign up to my blog using the email sign up – top right) you will be alerted when this is written.
Please let me know if you need more help or if I haven’t fully understood your question.
Thanks!
Hey , I love youre blog !!
Im a nz student who is going to jump straight from level 2 painting ( which I acheived excellence in ) to a scholarship portfolio ( no level three portfolio )
I am excited but scared , perhaps my teacher has too much faith in me ..
Anyways , Last year I explored the theme of anatomy mixing with nature and words ( my own poetry and song lyrics ) .
For my scholarship I want to explore the idea of death and rebirth . How we return to nature when we die . And bring in some elements about technology . Who people leave and online legacy and how the media effects what we do to our bodies . I love painting womens bodies and faces and I like the idea of showing them tangled in vines and wires ect ..
Do you think this is a good portfolio idea ? And do you have any artist model sugestions ? Is it too cliche ?
Hi Chloe,
Thanks for your kind comments!
I am not experienced with NCEA, but I thought that the Scholarship folios were merely reworked versions of the ones submitted for Level 3, with a bit of extra work completed? I thought it was normal to submit both, so that if you don’t get scholarship, at least you have your L3 result? If you could clarify this issue for me, that would be great!
I like your proposed ideas a lot – I can tell you are very creative and I am not surprised your teacher has faith in you. I would suggest, however, that perhaps you have two ideas wound together and that it might be better to focus on just one of them? You have the idea of birth / death / returning to nature etc and also the online legacy idea and how the media effects our bodies. My gut feeling is that the latter ideas might have the potential to be more edgy and original…it is certainly a very relevant issue. The former is a more age-old scientific kind of understanding, which also has potential, although it sounds as though the imagery would be quite similar to what you used for Level 2?
Whether these topics become cliché really depends on how you approach them and the images you use. Both have potential visually. As for artist models, I am working on producing some more posts about good painters for students to use for models (in addition to this post about artist models I have already done)– until then you might wish to view the painting examples I have collected on my Pinterest drawing and painting boards.
Hope that helps.
Hello Amiria, I just wanna say that you’re such an inspiration!
I’m a reader/ A Level art student in Junior College 1 (17 years old) from Singapore, and am utterly passionate about my Art projects! Its loosely coined as ‘H2 A Level Art’ in Singapore and I’m having my A Levels next year.
There are only 10 students in our class (considered a large class for a junior college in Singapore!) and we all have HUGE disparities in styles and interests. I’ve been seeking an opinion and I figured there’d be no other better than you
I’ve executed a few projects surrounding Feminism and society’s warped idea od beauty and such. My strengths are in oil painting, charcoal, and pastels.. For my A Level project I’m interested in women’s obsession with branding themselves (literally with branded products/ uniforms attached to their professions/ simply the need to use a presentable looking plastic bag when returning something to a friend, etc).. I’m currently stuck and want to reach the conclusion that women are now consumed by materialism.
Can you help me in broadening my scope? And is this too specific a stance, should I be more general?
Thank you so much, and Happy New Year!
Love from Singapore
Hi Jolin,
What a lovely comment! I am glad you are passionate about your Art projects – all the best students are
I don’t feel that your theme is too broad. It is far better to have a really specific issue that you express with clarity than a theme which is scattered and slightly incoherent. It is hard to know exactly how to guide you without seeing your work, but, generally, in order to develop your project, you don’t need to introduce another viewpoint or stance, but, rather, become ‘better’ at conveying the ideas you began with. In other words, as a student’s A Level submission progresses, it is their use of media and compositions that change (for the better, hopefully), not the ideas behind them (although the ideas can become more refined). The intention is that you learn from relevant artist models, allowing you to convey your ideas with more success; it isn’t that you gradually change your ideas, if you get what I mean.
This post on how to develop an A Level project might help, if you haven’t read it already. If you are still stuck, you may need to locate some more artist models that will inspire you.
You have a great theme, by the way.
Please let me know if I can help further! Happy new year to you too!
That helped a lot!
Thank you so much 
I actually broadened my theme and changed it into materialism and will be tackling the theme in 3 ways:
1) Materialism > leading to inward negative impact
2) Materialism > reasons behind materialism > outward inpact on others
3) The newfound empowerment in women today > Misinterpreted as being materialistic
Does it make more sense? I understand that this is a small part of the exploration of my subject matter, am I right to say this? As a Literature student, I tend to take photos that are too literal.. Can you suggest a few ideas for me to depict materialism?
Over here, my teachers strongly encourage us to not have a preconceived notion of our final work, but its so hard to shake it off! With all that said, I’ve read that post on Developing coursework ideas and will refer to it as and when I’m working on my prep boards
I really really appreciate your talent and willingless to impart your ideas and knowledge with knowledge-hungry students!
Hi again Jolin,
Yes, your ideas definitely make sense, however the third point seems quite different from the first two. My gut feeling is that it might be quite challenging to portray these three things in the one body of work. But I could be wrong – actually, perhaps there could be some very interesting crossovers between the three. Is this merely a starting point from which you will determine the area to focus on, or are you intending to explore all three ideas concurrently for the duration of your project?
Yes, you definitely want to avoid being too literal. I would try and think of things in your own life that have represented these situations. I do like your initial suggestion to do with women wearing label / designer items etc. Perhaps you could get friends to dress up with excessive quantities of designer clothes and accessories. Perhaps you could depict people eating material goods such as necklaces – i.e. the gorged consumption of trivial ‘valuable’ items. Perhaps you could take all the waste products from designer goods, i.e. the labels, the packaging, the shopping bag and do something with them. Perhaps you could manipulate scale, as if magnifying the importance of certain objects…mimicking the idea that the value of a material possession is very often not in the thing, but in the idea of the thing. Another option is be so extremely literal that it becomes unexpected. Like painting super-realistic piles of money or something.
In New Zealand we definitely discourage having a preconceived notion about the final work too. Effort is always best spent making your current work amazing, rather than fretting about what it will lead to in the future. Preconceived work is never as fresh or as exciting as that which morphs naturally out of a development process. The good thing is that if you concentrate on making your current work excellent, your future work will be too.
Good luck!
Hello, I’m trying for a art scholarship. I am doing a art board for Human Form. I have to do some different medias and maybe a bit of texture included. Im finding the project a bit more challenging than i thought. I need some ideas for my board. I want a sort of dark theme to my board – if you could help me out a bit i would be very very greatful!!
Hi Sharna,
I have written this post on how painting students can be creative with media which may help. If you ask some more specific questions and provide me with some more info I may be able to give you some more helpful guidance. This post on how to develop your ideas may help too!
Hello Amiria, I have just stumbled upon your site and started wondering if you could help me out a bit? Well I am currently doing GCSE but only have a couple of months left (woop); so I’ve started my exam project. I have chosen ‘Messages’. Jenny Holzer, Mark Titchner and Barbara Kruger are my main artists, but I’m struggling with ideas on what to do for developed designs? You seem to have given amazing advice to other comments! Maybe any ideas for a final piece? I would like to try and include mostly the Kruger and Holzer into my development pieces for my sketchbook? Any ideas/examples would be great. Thanks in advance
Hi Wyliee,
I have not had much experience with submissions that are primarily text based, however my main advice would be to make sure you have a particular message that you wish to convey, rather than many different messages (as outlined in the blog post above, it should be something that is meaningful and important to you). Once you have established which particular message you want to communicate, it becomes much easier to develop your work. For example, it then becomes a matter of working out which colours / fonts / mediums / composition arrangements best communicate that particular message. If you jumping around exploring different messages, your work will be much less cohesive and it seem more about picking the perfect wording or phrase than about creating an amazing piece of art (which in this case also needs great wording, of course). I am not sure if you have already focused on one particular message (or variation of a message)?
Hey again Amiria!
As for the development studies for my sketchbook I now know that should include different medias and compositions (thank you) as well as choosing the text very carefully. Do you have any extra ideas that I could fill my sketchbook with to get the best grade possible? Also thank you so much for this blog, I wouldn’t know whee to start without it! 
Well as for picking a artist I have chosen to do my project on feminism! I know that both artist (Kruger and Holzer) were both significant to the 1980s feminist group, so this is what I’d love to try and accomplish. I was thinking about projection of feministic quotes on a young woman’s face then paint up within my exam? I know it’s hard to try and understand but thank you so much for replying! You’ve made my day!
No worries
This idea sounds as though it has potential. Remember it is important to make sure your submission develops sufficiently…i.e. shows the journey of how you arrived at the idea of integrating text with a young woman’s face. I would also look at some artists who use portraiture to help with development of technique and composition. I am in the middle of writing a series of blog posts about creative use of media that may help – and I am not sure if you have seen this blog post about presentation of sketchbooks?
And thank you for your kind comments – most appreciated!
Hi Amiria, I just came across your website and was wondering if you could give me some help with my theme. I’m going to be doing NCEA level 3 art this year. I’ve had a few ideas floating around but nothing that’s really stood out. My ideas have been surrounding child abuse, self harm or the seven deadly sins. What are your views on these ideas? And do you have any artist models that might suit these ideas. I prefer to work with strong ideas that aren’t exactly ‘happy’.
If you could help me out by answering any of these questions I would be extremely grateful
Thanks
Hi Bonnie,
The best topic is one that has some kind of resonance with you – ideally through your own involvement or experience of the issue. Any of the topics you have suggested could be great, as long as you are not choosing them merely for their ‘shock’ factor, but because they are issues about which you really have something to communicate. Issues that you have really personal, gutsy connections with are always the ones in which students (and artists) create the best work…and result in the sustained motivation to put in long hours and lots of effort!
It is therefore difficult for me to suggest which of these would be best, without knowing a bit more of your interests and backstory. The only thing I would say about the seven deadly sins (another student raised this as a topic in the comments above) is that it would probably be easier to focus on one rather than them all.
If you are still looking for ideas, I suggest you scan over the comments on this page, as there are lots of ideas contained within them. I also wrote this brief post in which I jotted down some art project ideas which may help!
Good luck!
Oh, I forgot… with regards to artists, I have written this post on good artists for painting students, and also have a collection of awesome painters and drawings in Pinterest. There are bound to be some relevant ‘dark’ themed ones there.
Thanks for your answer .
You are right about the Level 3 portfolio being resubmitted for scholarship .
Some schools enter ( or aim to enter )students for both ( so they have to do the written work in yr 13 ) obviously not everyone gets it but its a way of getting students to develop ideas more . Wheras at my school students complete their level three portfolio in year 13 and if the teacher thinks they can do it and if their willing the students come back the next year , usually working full/part time to save for uni and coming in ocassionaly to check in with the teacher .
I dont want to use what Ive done in level two so I will have to paint and write about everything this year while still taking other classes and working because I dont want to stay an extra year .
No one at my schools done it that way before .
But yeah Ill still get Level 3
but I really need the scholarship :/
And your probably right I dont want to be as you said in another post scatterd and incoherant .
I know I really need to clarify !
I guess I will just try and narrow down my ideas as I get into writing my workbook .
On another note … Is using images for figures from vouge and the like a bad idea ? I wont cut straight out of magizines Ill try to find workable images online and write about how its showing the current idea of “Beauty ” Or should I just steer clear?
Hi Chloe,
Many apologies for the delay, I think this comment escaped through my net, somehow, and I didn’t realise I hadn’t answered it!
I think the best situation regarding source imagery would be to get one of your friends to pose for you and to take photos yourself. Or a sister. Or yourself…
Magazine images are okay for some things, but usually only in situations where your topic relates to the media in some way. I would definitely try and avoid, if at all possible.
hey i need you assistant in making an artwork on theme “Let there be no pain” i m not getting the thing wat to do in it. can you kindly give me some ideas in todays date.???
Hi Nida,
Is this a theme you have selected yourself or were you set it by the teacher? It helps immensely to have a theme that means something to you personally. If it was a theme you were given, I would look to interpret it in some way that relates to your life. For example, is there a situation in which you were very unhappy – or perhaps suddenly filled with joy? This situation might then suggest something that could be explored within your work.
hi
this site is a lifesaver
i need some ideas about my final piece my whole topic is about contrast and i have focused on horses and have used different mediums like oilpaints clay acrylics and have focused on some different artists like james wards and franz mark and some futorist artists and now im coming up blank for my final piece. i just dont know what to do
thanks so much
Thanks Zoe,
Is ‘contrast’ a starting point that you were given by your teacher? The reason I ask is that contrast is not really a theme (contrast could feature in an image about any range of subjects) – but it can nonetheless be used a starting point to help you arrive at a more resolved idea. I think you really need to establish what your work is about before you continue – this is probably why you feel lost in your work. Contrast is what occurs when you have the juxtaposition of two different things: the jarring, clashing or exaggeration of difference that occurs when two markedly different items are sat side by side (or within close vicinity of each other). How has contrast played a part in your selection of horses? Is it an exploration of light and shadows caused by horses? Aside from the visual contrast that is [presumably] evident in your work, how else does contrast play a theme in your subject (if at all)? What other ideas are you exploring? Once you have really nailed down what it is that you are trying to express – you will find it much easier to proceed.
Your final piece should be a natural progression of your preparatory work (this post about how to develop a Coursework project may help)…If you are lacking in ideas, the integration of a new artist may help (possibly a really contemporary one) – or possibly a some creative experimentation with media. The artists you look at don’t have to just relate to horses, by the way, they can inspire you merely in terms of technique or compositional strategy etc. There are some great futuristic moving horse images. I can imagine these would inspire some great works. I would probably take some of these ideas an integrate with some really contemporary ways of using media: lots of layering / textures…possibly even transparency and overlays.
Hope that helps!
Hey amiria!
This site is really useful, cheers.
I’m doing a2 art and I desperately want to get into my final project, at the moment my interests are interests are Street Art not graffiti but public art that can have an impact on society I.E colour, and the fact that colour can uplift a place or a persons mood. I love colour, and i would love to incorporate it into a one specific theme. It’s obviously very broad, i’d love a subject i could study around which is based from colour or an object etc. This way i could could use different mediums but just focus on something small and then develop it. Or something like nature vs nurture (again to broad) Any ideas or artist’s would be great. Thanks, Lisey
Thanks Lisey,
I like the idea of something to do with street art that aims to boost mood etc through use of colour. Colour, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it!) is something that is integral to almost all themes, so this doesn’t help you generate an idea or starting point. One option might be something to do with depression? Depression rates are sky-rocketing in modern society…perhaps you could do some kind of public art campaign to try and combat this?
Too hard to think of artists before a theme has been decided…but you are welcome to peruse my Pinterest drawing and painting boards for some fun ideas!
Hello Amiria. Again
Just to let you know the human form board went okay. Now I’m onto Facial
features…eyes,nose..Ect. But I want to do a skin sort of texture feel if
you get me? Not sure how I can get it. I want to use some texture into it
aswell. And maybe some ideas of what texture and style I could do please?
Would be so much help!!!!
I want a twist to the project aswell if you can think of anything?
Thankyou:)
Sharna x
Hi Sharna,
Glad to hear your human form board went okay
Do you mean you want to add something to a painting so that it looks and feels like skin – i.e. smooth? One option could be to use a smooth layer of impasto medium – this can create a silky, smooth layer. Alternatively you could use varnish or gel medium to provide a glossy surface.
Do you mean a twist to do with the composition of the works or with creative use of media? The best way to get ideas is through sourcing a good artist model. Have you chosen an artist model yet?
Hi Amiria
First of all thank you for this site.
Ok my question is. Could you help me come up with a general idea for my final peice.
Okay im doing As Art. And the Main Topic was “Close up”
So far i have explored artist such as Alison Lambert, Bruno leyval and Kathe Kollowitz. I love creating oecies of work that are dominatnly monochromatic, but have some aspects of colour but to create symbolism rather than for the sake of using colour.
I have explored African tribals portraits, as some western african tribes have very definitive features on there face, such as scars created in rightuals. i Have explored war images. Pain and exaggerated emotion; such as someone screaming, Rage etc…..linking to Alison lamberts work. and I have explored the use of Ink, linking to Bruno leyvals work.
I would like some help pon, creating or generating an idea on a final peice that incorporates all these aspects: monochromatic, minimal colour usage, exaggerated emotions, close up to facial features, Facial charateristics taken out of proportion (such as eyes, nose, ears, on the own without the rest of the face attached and lastly either usuing chalk, ink, pencil, watercolurs or even possibly all.
Thank you so much for taking time to read this. i appreciate it x
Hi Sampson,
Hmmm, it is quite tricky to advise without seeing your work. Your final piece should obviously develop on from all that has come before, and thus will explore similar imagery and themes to the work you have produced so far. It sounds as though perhaps you need to establish a viewpoint about all the negative issues you are dealing with (scars / war / pain / rage etc). What is your work ultimately about? What is your message behind all of this? Are you just thrashing round in general rage at the idiocy of the human species and our tendency to fight / war / kill ourselves and others for no apparent good reason…or are you dealing with something much more specific (i.e. human torment in connection to one particular event)? Once you really determine what it is that you are trying to say within your work, it will make it much easier for you to proceed. It sounds at the moment as if you are just trying to collate all of the aesthetic requirements (i.e. must have minimal colour / must have close up features) without having a clear understanding of what it is that you are communicating.
Or is that what you were asking me?
Hi Amiria
I was wondering if you could help me with the topic “new growth”. I need unusual ideas and an artist reference.
Btw, your site is awesome!
Thankyou
Hi Giovanna,
Some quick suggestions:
- germinating seeds;
- newborn babies;
- cancer / tumours;
- new building growing out of ruins.
It’s difficult to pick an artist before a theme has been selected, as the options are limitless! Feel free to peruse my Pinterest painting and drawing boards for ideas
Hi, I’m in real need of some advice and information.. and you’re such an inspiring person; your own interest in art is amazing. I’m in my final GCSE year, i got an A in my last theme, “Landscapes”, and now have the theme “Gather”. I’ve been really struggling with ideas for this… so far have the idea of focusing on collections, buttons, stamps, bottle caps etc.
Any ideas? And artists I could use and interpret their styles into my own work? Thank you !!
Hi Helena,
I just realised your earlier message escaped my attention! My apologies!
When you mentioned ‘buttons’ this awesome artist sprang to mind. I think these are digital works, but they could easily inspire a painting project. Your ‘idea’ could be to apply small collectible items such as the ones you listed to unexpected body parts… with the intention that you are illustrating tiny pieces of a person’s life…i.e. taking physical possessions that are imbued with a person’s sense of self and identity and physically attaching it to their body – as if their crazy little collecting habits have become so important they can’t be parted with them. You could take some awesome photos exploring this too!
Hi,
My sixth form makes all students do an extended project as an extra AS level, and as I’m doing all essay subjects I’d really like to do an art project. Although I really enjoy art, I haven’t done it properly since year 9, so I’m not clear on how to present the sketchbook and I’m not getting much guidance from college. I’m interested in France and its culture, so I’m either going to look at the Eiffel Tower in artwork, or the emergence of cubism and how it developed into collage – which do you think would be the best, and how would you advise me to go about it?
Thank you!
Hi Ellie,
I have written a post specifically about sketchbook presentation, so this may help.
With regards to your other questions, I am experienced only in CIE Art, so I am not sure if this applies to you, however the topics you describe sound more like the sort that might be appropriate for a Personal Study rather than a Coursework project (i.e. they are more about the art of others, rather than the exploration of an idea / message that is really important to you). If you are referring to a Coursework project, I would only choose a topic such as the Eiffel tower if a) this is something you can visit quite frequently and b) you explore it in an innovative way, i.e. perhaps looking at its construction (close ups of the bolts etc) or maybe the human element (the huge lines waiting / people viewed through the metal bars etc)…or perhaps even the bits of litter / rubbish left lying around the great structure by tourists. Your other topic – cubism developing into collage etc – is more related to technique, rather than theme, i.e. it is concerned with how the art is made, rather than the ideas within the art. Hmmm, hope this helps! Please don’t hesitate to ask more questions if you need to!
Hi. Your works and research is simply amazing.
I have this theme for O levels, and it is Asleep.
Would you like to give some ideas for asleep?
I believe there is more than just a person sleeping.
And if i want to add animals, how do i relate it?
Thanks Kenneth,
Here are some brief ideas (just randomly – off the top of my head):
- A literal interpretation. Humans sleeping. Animals sleeping. Baby animals curled against their mothers sleeping;
- Dreams;
- Scientific studies of sleep (humans with those censors all over their heads, measuring dream states etc);
- Notions to do with how humans seem to spend their days on autopilot…as if going through their lives not really awake;
- Something to do with quilts and the stitching together of memories;
- Playing with scale, i.e. tiny humans sleeping in weird locations, i.e. inside coffee cups etc;
- Something to do with cot death;
- A child with toys tucked up in bed;
- Fabric / folds / wrapping;
- Something unexpected hanging in a cradle;
- Death (as in, eternal sleep)…or a coma…
Hmmm, that’s all I can think of for now! Good luck!
Amiria
Hi there,thank you for replying my earlier message.. i have read your ideas. And came up with this idea..
There is this student who is sleeping in class. He is exhausted and wanted to break free of the reality (too stress) and so, i added his dream to fly free, (freedom). With fishes flying because to show they are part of his joy.
Please let me know what you think. Thank you! I am open to any suggestions. (:
Hi Kenneth,
Yes I really like the idea of a student sleeping in class – particularly as this is something that relates so clearly to high school students. It is not obvious to me how flying fishes relate to joy, so perhaps this is something to think about carefully. You may like to look at paintings by Joel Rea. He has some awesome works to do with flying / falling through the sky etc. I would begin by getting one of your friends to pose in a classroom as if they were asleep and take lots of photos to play around with composition etc and go from there! Hope that helps.
Hi. I just wanted to thank you on your research, it has helped me. I am currently doing my AS art coursework, and my topic is journey. I have chosen to look into the journey of geisha girls. I am just about to start my final piece, and wondering if you had any ideas? I would like to portray themes of love, change and journey (of course) and loneliness.
Thank you
Hi Jeevan,
It is difficult to say, without seeing your work, however I guess the most important thing is for the final piece to conclude the development that has taken place within your preparatory work. In other words, the final piece shouldn’t be starkly different to what you have done already, but should smoothly develop on from the work that came before it. Reading this post on how to develop your ideas may help. The actual compositions / colours etc should be influenced by the artists you have studied and the direction your work has taken so far. Sorry, I know this answer is sounding quite vague, but it is really difficult to say without seeing your work in person!
Thank you for the advice. I now have a design, which develops from my primary resources and takes inspiration from my chosen artists.
I got the AS exam paper on the 1st of feb (AQA), and looking through the topics, I’ve chosen Sky High as a topic, as the topics differs from my usual style and preference of human form. ‘Sky high’ focuses on unusual cloud formations, impending storms, dramatic sunsets and rainbows. I have already considered Vladimr Kush as one of my artist, and I think I may be doing a surrealist style throughout this unit. Please could you give any suggestions as to how I could look at surrealism, and how I could elaborate on this. If there are any topics / investigations about ‘sky high’ that you have, please can you notify me, as I may consider these instead. (My target grade is an A, just to inform you)
Thank you
Hi Jeevan,
I have just added Sky High to myA Level Art exam post. The post includes some suggestions for interpreting the topic, along with possible artists to study. Joel Rea could give you some great ideas for a surrealist project! I am glad to hear your target grade is an A – please let me know if you need any more help. Thanks!
Thanks so much!
Hey, I accidentally stumbled onto your blog/website and I’ve been grateful ever since.
I’m busy with my A-level photography. for my research I’m using one artist and I want to know if this is all right, and if I shouldn’t be using more than one? The artist I’m researching is Sam Haskins his diverse amount of topics in his photography is what made me choose him.
My other dilemma is what topic to do for my coursework. I’m very interested in the topic: Hard Times. I feel one can find Hard Times in anything; people suffer, buildings can show the strain of hard times and the natural environment can show the effects of hard times through pollution. I was wondering if you feel this topic can work? if it can work could you please advise me how to go about it?
Thank you
Thank you Lili, your comments are very kind.
I would advise using more than one artist model. There are no rules, but I would say roughly 2-4 at AS and 3-10 at A2 are good numbers of artists to study. This gives you access to knowledge from a range of different artists and gives you a much better learning opportunity.
‘Hard times’ could be a good starting point, but I would definitely focus on one particular hard time that has relevance to you (or the people in your life). In other words, I wouldn’t make it some generic expression of hard times, I would explore something specific. Once you have selected something, you are welcome to follow the process outlined on this post about how to develop an art project (this is how my own students go about starting and developing their project).
Good luck!
I am in my first year of the course. Our teacher started us off doing “autobiographical” drawings, which I quickly bored of. I have recently become interested in abstract art, for example I have just fallen in love with Rothko paintings. There are many artist models I would like to research, including Helen Frankenthaler, the Bauhaus and de Stijl. I like the idea of Modernism. How can this become part of my theme? Must I do representational work? I am thinking of going into Art and Design but I am not sure.
Hi Mary,
No, your work does not have to be representational. Although, in saying this, some teachers have strengths in (or preferences for) certain ways of working and may direct you towards certain styles of art. Abstract, modern art, however, is certainly fine. Often high school students begin with representational work and then progress to abstract work. This can have several advantages over a purely abstract submission as it a) allows students to demonstrate that they can accurately record shape and form (which tends to impress examiners) and b) ‘explains’ or ‘justifies’ the compositional decisions made in the final work (i.e. shows where this crazy mess of colours/shapes/lines came from).
When you say you are ‘thinking of going into Art and Design’ what do you mean? Are you contemplating dropping the subject?
By the way, please note my experience is in CIE A Levels, so my comments relate specifically to this. Hope that helps!
Hello, iam a currently about to begin unit 2. Im live in Edinburgh, Scotland and therfore having to complete the A-level course in one year! We were given the title ‘Encounters, Experiences and meetings’ – I had the idea of photographing meeting places and how some are spontaneous, change of fate meetings and some are arranged but also want to focus on portraiture so im not sure if this is the best option?
I also had an idea about looking at hospitals and doctors etc as they meet many people who have suffered unfortunate encounters and experiences but also not sure how far this topic would take me.
I’d appreciate some feedback as im really panicking about what to do!
thankyou
Hi Laura,
It sounds like you have a big year ahead of you!
Your ideas sound as though they have potential, but you would benefit from elaborating upon them and refining them a bit before you begin. I would pick one particular aspect of the things you have discussed. For example, a ‘change of fate’ meeting between people you know (i.e. your parents) or in the case of an unfortunate encounter, the spiralling events that might lead up to one particular horrible event or accident that has impacted upon your life. If you try and explore a range of different types of meetings, I think you would run the risk of your work appearing quite jumbled and unclear. The hospital imagery sounds like it has potential visually, but you would have to be able to get inside one and take awesome photos, so you would have to have access to this.
Hope this helps.
PS. Don’t panic. Art is meant to be fun!
Hello! i am currently in process of making my Alevel CIE coursework. My theme is: the fear of not fullfilling your dreams, so basically i want to kind of tell a story about this woman that hasn’t done everything she wanted and how we shouldenjoy more life in this crazy and sressed out world we live in. the problem is my teacher doesn’t give us almost any help, and when she does it’s not relly helpfull. so basically i would like to know your opinion on the theme..cliche? im really struggling in how to start, i want to show the feelings thi woman is feeling but i don know how?…my teacher is always insisting on having a primary source to draw off, but i feel i should do more like an abstract painting to show the feelings i want to convey…i dont really know what to do… also i’ve started to do a research on surrealism and want to work with it somehow…please tell me what you think and maybe if you have some suggestions to what direction i should take…im really confused and keep changing my mind! Thankyou so much!!
Hi Paula,
I really love your theme!
I don’t think it’s cliché. I think it’s actually a relatively uncommon topic to be explored in a high school art project (it is usually something that someone a bit older begins to contemplate) but the fact that you are considering this now is GREAT. I am sure it will also strike a chord with the markers, who are *coughs politely* erm…older. That is, they are very experienced, wise and knowledgeable.
I must say I agree 100% with your teacher’s recommendation to have a firsthand drawing source. Entirely abstract submissions are highly risky. Yes, the examiners might think you have produced amazing avant-garde works…but they might just as easily think you have submitted sloppy splashes of paint… There is really very little middle ground in between: they will love them or hate them. If you have a realistic starting point, however, this risk is minimised. Even if the examiners think your abstract works actually are just poorly executed splashes of paint, the inclusion of skilful realistic drawings at the beginning will convince them that your abstract work is in fact excellent and deserves an excellent grade.
Surrealism can lead on easily from a realistic beginning (surrealist works simply contain realistic forms arranged at unusual scales etc), so this shouldn’t be a problem. I wouldn’t worry so much about this just yet, however. I would set about locating someone who can be your ‘subject’ and arrange them with symbols of their youth – i.e. old photographs / trinkets etc. If you need more guidance about the development process and actually beginning the drawings etc, this post about how to develop your work may help.
By the way: be really kind to your teacher, even if it appears at the surface that she isn’t helpful. Teachers always want their students to do well. If she didn’t, she would go get another (much easier) job. Kindness works magic. Trust me.
Hello Amiria!
I would like to thank you first for the fact that you spend so much time replying individually to every single comment which I believe must be tiring.
Here’s my problem: I am currently thinking of ideas for my GCE O Level coursework. My selected theme is “Asleep” and we had to sculpt a ceramic structure based on the ideas developed from this topic. I had decided to explore into the depths of dreams as and I am very into surrealism as well as symbolism of everyday objects. I had researched about Salvador Dali and M.C. Etcher as my artist’s impressions for my love of their potrayal of surreal, yet realistic potrayals of ordinary objects.
However, I am not sure what type of message should I potray in my ‘dreams’ for every person’s dreams are never the same. Perhaps dreams are an act of repression, repressing from the stress or everyday life as well as troubles through our escape into a world of our own. I want to express that time still continues on as we enjoy in our world by showing a bird (the hands of the clock) escaping from the face of the clock and that’s about it.
I would certainly be grateful if you could help me generate some ideas for my ceramic sculpture. I do not know what should I sculpt about based on my idea alone. Thank you for your help Amiria, I really appreciate it.
Thank you Louisseur,
Replying to comments does take me a long time!
Surrealism is a good style of art to investigate if you are interested in exploring dreams. As you mention, with a broad approach this will be very challenging, as everyone’s dreams are different (and often are hard to remember anyway)! The only thing I can really suggest is a) analysing it from a scientific perspective, perhaps looking at brainwaves / digital scan images of the brain etc or b) focusing on a particular dream that you had. The ideas to do with repression also have potential: another option might be think of a horrible memory that you wish to escape and focus on this.
Your ideas of the bird / clock may work, but at present they sound a little disconnected from your other ideas and more like something that is ‘fun surrealist imagery’ rather than directly tied to the ideas you are exploring.
I imagine your project will involve initial drawings / preparatory work that leads towards a final sculpture? If so, I would not worry so much about the final work yet. Just begin by producing beautiful drawings and exploratory sculptures and see where it takes you. If you focus on the scientific aspect, for example, you might begin by taking a human head and segmenting it / peeling it apart, with brain wave imagery overlaying it. If you focus on the idea of repression, you could begin with a head that has tape around it in an effort to keep memories contained: horrible images could then escape from the gaps in the tape…or perhaps from between tightly squeezed eyes. (These are just random suggestions – to start you brainstorming)! Hope this helps!
Good luck
Hi
I am about to start my As art coursework, i am thinking of doing textile design on the theme “folds of fabric,” Do you have any advice on how to develop this idea, i have thought about incorporating different materials as “fabric” like knitted scarfs, crumpled newspapers and cling-film. Do you know of any artists whom i can research on, thank you for your help Amiria. It is much appreciated
Hi Lars,
I am not very experienced in textile design, however I will do my best to help you. Will you be designing an actual garment (i.e. a fashion design project) or is it purely textile design?
Whatever the case, my gut feeling is that ‘folds of fabric’ won’t give you enough substance for an AS Coursework project. The idea of incorporating different materials to make fabric (crumpled newspaper, cling film etc) sounds exciting and full of potential, however this is primarily to do with use of media, rather than theme. In other words, these could be the techniques or processes that you use to explore a theme, but they are not the theme itself. Does this make sense?
The majority of Design students I have known have begun their project with a brief or need that has guided their project, i.e. fabric to support a particular cause (i.e. anti-smoking or to encourage sustainability in a particular industry), or for use in a particular local business, or for a specific garments. When you are designing something for a specific purpose, developing your ideas becomes much easier and you know what you are working towards. The intended use of the fabric affects the appearance as well as functional aspects, such as ease of cutting / bending / sewing / manipulating; and whether it is waterproof / strong / durable / comfortable etc.
(I am not sure if this is how textile design works in your school, however, so please clarify with your teacher whether a brief-driven project would be an appropriate strategy to use). Are you a CIE Art and Design student, by the way?
As for development of your project, you might do things such as make mock-ups; photograph, draw and/or digitally manipulate these experiments; while continually develop the aesthetic and functional aspects of your project with reference to relevant artists / craftspeople. If you are interested in making fabric from unusual materials, there are many upcycling projects that might be of interest, including these boots made from recycled plastic bags: or these bags made from handfolded M&M wrappers for example.
Sorry I haven’t been of more help! Please don’t hesitate to ask more questions if there is anything else I can help you with.
hello again
I do plan to create or at the least design a suggestion for the use of my textile design, but this is not intended as my final piece. I have thought about going into line drawing and this optical dots thing ( i am not really sure what the term for it is and i am sorry about that)http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/us/en/shop/Menswear/Menswear/Formal/Fashion-Shirts/P-WHITE-BLACK-OPTICAL-SKULL-SHIRT.aspx I would like to thank you (again) for being so helpful.
Thank you so much for going out of your way to help. Yes I am writing CIE Art and Design. I have thought about incorporating, extreme close ups of woven fabric, as well as various organic fibers within the pattern. I think i didn’t make myself clear the first time, i was thinking about incorporating the newspaper and the cling-film etc as the “fabric” in the pattern, not the what the pattern is printed on, although that was a good idea thank you
Hi Lars,
No worries – I am glad to help. Line drawing / optical dots could certainly work, as long as it is integrated well within the remainder of your project. It does sound a little different to the other mixed media work you have described, so you would need to make sure it all connects / relates well.
Good luck!
hi , i’m currently doing gcse and i’ve just started doing my exam theme which is odinary and/or extraordinary ,, sooo ive selected the idea of concentrating on ‘explorer’ and just this morning this idea popped into my head while i was watching my little brother playing with toys and running around the house ,and i want my work to be inspired by my brother , my brother being the little ordinary boy exploing:) altough my teacher said that she would prefer if we didnt do the theme ‘places’ this year ,as it would require us to take pitcures etc of places , but the only idea idea i could think of so far is my ‘brother exploring a new found place’ .. i hope its not too much to ask , but if you could help me a bit to think of different influences i could use in my work , would eb great …
thanks
Hi Nika,
So, I just want to be sure I have understood correctly… You want artists that relate to the idea of your brother exploring a new found place? (Just checking, because it sounds as though you are not sure whether you will actually settle on this for a theme). Also, I am not sure how explorer relates to ordinary/extraordinary? Sorry for all the questions… I am just a little confused
Hello, I amstruggling to decide on what to do for my AQA AS Unit 2 project. The theme is encounters/experiences/meetings.
I like acrylics andlarge painting but also like the idea of creating a 3D piece. However I don’t know where to start.
Any ideas or places to start will be much appreciated.
Thankyou
Hi Emily,
I am working on this post about A Level Art exam topics – hope it helps you!
Hi there, my school have just been given our A2 exam paper, with the title ‘combinations and alliances’ and I’ve been thinking about it all day and I’m really stuck for ideas. I find your website so inspiring and you helped me a lot with my previous project, so thank you thank you for that! Ive been thinking about this new project and I’m really struggling to find a theme within it. I’d really appreciate any ideas or suggestions which I can form a successful project from. I also really appreciate the fact that you take the time to read each post and respond to it wi very inspiring ideas, I’m truly grateful
Thank you for your time
Teegan
Hi Teegan,
I have just uploaded a blog post with some ideas for Combinations and Alliances – hope it helps!
Thanks for your kind comments – it takes me ages to answer everyone, especially around exam time when I get millions of comments – but I am gradually getting there!
Good luck.
Hi Amiria!
we have started our next topic for a level art and i dont know what to choose out of the options. two options i like the most are Fossils, and Society today. but with society today i would kind of like to avoid the issues of drinking and drugs because so many people are doing that.
i like both of these ideas but i cant think of how i would interpret them and do some interesting pieces of art. I was looking at some of the things you featured in your blog and there was the project on domestication of the wild and i really like what that person did. so i have you got any ideas about something i could do??
Emily
Hi Emily,
I have just written a post outlining some A Level Art exam ideas including some possibilities for Fossils and Society Today. I hope they help you! Please let me know if you need any more help
Hi there. I need a word of advice regarding my A level subjects, I hope you don’t mind. I’m still contemplating on whether I should take art for A level or not, although I didn’t take it for my O. I’m a science stream student and is planning on taking at least one science subject. Now, I’m a bit afraid that I will be overwhelmed if I do decide on taking art. And those that wanted art with no O will be interviewed and required to bring a portfolio.
My preferred medium is graphite. I have little experience with acrylic and have difficulties with watercolor. I like portraits and realism.
So, in your opinion should I or should I not take it? Any help is truly appreciated.
Hi Nis,
Art subjects are a lot of work, there is no two ways about it. Sometimes students take it thinking that it will be a slightly fun subject to tack onto their more academic ones, and then find that it is more work than all other subjects put together. For some students it can definitely become very overwhelming. If you enjoy art, this workload is not so much of a problem. But Art is definitely not the subject to take for a bit of creative dabbling on the side: it takes hours upon hours of hard graft.
Not taking it at O Level, however, is not so much of a problem. Unlike other subjects, where there is a whole lot of ‘theory’ to cover, Art is all about the repetition and practise of skills (with a tiny bit of theory thrown in here and there). A keen, hardworking student would cope fine without taking it at O Level. Obviously you would be at a disadvantage, having not had the extra practise at Year 11, but this would not be insurmountable. Often for able, hard-working students, you wouldn’t even notice. I have had quite a few students in your situation who have got results high in the nineties.
As for your strengths…Wet mediums are harder to master than dry mediums (like graphite) as they are less predictable, so if you haven’t had much experience with art, it is to be expected that you find painting more challenging at the moment. If you can draw accurately (as in, make things look realistic), and are able to be ‘neat’ with dry mediums, you will be able to quickly pick up wet mediums. Someone looking at your drawings would be able to quickly see your potential, hence the request for a portfolio.
Ultimately, I would base your decision on one thing only, do you really like Art – or do you just want some variation from your science subjects? If it is the latter, I would steer clear, but if it is the former, I would take it!
Hope that helps
Hi Amiria
Have just come across this site and think it is amazing!
I have the topic of “Inside” and “Outside” for a controlled AS assessment, and can use either one or both. An alternative topic is “tree formation”. I am struggling to find an original idea to work on that grabs my imagination. My teacher has said we can’t use the same theme for this as our coursework project – my coursework was based on skulls.
Any ideas please?
Hi Sam,
I have just written a blog post which includes some ideas for art examination topics, including Inside / Outside. Tree formation is a narrower topic, which suggests mainly literal interpretations (although possibly tree houses could be included too) so I haven’t included it on the list.
Hope this helps!
My A2 exam came out today and the topic is ‘Harmony and Discord’, any ideas on what i should do for it?
Hi Jonny,
I have just written a blog post with A2 exam ideas (including Harmony and Discord) that may help you. Good luck!
Hi, I just got my Art and Design examination paper today and the questions are not really to my taste so I’m finding it really hard to choose one. I think I’m going to decide on facial expressions BUT and here’s the problem. I like my work to be different and stand out and take a really original approach to things. I feel this would be extremely hard with facial expressions as the depth is limited. Mostly facial expressions would rely on portraiture and photographs. I’d love to find a really different way/take on facial expression and run with it but I just can’t think of anything whatsoever to add to it to make it my own. Also I know a few others in my class are choosing this one and am already seeing the pattern of photography and drawings/paintings. Sorry for the long winded message. Courtnay.
Hi Courtnay,
I think it would help you a lot to think of an idea to support your work on facial expressions. In other words, it would be best if facial expressions was the subject but the actual theme or topic were something different (for example, it could be an analysis of the fake appearances we keep up / with our expressions concealing the way we truly feel inside). Once you have established what your work is really about, you will find it much easier to proceed.
Does this make sense?
One artist you may be interested in is Adrian Ghenie – faces smeared over to be totally devoid of emotions – or Paul W Ruiz or something like this.
Hope that helps!
Hello again
My project on birds went better than I thought it would considering the fact that I had really limited resources and barely any of my own pitures! but thankyou again so much for all your advice! It really really helped!
We’ve started our final topics for the exam, and the thing is, I happened to find a whole load of pictures of markets, monuments, people, Just life in India and Dubai since I’ve been there alot, so I was thinking of doing something related to that, but i cant figure out how to put a project like that together, although I think it could be really great! :/
any ideas?
Thankyou again soo so so much! x
Hi Nielle,
That is great to hear! I am so pleased your bird project went well.
Are the Dubai / India photos ones that you took yourself? If so, this is great – if not, I would be very careful about relying solely on them for an art project. It might be okay to use photos taken by family members if you could combine these with first hand sources, somehow, however. Do you have any physical objects that you brought back from on your travels? You could use these in conjunction with your photographs… perhaps doing something like arranging the photographs plus objects inside boxes, as if storing away memories… Alternatively, you could use the photos like this student has, as if the photos were scattered on a desk with objects sitting on top of them… or they could be spilling out of a photo album etc.
As for what your topic would be about, I guess this depends on what exactly the trips meant to you. It doesn’t have to be a hugely complex topic…it can be simply a depiction of the vibrant bustle daily life and the markets etc… but sometimes exploration of a more specific issue or message can make it easier (but not necessarily better – even simple topics can be awesome).
Another idea might be to find an old book on Dubai or India and draw on the pages, like this, kind of combining a factual, historical approach with human experiences? Another approach could be to draw on old bus tickets or travel documents, similar to these awesome drawings on envelopes.
Just some random ideas!
Hope that helps
just received my Art Exam paper for this year, and I have put in a lot of thought for it, but I cant seem to have a final decision on what I want to do regarding my subject matter!
The theme is: Encounters, experiences and Meetings…
But here are some ideas which are suggested….i don’t want to do anything with the Human Form however, as I am not confident doing it
Ideas:
- Meetings between the Earth and Space.
- Religion and Identities.
- Meetings between dreams and reality.
- Life Problems.
- Childhood experiences/memories.
- New life. (Birth.)
- Natural and manmade.
- Memories.
- Landscapes/scenery.
- Lost Identity.
- Imagination/dreams.
- Adventures/journeys (Life changing experiences.)
- School life/college life.
- Growing up. (Different experiences you have to face.)
- Things that mean a lot to you, and has probably changed you for the better or for the worse. Or someone else.
I dont know what path i should go down, please help!
Hi AGirl,
I have just written a post which gives you some more A Level Art exam ideas based on Encounters, Experiences and Meetings. As for which idea you end up selecting, it really depends on your interests and drawings strengths. The best idea is to pick something that links in with your own passions and about which you have something to ‘say’ – i.e. a message to communicate. If you need more help, please let me know! Good luck
Hi there, I’ve just received my art a2 level exam paper which is combinations and alliances and I’ve thought of looking at figurative nature, so exploring a more abstract approach. The idea of combination is looking at the different types of texture, for example the gills on a fish etc. what I need advice on is how to approach this project, and formulate interesting ideas from it. Any suggestions would be great, I find your blog of great inspiration and it’s lovely to hear how other people approach their projects and help each other generate different ideas
Thank you
Daisy
Hi Daisy,
Just letting you know that I have written a blog post with some ideas for the Combinations and Alliances exam topic, which may help you.
I am gradually catching up on comments now. Have you narrowed down to a particular idea for your project yet? If so, I may be able to give more guidance if you need it
Hi
I am doing NCEA level 3 this year and want to get started on my portfolio as soon as i can, however i need to pick a topic and was wondering if you could please help me?
So far i have -
War – what it was and what it is now (like its importance)
Time – probably too common i know, but i thought i could do the life span of something and make it more abstract and deteriorated as time passed?
Thanks and your website is amazing by the way!
Grace
Hi Grace,
Thanks for your comment. Here are my brief thoughts on your topic:
War: would be best if this is something that has impacted upon your life personally, i.e. if you had a great grandfather that was in the war and your family happens to have a lot of war memorabilia / photos from this time etc.
Time: I think this has a lot of potential, especially if you focus on the life span of something (time isn’t really that common a subject, as far as I am aware – war is much more common). The key would be to pick something really unexpected / unusual – and possibly something that seems quite boring – or that people normally wouldn’t give a second’s notice to, to study. For example, the life span of a cockroach, or the lifespan of a bowl of cereal. Choose something that has an impact on your life and is thus something you know intimately…or that matters to you (and thus you don’t mind learning about).
Hope that helps! Good luck with L3!
Sorry for the late reply. You have helped ever so much thank you! I was wondering if you had any ideas? I like the topic of concealing emotions and have actually been thinking of that from the start but am stuck on as of how to actually show/produce this work. Thank you again.
Courtnay
Hi Courtnay,
Well, say for example you wanted to explore how humans are often afraid to show their true feelings and conceal emotions, you could do things like:
- Draw two faces overlapping each other: one calm in appearance, as if nothing is wrong; the other deeply panicked / screaming (by overlapping, I mean something like the artwork in this A Level Art project);
- A face that has the mouth sewn shut or parts of the face blanked out, as if to hide or prevent the real emotions from escaping;
- Or something to do with masks – get someone to wear a mask (perhaps make it yourself, using plaster molded to their ‘happy’ face etc) and then draw it partially peeled off, with a sad expression visible behind…
Just some random ideas!
Hope that helps.
hi amiria, i love your website and the way you help people with ideas.
i really need you to help me with my A2 art exam unit. i would like to look at the idea of covering in nature; spider webs and cocoons, but i really cant fine any artist related to my project. it will be great if you could suggest some artists who have done similar works that i could possibly look at.
Hi Reshma,
Are you a Fine Art / Painting student? I am not sure what area you are focusing on, but here are some artworks that may get you thinking…
Beautiful digital photographic work by Allison Hunter; woven cocoon by Fiona Campbell; repaired spiderwebs by Nina Katchadourian; sculptures by Annemieke Mein; packing tape sculptures; woven stick sculptures by Patrick Dougherty; sculptures by Ben Carpenter. Not sure if you have also seen these whole trees encased in spiderwebs?
Hope that helps!
Also this artist who wraps / covers trees or really close up detailed work, like this beautiful photo of leaves.
Hello, my son is taking OCR A level art this year. The F441-F446 controlled assignment paper has just been released and he has chosen Item 3, the topic ‘Shade’ from the Stimuli Section. Do you had any suggestions on how to get started on this topic?
Regards
Kate
Hi Kate,
Thanks for your comment. I have just added a small section for the stimuli ‘Shade’ to my post on the A Level Art examination. Hope it helps!
Hi Amira
I stumbled across your website and it is fantastic. I have the topic “artist as traveller and collector’. i need some help in developing a focus for this theme and would be grateful for any ideas that would help get me started and build a body of work.
Regards
Sue
Thanks Sue,
Is this a theme you have been set as part of an examination or Coursework project? What qualification is this for? Often when high school students are set a theme, they are able to interpret it in any way they see fit, and just focus on part of the topic (i.e. collector) – is this the case for you?
I would begin by thinking of something to do with this theme that relates to you personally. Are there things that you have collected? Stamps? Buttons? Random recycled materials for use in art-making? Paint brushes? Photographs of things to paint? Shells? Love letters? I would focus on just one (or maybe two – if they are similar or linked in some way) and would then sit down and write out what it is about these things that interests you and is important to you…in other words I would try and work out some kind of story associated with the objects – a story that hopefully will give you some ideas about how to begin making art.
Here is an awesome example that I always think of when it come to collections: buttons.
Hope that helps!
Hi Amiria, your blog is simply amazing n i would love it if you could help me for my final artwork. I need some ideas for my final painting which is based on the theme ‘flowers’. I have decided to paint two bird of paradise on a jungle-like background. I want to work in mixed media and i want something colorful but i have no idea how to do it. Can you suggest some ideas please xxx
I’m sorry i forgot to mention that I am doing Igcse not A-levels
thanks
Thanks DS,
Are you exploring any ideas related to flowers, or is your work simply a representation of their aesthetic beauty? Have you studied any artists for your project? Ideally your preparatory work should lead up to the final piece, so that the final work is a logical conclusion for the work that has gone before it. You don’t want the final work to be starkly different from your earlier pieces. It is thus very difficult for me to guide you, without seeing your preparatory work.
However, here are some ideas which may help stir your imagination:
- Make a really mixed media background (newspaper / rubbish etc) and then paint/draw the flowers so they are translucent/fading out in places and the background shows through, like this;
- Flowers organised / catalogued / stored in man made containers (contrasting curved, organic forms of flowers with geometric, man made items) like this;
- Painting flowers onto a scientific text book about flowers, like this;
- Binding the flowers in string, like this.
Just some ideas to get you thinking!
Hope that helps
hi, thank you so much for the ideas i will definitely use some of these, but since i am painting the flowers on a jungle like background with vines, do you have any ideas how i could paint the vines to make it look a little detailed and realistic , because i cannot find any goo painting with vines to get ideas from.
thank a lot, xxx
this is how my composition looks like :
- in the background, really thin vines and one one or two thick ones
- there are two bird of paradise flowers sticking out which are the focal points
- there are very few empty spaces between the vines which i have to paint in but i do not know how to since i cannot really use newspaper as there is not much space.
basically my composition is very occupied
the artist i have studies are georgia o’keefe and elizabethh blackadder. but i did not really use their techniques and i also want my artwork to be colourful, especially the flowers
i have started looking for ideas but not enought to give me an inspiration.
Hi DS,
Oops, I don’t think I read your first question correctly. Apologies!
An artist who might help with drawing vines is Carne Griffiths (scroll right down his blog – there are lots of images lower down the page including this one and this one. If you worked in Carne’s style, the gaps between the vines could be partially filled with drips / splatters etc…
In terms of technical skill, you might be interested in these works or maybe this.
Do you have real vines to look at and photograph? Do you have some? If not, my best advice is that you should find some!
You can also press actual vines into modelling compound (to make a leaf-shaped indentations etc, similar to this) and then paint over these…
hi
thanks a lot, that really helped
No worries!
Hi again
I was wondering whether you could help mr get some ideas as to how to paint in the bird of paradise flowers using acrylic but mixed media. I am halfway done with my final but I don’t know how to paint them in.
thanks a lot
Your final work should be the logical conclusion of the work that has gone before it, so don’t try anything radical that you have not practised / refined in your preparatory work. How you paint it really depends on the style you are going for and the artists you have researched. It is very difficult for me to explain practical techniques via the internet, unfortunately. I suggest you approach your teacher for more help with this. Sorry!
In the future I will be uploading YouTube clips demonstrating techniques etc, but it will be a little while before I have the time to do this.
Good luck!
Howdy! *waves
I’d like to take textiles as an A level however I’ve not taken art or textiles for GCSEs. (I applied Art for GCSEs but I didn’t get into it unfortunately) Would it be foolish of me to take textiles? Please answer honestly. (:
Thank you
Hi Samima,
This really depends on two things: 1) your current skill level and 2) how hard you are willing to work. You mention that you didn’t get into Art for GCSEs – was this because of a timetabling clash, or were you disallowed due to skill level?
While not taking Art at GCSE is a disadvantage, a hardworking student with a good level of ability would be absolutely fine. However, I strongly advise going and talking to your Textiles teacher as they will know you and be able to guide you more accurately.
Hope that helps!
Thank you ever so much! I love those ideas and would’ve never thought of them! Thanks again.
Courtnay.
No worries Courtnay – glad to help!
Hey amiria,
Im currently an A2 Student. Im giving A levels as a whole all together. Now for my p2 ive selected graphic designing and for p3 ive selected photography. And my coursework is based upon contemporary car design. Please explain on how i can present my p 2 and p 3. As in how to present a photography portfolio and same for graphic design. And also if you can suggest an awesome idea for the automotive design coursework. And yes im in love with your blog, its so much better than our teacher at school
Hi Usman,
Are you a CIE Art & Design student? I am only familiar with the exact details of CIE A Levels, so am unable to guide you precisely with presentation formats or assessment criteria for other qualifications. Your teacher should be able to help with this, however.
What type of automotive design project are you doing? Is it a graphic design project, where you create promotional material about a car, for example, or is it the actual design of a car itself? If so, is it just the aesthetic aspect of the design that you will be focusing on (i.e. the appearance of the car, rather than the engine / design of the mechanical aspects)? Please provide some additional information and I will endeavour to help as best I can.
Thanks!
Hey there,
i really have no idea what im doing because i missed out on art last year (class was full). i was hoping you would give some sort of advice/feedback on my topic of superheroes:forces of good vs. bad scenario and the meeting of fiction and reality. I know it seems broad but im already behind the class where there are a lot of talented classmates ahead. Help please?
Hi Jessica,
Superheroes is the sort of topic that can go awesomely well or horribly wrong. The dangers are when a student draws entirely from their imagination, and does so badly. This results in cheesy work that doesn’t convey sufficient knowledge of rendering form. To excel in this topic, I recommend dressing friends up as various superheroes and using them as your first-hand source of imagery – perhaps posing them with non-dressed up people to simulate the meeting of fiction & reality etc. Whatever interpretation of the topic you use, I would look at ways of creating first-hand imagery wherever possible. You can then modify the images etc when you draw them, but they will remain convincing and ‘realistic’ in appearance, because they were based on ‘real’ forms to begin with. Hope this makes sense!
And i want to add on that i actually like arts like..
having an idea linking to another and being drawn together..
i hope you get what i mean ><
Hi Christin,
I’m not sure if there was another part to your comment that I missed? You left a comment on the Coursework Development post…but I am not sure exactly what you are asking? Please provide more information and I will do my best to help!
Hello. I have actually typed out a very long comment but i didnt know why it was not posted.
but its alright, i will type it again
I am taking my O level art this year.
I have taken my N level art last year and the topic was Leave Pattern. I put my own life story in the art work.
I painted a Girl(crying) siiting on a tree that the leaves are all fallen off. and the girl have a wings that i uses broken leafs to form it and a broken heartshape of leaves was one part of the wings. Showing thhat the girl is heartbroken and injured (hurt). Beside the tree i painted a eye crying. and far away behind the girl i painted a tree with leaves showiing that the girl want to have a better life but its far away from her. i got an B3 for it ):
So this year i am quite worried about my Art for O levels and i hope you could help me by giving my some suggestions.
The questions for this year are, 1.The old and the new 2. Instruments 3.Angular Forms 4. Bunches of Flowers Or vegetables 5. New growth 6. Asleep
I have an idea of having phoenix and crows in my art work.
Phoenix representing the beautiful things / rebirth while Crows symbolising the “badluck” or the bad things.
I have a few ideas to this two objects.
- having the crow peeling off becoming a phoenix
but i dont know how to develop from there
-I have actually thought of this, ” nobody is perfect ”
And wanted to use this sentence as part of my art work (typography)
-I have also thought of linking “nobody is perfect” to the phoenix and crows. (as i thought of people always judge others by their looks and those who are goodlooking are always well-known/ popular but those who are not are always being bullied/criticised, and it is hurtful to be criticized)
By having two babies drawn. One of the babies is being drawn imperfectly and the background of this baby is a phoenix.
Showing that no matter how ugly or imperfect someone is, it doesn’t mean that they are not beautiful inside (personality). Another baby is drawn perfectly but the background is the crow(s). Showing that you might be beautiful but on the inside you might be not be.
I am still struggling with my final idea and i dont know if the topic “new growth” is a better choice or not. I hope you could give me some suggestions/ advice/ ideas. Thank you !
Hi Christin,
From what you have described, I suspect you are attempting to convey your ideas in a way that is too literal or obvious. For example, using of a broken heart to illustrate a heartbroken girl, and tears to indicate sorrow etc is not recommended, as these are very obvious and common symbols of these things. It is better to convey your message in a more subtle, original and unexpected fashion.
Students should also be wary of using text (words) in their work for the same reason. While text can sometimes work, there is a danger that by writing ‘nobody is perfect’ in your work, you will again be making a piece that is too obvious and self explanatory.
In terms of the subject matter that you use (i.e. the actual thing/s you draw) I would strongly recommend selecting something you have firsthand access to. I am guessing that you are unable to see and photograph crows? As a phoenix is a mythical creature, I would also be wary of using this for your project as this will rely solely on imaginative form.
I think your ideas to do with nobody being perfect / popularity / bullying etc have a lot of potential, but you need to come up with simpler and less obvious ways of expressing it – and also a good way to link this to one of the questions given. At a first glance, these ideas don’t seem to clearly fit in with any of them (unless perhaps angular forms…in which case you could draw an awkward, thin girl (i.e. with lots of bony angles)…perhaps sitting in isolation, surrounded by angled classroom walls etc…while other school girls gossip in the distance??)…but even this sounds quite complicated.
The questions seems to give quite narrow stimuli…i.e. they mostly give an actual subject. Are your classmates generating complex ‘ideas’ to support these or are they simply arranging and drawing ‘bunches of flowers’ for example? While obvious, this can sometimes be a much more straight forward approach!
Thanks for taking the time to type out your comment again! Sorry, I feel like I have mainly been discouraging and not much help! Please let me know if I can assist further. Good luck.
hello Amiria:)
i am currently a as level art student. our sixth form has just given us our exam papers and options for out as course and i chose memorabilia. but im stuck on ideas of how to develp it in my sketch book and of what to include. please could you get back to me would be very helpfull. your blog is really amazing and helpful.
Hi Aicha,
I have added a few possible starting points for the Memorabilia topic on this post about Art Exam ideas. This Coursework Development post also relates to the exam and may help you understand how to go about developing your ideas. Please let me know if you need any further help!
hello
im currently doing art for one of my year 12 subjects. everyone in my class has choosen a theme, and im struggling to find anything to work with.
i started off exploring surrealism but decided it wasnt for me, then fantasy and then dreams. but known have really stood out to me as such.
i like art that isnt in its real form, if that makes sense.
im just really stressed and confused as im falling very behind in class.
any help would be great, thank you Ruby
Hi Ruby,
I think you might be finding it difficult because your suggestions are not specific enough to really be of any use. Surrealism is a style of art and is not a really a theme (ie. many themes can be explored in a surrealist fashion); fantasy is also more of a genre than a theme; and dreams is quite broad (although if you focused on the scientific aspect of dreams – brain waves / brain scans / sleep studies etc – or a particular dream, it could work).
The best starting points are not something to do with the style of the work, but rather the idea that you want to express. What things are you passionate about? What are your hobbies?
What you need to do is go step by step through the process outlined in the blog post above and write down everything you can think of – then eliminate the ones that aren’t appropriate according to the directions I have given. When you have narrowed it down to a few possibilities I will help you decide which one you should pursue.
Sorry – I know this probably doesn’t sound very helpful!
hello, im doing ncea printmaking L3 and looking for ideas/concepts. i like to make surrealistic, vintage and simplistic prints. i really like to use th insane bright colors of candies ie lollipop. but i cant find subject matters and ideas behind it.
Hi Nam,
How about something to do with the vibrant enticing appeal of candies / junk food, and how this contrasts their damaging effect on our health or their contribution to obesity? This is becoming a more common approach amongst student folios, but is something that is very topical and relevant…
You could look at their ingredient lists (unnatural additives etc); high sugar content / low nutrient ratio etc… (view this Year 13 Painting project for inspiration). I could imagine very beautiful, seductive prints that have a very dark undercurrent to them…
Good luck!
hello, im currently doing my gcse final exam unit. im aiming for an a* and your students work is inspiring. the theme is ordinary and/or extraordinary and i was wondering if you could give me some advise on what my next step would be. iv jut started my development and have explored two paintings: vemeers, girl with a pearl earring and mary jane ansells, georgie – to explore the ordinary approach. my own theme is “reality” and im also focusing on portraiture. im hoping that my final piece would explore the extraordinary but im having trouble getting there. my next artist to reasearch would be lucien fraud who portrays reality in his work. is there anything i can explore of expreiment next to get me an a*?
thank you
ayesha
Thank you Ayesha,
I am glad to hear that you are aiming for an A*. I think you would benefit immensely from refining your ideas with regard to what you are trying to say within your portraits – i.e. perhaps something to do with our perception of beauty and the imperfections that are prevalent in the ‘ordinary’ human being. I would personally not aim to express ‘extraordinary’ in your final work/s and ‘ordinary’ in your earlier works, but attempt to say something about both of these simultaneously in the same work. Discuss this with your teacher to get his/her thoughts on this, however, as I am not a specialist in GCSE (I have taught International GCSEs only). My main advice for you is that you need to clarify what it is you are actually dealing with in your work…as at present your ideas sound a little vague.
Hope that helps! Please let me know if you need any further assistance.
Good luck!
hi Amiria, im struggling on my exam peice of meetings and encounters as I am in AS & I do fine Art/Art & textiles. I went & took pictures at a train station as we were told by teachers, so I did, of buildings, train station signs and taxi’s. But I have no clue of how to explore them it’s ment to be a ‘starting point’ but I dont know what to do. I personally think because I have no interest in that topic therefore I cant think of anything. I was interested in the theme of contrasts of different things, could you enlight me on how I could explore/endorse in that topic for the exam title and I think that the first painting of the purple/pink orchid drawn on your blog of different media really inspired me, I was particularly interested in the fact that he used different media which bring in a variety of thoughts of the interaction between nature and encounters hence the choice of media used, whilst reading through everything on your blog that peice was all i could think about. I think the peice also showed his talent of drawing along side showing the message he puts forward. I am also interested in the topic of Autopsy, interaction with nature, flowers, doctors, contrast, human body, and really detailed fine artwork that draws into fine detail tooo. Could you give me some overall themes/topics that I can do with some ideas of how to develop them. And could you give me a couple of artist that you think I should strongly consider alongside matching something I like & being also in context with the exam title, Give me a few starting point for picture that I should start taking =)
thannkkkkkkkkkk yooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! =D
P.s. Your idea’s are immense!
Thank you for the ideas and the links to the other sites, was very helpful, think i now know where im going with it.
Great!
i am starting a new subject for art A LEVEL and my subject is travel .. any ideas on what i could do for it??
thanxx
Hi Eve,
Just a few random ideas:
- Interior of an aeroplane / bus / train;
- Little kid strapped into a car seat;
- The mangled remains of a car crash;
- Something based on a map;
- A still life of collectible items / memoirs from a particular trip;
- Scientific imagery to do with time travel or space travel;
- Something to do with boy racers or driving speed like this.
Hope that helps!
Hey Amiria,
I am having trouble thinking of ANYTHING to do for my second AS art project, I have chosen the theme of travel and love the idea of focusing on people and possibly expressions, but have no idea how to relate these, any ideas?
Thank you, your site is so addictive I love it!
Katie
Thanks Katie,
Please see the comment above – I have just written some suggestions for a Travel theme. If you are interested in people and expressions, then possibly something like a squabbling family inside a car – siblings squashed in the back seat? Or a whole lot of passengers on a bus or train… with everyone inside their own world in their head…i.e. bypassing each other by, each consumed by the goings on of their own lives and not really acknowledging anyone else…
Yus, addictive!
Hi again, thankyou so much for your comment. I just wanted to clarify my idea. My idea is the one you expressed in your comment: to explore how ordinary people, faces and their “reality” eg tattos, scars, body etc can seem to be flaws as they are ordinary but can seem extraordinary. That’s why my next artist to explore would be Lucin fraud. I was wondering if there are any areas or artists I could explore to really show of my idea and potential in an interesting way. I am really stuck lol and my teacher to be honest isn’t much help! I also want to explore a variety of different styles of painting and medias, I already used photography which I enjoyed. I’m not to sure what my final piece will be yet however my mum suggested to take a picture of my grandmother, who has wrinkles and a sort of tired face, and paint her as this shows “reality”. What do you think? I’m not to certain on any ideas yet and a second opinion would be great! Hope to hear from you soon amiria! Thank you!
Hi Ayesha,
One artist you may be interested in exploring is Shawn Barber. He has a lot of artwork on his site, so you will need to hunt through and find the ones that are relevant… but he does paint a lot of people with tattoos etc and also creates work that has different views of one person in the same work (he was one of the artist models for this A Level Art project – which also shows how photography and mixed media can be integrated well within a project). This might be something you are interested in, as one approach might be to paint multiple views of a person – i.e. in one view they might have scars / tattoos etc…and in another view painted with smooth, unblemished skin… (just a random idea – haven’t thought this through in any great detail)!
With regard to painting your grandmother… I have always advised my students to work from a relatively narrow range of subject matter, but explore this in great depth, allowing extensive development, refinement of ideas and technical skill etc. For your project, I would select just a few individuals (or even just one) to focus on, and explore this in great depth. So this could be your grandmother – or it could be someone else. The advantage of using your grandmother is that:
a) She no doubt is an important figure in your life, so you would have a good personal connection to your work;
b) You are no doubt easily able to visit her to gain first-hand access to your subject.
I am guessing that she doesn’t have tattoos or scars, however? I think the wrinkles / effects-of-aging idea does have potential, but this would have to become the focus of your study, rather than the tattoos etc. If you choose to go this way, you might be able to simultaneously merge images of her from when she was younger with her today? Just an idea – discuss with your teacher first!
Hope that helps!
I have also just stumbled across Loretta Lux, whose awesome works are combinations of photographs, paintings and digital manipulation. She certainly photographs ordinary things in a way that look eerie and extraordinary. See here and here.
Hi Amiria, Im taking AS Level Art and Design soon. But I have problem in producing an art portfolio about the processes. What is the exact and correct step I should take to fulfill my marks in A01, A02, A03 and A04. Should I select a theme first or doing research on artist first? Do you have any sample regarding the flow of work. I got really no idea what to do now. My lecturer said that I always skip my processes, but i don’t know what are the processes he meant even though we have discussed for quite often
Please help me.
Hi Ashley,
Are you a CIE Art and Design student? I have experience teaching CIE A Level Art only, so am unable to guide you with the exact assessment requirements for other qualifications. However, from what I understand, the processes undertaken are relatively similar. My students begin by selecting a theme first, and then locate artists to help and support their learning with this (however, I know of schools who approach things the other way around, and also have great success, so there is not one right way of doing this).
A body of work completed for A Levels should show the journey of how a student arrives at their final piece – all the testing, experimenting, learning from artists, and sequential development of composition. Please read this article on how to develop an A Level Art project – it outlines the process that my students go through to create a portfolio of work. Please read it through carefully and then ask any further questions if you need to.
Thanks!
Hi Amiria,
We’ve had to go back on our coursework topics and develop a little more before we hand it in.
I came with an idea which I could work around, although I’m afraid I might go off track.
I have secondary sources of pictures of embryos of birds, and I was thinking of, in some way showing how the embryo has a protective layer around it and relating that to how humans build a protective instinct for themselves? somewhere along those lines.? (Or maybe a contrast between ‘Protective’ and ‘Vunerable’)
I just need to find ways to get primary sources into my project, and well as show how Ive developed from the idea of the bird.
Thankyouu so much for your time
Sorry about all the questions!
Hi Nielle,
I would not endeavour to bring in the embryo, as you sound as though you have limited time and it is something quite different, which would really need a bit of time to integrate successfully. It would also require working from second hand imagery, when, as you say, it is primary sources you should focus on.
What species of bird/s did you draw? Are they ones that you can access in person? Could you just include some more observational drawings to include at the beginning of your project?
Have you already completed your final work? Often when teachers give you a bit more time at the end, the best approach is to just improve the pieces that you have done (touch them up – improving any weak parts) as well as making sketchbook pages more thorough etc, rather than embark upon brand new work. Has you teacher given you any specific advice? He/she is likely to be able to give you more valuable advice than me as they have seen your work…
Hi Amiria,
The thing is, I’ve already done alot of drawings and used different mediums to portray birds (first hand) AS WELL as the embryo, so I have that development. However, my teacher wants to move away from this idea as it limits my opportunities to get even more primary sources, which is why he mentioned the contrast between protectiveness (i.e – the embryos) and vulnerability, i.e the real world once it’s out of the womb/egg – which would include primary sources for eg: old buildings ( threatened to be taken down), Hawkers, Night (clubbing scenes), (fish) meat market.
I do feel like It is going way off track but he seems very persistent in making this idea work.
I have about a month and a half left, which is enough time for me to get first hand sources + experiment with different mediums to portray ”vulnerability”, however, I’m only struggling to fine a solid LINK between both.
If you happen to have any ideas that I could figure out to make this work it would be great!
Thankyou!!
Hi Nielle,
Is this for your Coursework bird project? I thought you mentioned that you had mostly finished that – and that your teacher had just given you a bit of time before you hand it in? Or are you talking about your exam now, which you have decided to relate to your Bird project? Sorry – I am just a little confused!
In any case, it is very difficult for me to guide you about this without seeing your work, so the best advice I can give is to follow what your teacher suggests – he will know your work and strengths etc. If you feel it is going off-track, then discuss this (politely) with him and get him to explain his reasoning. It does sound quite broad to me, but he will only be making recommendations with your best interests in mind.
In a few weeks I will be adding a paid service to this website, that you might be interested in, whereby students can submit images of their work for written feedback – a report giving advice and recommendations for improvement etc. At this stage it is likely to just be for CIE Art and Design students, though – I’m not sure if this is you?
hi Amiria, im struggling on my exam peice of meetings and encounters as I am in AS & I do fine Art/Art & textiles. I went & took pictures at a train station as we were told by teachers, so I did, of buildings, train station signs and taxi’s. But I have no clue of how to explore them it’s ment to be a ‘starting point’ but I dont know what to do. I personally think because I have no interest in that topic therefore I cant think of anything. I was interested in the theme of contrasts of different things, could you enlight me on how I could explore/endorse in that topic for the exam title and I think that the first painting of the purple/pink orchid drawn on your blog of different media really inspired me, I was particularly interested in the fact that he used different media which bring in a variety of thoughts of the interaction between nature and encounters hence the choice of media used, whilst reading through everything on your blog that peice was all i could think about. I think the peice also showed his talent of drawing along side showing the message he puts forward. I am also interested in the topic of Autopsy, interaction with nature, flowers, doctors, contrast, human body, and really detailed fine artwork that draws into fine detail tooo. Could you give me some overall themes/topics that I can do with some ideas of how to develop them. And could you give me a couple of artist that you think I should strongly consider alongside matching something I like & being also in context with the exam title, Give me a few starting point for picture that I should start taking =)
thannkkkkkkkkkk yooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!! =D
P.s. Your idea’s are immense!
Hi Ikhi,
Contrast is simply what occurs when you have two things that are markedly different, side by side (i.e. shapes or colours or textures) and can thus form a part of many topics: so unfortunately this doesn’t help you narrow down a direction to go in.
Your teachers have given you the starting point of the train station for your meetings and encounters topic, so the best bet would be to find a way of interpreting this so that it becomes relevant to your own life, or so that it explores something you are interested in. Based on the things you have mentioned (flowers / interaction with nature / autopsy / human body etc) I have jotted down a few things that have sprung to mind:
I also recommend reading this blog post about A Level Art Ideas (it is targeted at Coursework but applies to examination topics as well).
- Scenes of people meeting viewed in reflections / car windows etc. So the images of people would be fragmented and ‘cut’ in to pieces…similar in a way to the orchid painting. Maybe start with images something like this (but with people shown in the reflections) and then gradually fragment / distort / disassemble…
- Remnants from meetings / interactions between people at the train station. Instead of concentrating on the people themselves, you could look at the ‘reminders’ and traces they leave behind… For example, you could focus only on the ground, showing feet…and little items that have been discarded / dropped (cigarette butts, handwritten notes etc) – things that give you a sense of what happens here…the people who have been and gone…
- Focus on the contrast between the hard, permanent surfaces of the train station – eroding bricks / defaced concrete / graffiti etc – and the transient organic forms that criss-cross over them all day long. You could perhaps paint people in a semi-transparent way, focusing on their movement, back and forward over hard, resilient surfaces…
- Also, this artist springs to mind. Instead of looking out aeroplane windows, you could look in train windows at scenes of people inside. It could be quite a mechanical – almost disconnected or scientific kind of analysis.
- Another idea: frozen train station scenes, painted in the style of Edward Hopper – giving the scenes a slightly unreal quality, as if they were stills from a movie…
Hopefully some of that helps.
Good luck!
Hi Amaria!
Like most of the other people commenting, I need help picking a topic. It’s for the Encounters, Meetings and Experiences photography exam.
My current ideas are psychological states and mental disorders; dreams, fantasy, and magic; collision of objects (e.g. water droplets hitting water, dropping glass, paint or fruit onto a hard surface); and collections of seemingly random objects, Joseph Cornell style. I’m also interested in movement, for example, in the style of Elena Retfalvi, or light trails on a road. However, I can’t think of a theme that I can develop enough throughout the project. Any ideas?
Thank you for the brilliant blog! (:
Hi Eleanor,
Here are my thoughts on your current suggestions:
Psychological states and mental disorders: Tonnes of potential. Slightly difficult to sort out first-hand source material, but once you have got past this hurdle it would be awesome!
Collision of objects: Visually appealing, but likely to be absent of much meaning (especially if it was dropping glass or drops hitting water etc). However, if you select an event that has importance to you personally it could work…could also result in some awesome and absurd surrealist-type images.
Collections of random objects: While they might appear random, they would need to have some kind of logical reason for appearing together in a work…
Movement / light trails: Has the danger of being an exploration into aesthetics only – absent of meaning. As long as you have some purpose or strong emotional connection to the subject focused on, this could be okay.
I just read your last sentence again – are you asking for a theme that could somehow link all of these? (Because I wouldn’t advise this – it is far better to have a narrow theme that is really well thought through than a series of arbitrarily linked works)…
My favourite is the first suggestion – but you should select the one that resonates with you the most.
Hmmm… I’m not sure if I have been much help – I feel like I misunderstood exactly what you were asking!
Hello again!
Because of time constraints, I decided not to do the Psychological Disorders idea, which was my favourite too! I realised I would struggle to find people to model for me often enough before the exam. I might come back to it next year if it fits with the coursework theme though. Instead, I have chosen the theme of ‘Memories,’ again looking especially at collections. I have been inspired by the Katherine Mitchell images of ‘People in Boxes,’ which I found on your blog, and I thought I’d do a similar idea, but with a narrative more along the lines of people who are important to me. I am also going to explore themes such as dreams, holidays and childhood, but I’m struggling for inspiration for photo shoots at the moment, what with the stress of exams.
Any ideas? Also, are there any related artists you would suggest looking at?
Thank you so much for your help so far! Any suggestions would really be appreciated. (:
Hi Eleanor,
Yes, the time restraints of the examination are certainly an important factor to consider. I like your idea of containing memories of people who are important to you. One option might be to simply photograph each person with objects that symbolically represent them, i.e. that help to illustrate the important aspects of their personalities / lives. I also just discovered artwork by Tetsuya Ishida that might help. This artwork suggests awesome ideas to do with boxes and the containing of memories!
Hi,
I am really stuggling for ideas for my AS ALVEL FINE ART EXAM. The topics are under two titles. the section one: stimuli are: click, temperature, scales,shine and a few other. section 2 i can choose one from: domestic, regalia,icon and few other. Firstly i thought of doing temperature as the coloura really inspired me ie. fire and water and so on.. but i dont see hoe i can take interesting photos and how to develop it. Then I though of domestic. violence or something. everyone has started her project two weeks ago. iam still confused. hope you can help me.
Hi Priya,
You are right – it is hard to know how to proceed with a topic such as ‘temperature’ unless you first form clear ideas that will then guide your selection and composition of images. One option is to approach your topic from a purely aesthetic perspective, and simply select a relevant scene that you find visually intriguing (a campfire, with sausages cooking on sticks over the flames, for example). Instead of attempting to explore all aspects of temperature, it is usually better to focus on one, and do it well. The ideal ‘scene’ to choose is once which has importance to your own life, as stressed in this blog post. You can begin with a more complex theoretical idea if you wish, but this isn’t necessary – a simple observational beginning can be just as good. Once you have settled on something, you should use artist models to help develop your work. Reading this blog post about A Level Art Development should help with this (it is targeted at Coursework but also applies to the exam).
Good luck!
hello.
I am currently in grade 11 in India and have taken up art and design in the cambridge international AS level. It all seems very confusing to me, i cant get hold of the whole process very well. Also could I have your guidance, through the way.
Thank you
Hi Rishabh,
I am more than happy to help you as much as I can via this blog. I think you are best to begin by reading these blog posts I have written:
- A Level Art and Design: An Overview;
- A Level Art: AS Coursework;
- AS Controlled Test: Art Examination.
I would then begin by selecting your Coursework topic with reference to the post above about A Level Art ideas.
Once you have read these articles carefully, please ask any specific questions you have at the bottom of the appropriate page.
Thank you!
Hello,
First of all please dont mind my last comment, I wrote it without goin through your whole blog. Now I have found certain art ideas that I can relate to. What I want to do is painting and related media and also sculpture so my one coursework will be dependent upon painting while the other upon sculpture. Below are the ideas I wanted to discuss.
dance- both depicting sadness and hapiness(being in your own world and doing what you love. I like dances that are energetic and full of life.
Music- I certainly like music that can cheer me up or that bring me up on my feet to dance. On a contrast I also like music that is sad and slow.
People- I admire people like shakespeare and Leonardo da vinci and would like to do something related to them.
Snow- Though I dont really have a preferance of seasons but i like snow a lot. But I have only seen snow once as i dont live in a region of snowfall
Food- I am a big foodie, I love trying new varities of food and love to cook myself. Also I really like presentable food.
Logic- Though I dont really understand how I can Incorporate it into art but I like to find logic behing everything.
Mess- I love to live in a mess and even if i clean it seems like a lot of work and anything I touch doesn’t stay neat for long.
I dont want to follow just one idea but want a way in which I can merge ideas together. PLease guide me and help me.
Thank you
Hi Rishabh,
)
You mention that you will be focusing on Painting and Related Media for one Coursework project and Sculpture for another. Which area will you focusing on for your AS Coursework?
You have listed several possible ideas, the majority of which are quite different from each other. While your project can weave a number of different ideas together, these should all be quite similar and support one another. It is unlikely, for example, that you would be able to produce a coherent project that explores snow + food + dance (unless you happen to live in a snowy environment and frequently have big gatherings where people dance and eat food?
While it is great that you are interested and enthusiastic about a range of different topics, the best advice I can give you is that you should choose a narrow topic and do it really, really well, rather than make a topic that is quite broad and covers a whole lot of things. The primary reason for this is that a narrow topic gives you the opportunity to get really skilful and practised at representing a certain form and also results in a project that develops in a clear and logical fashion (yes, logic can be evident in art, as with everything). While it may feel boring or restricting to limit yourself to a narrow subject, it allows you to create much more focused and awesome art – and you will be glad of this come your final deadline.
Hope this helps!
Hey amiria,
I thought really hard and have come up with this. I will do sculpture in As level course work and would use the theme of dance. What I will try to show is contemporary dance styles which potray emotions and will mainly focus on sadness. But I wanted to ask something, do I have to create a sketchbook for sculpture making?
I have decided to go on with music as a theme for painting and other related media.
I also wanted to ask about the supporting work. I mean, what is it and does it have to be limited to 2 A1 size sheets. Also how is the supporting work for courcework different for the supporting work for the exam.
Thanks
Hi Rishabh,
Are you completing the whole A Level course in one year – i.e. AS + A2? The reason I ask is that normally students do this over two years and thus you wouldn’t need to worry about what you would do for your A2 Coursework project yet. Completing the whole four components in one year is very time consuming and, from what I understand, very rare.
At AS level, students have to produce a supporting folio of a maximum of 4 x A1 sheets plus the final work. You do not have to produce a sketchbook. The A2 Coursework project comprises of a maximum of 10 x A1 sheets, the final work, plus a sketchbook. The sketchbook must be completed regardless of whether it is a Painting or sculpture project.
The coursework is based on your own topic or theme; the exam is based on a topic given by the exam paper. The work will look different because of this. The exam is also completed during a shorter time frame. But in other respects – the process carried out and the type of work etc – the exam and coursework are the same. Look at these two examples, completed by the same student:
AS Coursework project;
AS Art exam.
Please let me know if anything is unclear.
i though more and more and finally came to a conclusion for Sculpture making I will choose masks, while for painting i will choose dance, but I still dont get the questions I asked you in the other post.
Thank you
Hi Rishabh,
I hope I have answered your questions above. Please let me know if you need further info.
Good luck.
hi,iam currntly doing my A level Art and i wanna do a literature book so bad, that i feel if i dont do it and follow my first instinct it wont be to my advantage howver, the problem with this book , is the only firsthand image i cn acquire is those frm my country which i can related to and those staged or imagined, the rest which involves the setting of the story itself cannot be firsthand since it was pre industrial and the only way to acquire images is of second sources, so what do i do, i was thinkin of localizing the story in a sense whereby there a great aspect of it which are firsthand but that wont be completely possible.i have no problem whatsoever finding artist who took the same topics but im note sure wat i need to do to secure a good mark.
Hi Anna,
Basing a project on a literature book could work, however you are right to be concerned about the first-hand imagery aspect. I would advise staging, as you suggest (but not imagining) – and localising the story – or perhaps semi-modernising it – relating to your own life in some way? I would also try and ensure that the narrative of the story is not told throughout your folio…i.e. you shouldn’t begin with works depicting the start of the book and end with works depicting the final chapter, as this is not the sort of development that is meant to take place in an art folio. Instead the themes / messages / story should be expressed concurrently within all (or most) of the works, with the development that takes place related to technique and composition.
I would discuss this carefully with your teacher, as topics such as this are not of the norm and need to be thought through carefully. Are you a CIE Art and Design student? This is the area I am experienced in btw, so my comments relate specifically to this…
Good luck!
The theme is Asleep, i have gone to psychological blindness…
But i cant think of these related to teenagers…
-peer pressure
-selfishness. that’s all i can think of.
And, if you have any artist references that i can add in, please share (:
Thank you a many!
Hi Kenneth,
I am not quite sure what you are asking? Have you decided to interpret sleep as psychological blindness, as in, blindness that is the result of mind-patterns/thoughts rather than physical causes? And do you want a way to relate this to teenagers?
Your topic doesn’t necessarily have to relate to teenagers; it is just ideal if the topic is of relevance to you personally somehow, so that you have an emotive connection to the topic.
Please provide some more info and I will see if I can help you further.
Good luck.
I relate it to teenagers because it is something that i can be very familiar with the experiences.
Yes i meant the mind patterns/ thoughts are caused by the public influence; parents, first day of work, first experiences occur while teen. Teen is kind of a period whereby they have all their valuable lessons learnt as they move on to adulthood. Studies have shown that teens are more motivated by risky situations and the rewards so they don’t mind doing it. Psychological blindness comes in when they are being mistaken as nuisance, stupid because they are not conscious of their actions.
This sounds very interesting and intriguing! I’m not sure of any artists that relate to this theme – I suggest you discuss this with your teacher, as they will be in the best position to guide you as they will be familiar with your strengths and can see your work firsthand. Good luck!
thank you, yes i am and i wasnt planning on making an illustration of the story but rather, show my respond to it, or particular areas which facinates me or like you said, portray a message. I will do the staging and see how it works out.i want to persue this topic because i know if i dont i will regret it, for the IGCSE i was inspired by another book and dispite many people teling me to choose somthing easier and where i can secure marks which i tried (i did, stil life on subjects based on the topic but i got bored with it and did ma first idea and got an A) so better i just stick to it no matter what
Yes, sometimes it is advisable to pursue something you are passionate about, even if other alternatives seem more ‘safe’ and ‘secure’. I would discuss this with your art teacher first, however, and do your best to get them on board, as you want to make sure they support you. The best student outcomes always occur when student and teacher are an awesome team working together. Good luck!
Hello Amiria,
Can I begin this post by just saying – you are an absolute lifesaver and this blog is amazingly helpful!! I struggle massively with getting inspired in art as much as I love the subject. If you’re not too busy I would love some ideas for my AS art exam theme. There are many words (themes) to choose from and my favourites are ‘domestic’ and ‘icons’. In art I like portraiture and Jenny Saville, mixed media, graffiti and Alexandre Farto and I often like to work on a big scale. I am interested in psychology, music and gigs, consumerism and technology, dreams, friends and family and movies. I thought about doing something like the 7 deadly sins, or ‘realistic’ family portraits but honestly I have no idea what to do – I want to do something personal to me but something not too clichéd! Sorry to be a pain but do you have any suggestions?! Thank you!
Thanks for your kind comments Julia
If you visit this post about the A2 and AS Art exam you will see that I have brainstormed some ideas relating to some of the set themes / stimuli. I had already included a few for icon and have just added some for domestic.
The 7 deadly sins is proving to be quite a common theme, so this should be taken into consideration when making your decision. Perhaps realistic family portraits of your family engaged in domestic chores??
Hi Amiria, Thanks for all your great help I love your blog. I have written lists of things as per your suggestion (something you are emotionally committed to, personally relevant that matter, what I care about what moves me etc) and one subject idea that I wanted to run by you is ‘technology causes (people) decay’; people watch too much TV, everyone is plugged in most of the time do we know how to not be plugged, places where people congregate or have to congregate they are all listening to headphones, too much social networking not enough socialising, are we more lonely now than ever etc. What are your thoughts about this subject? I am concerned that this would mean that I would have to draw a lot of people and close up faces and this is not my strength. I am more abstract, bold, either really colourful or really grungy, graffiti etc. Other things I feel strongly about is time (using it well or not) and clothes as costume (sorry I know that is an over used phrase). And having said all that, I relate to one of your suggestions about work being ‘gritty, meaningful and personal’. Love that ‘gritty’ bit particularly as I love this particular look and folios with grit, I feel, are the most striking. Any advice would be very much appreciated – give it to me straight (we love and value that about you!) :-> Thanks, KT
Hi again Amiria, I have a new train of thought.. after reading through all the ‘help, ideas and interpretation’ part of your blog and the Q and A’s afterwards, I have come round to understand what I think is a very important consideration (for me). Where you say that ‘… by the way, it is not so much the idea as it is your technical skill and how you approach and develop your idea that gets you the Excellence, so don’t get too caught up in selecting the perfect topic’ … I realise that I was getting too hung up on wanting to find ‘the right topic’ (read: a bit deep, a bit of personal commentary, something that could allow me to get into it with a bit of grit) – but by the same token I think I do need to play to my strengths to a certain degree. I am an adult student doing NCEA 3 Art Painting (via correspondence) but am not entering it completely cold as I make a lot of art. I am all about the process more than having to make a pretty finished ‘something’ every time. Also I think now, I have developed a style that is recognisably me. Anyway just a bit of background for you. So after seeing some of the Pinterest boards you linked us to, I see that there are some that seemed to be simply called (or at least ‘about’) ‘camping’ or ‘kowhai tree’ or ‘the photographer’ or ‘identity’. Please don’t get me wrong.. I am not trying to take the easy way out. I love problem solving and process and taking new and different paths. It is more that after reading that bit where you talked about ‘it’s the quality of your work that is judged’ – this more simple theme idea is a different tack from the more ‘deeper’ (topic) folios that are shown up front of each section of your blog. Plus – I have heard recently how fast the folios are judged by the examiners. Question: Is it OK to choose a ‘simple’ theme (I was presuming that the ones you linked us to from nzqa were Excellence ones?) If I think of the stuff I have chosen to do up to this point just because I like it, it would be abstract, collage, street art grungy, more pretty grungy etc. Would a theme like ‘identity’ be OK if I were to pick a place to at least start me off? Many thanks, Karen (I am sorry I have waffled endlessly but I hope you get the gist of what I am trying to communicate/ask.) So many thanks for all the time you give us, cheers, Karen. This coming up with a topic thing has been really freaking me out.
Hi Karen,
The first topic you mention (technology resulting in social decay etc) sounds great – topical, relevant and not that common (as far as I am aware) – presumably because this is such a ‘new’ issue. ‘Time’ also has lots of potential (although perhaps trickier to convey visually)? Clothing / costuming is a common theme, but can provide a rich subject matter if executed well.
When you mention that drawing faces close-up is not your strength, is this because you are not a strong observational drawer? If so, drawing weaknesses will be evident in any subject you choose – but yes, they will be more obvious when drawing faces. I wouldn’t let this deter you, however, as you can develop your work in a non-realistic style.
With regards to the ‘perfect idea’ vs execution… this reminds me of something a teacher said to me when I was training to be a teacher. I mentioned how important topic choice was, and he looked at me in surprise and said no, it’s not that important at all. He pointed at a folio of a student who based a whole folio on the art room sink (i.e. the first object in front of them) and had got Scholarship. This teacher was an outstanding teacher who consistently gained brilliant results from his students. He had been on the marking panel for Bursary folios (the then equivalent of Level 3) for several years and trained other teachers. He was looking at my own Bursary work at the time (I had also got scholarship) and he hesitated and said… ‘but I can see that it was important for you.’
What I took from this was that, from the examiners perspective, it really doesn’t matter what you paint or draw, as long as it is visually interesting, (and meets other assessment requirements – development / practical skill / good composition etc). It can, however, be important from the student’s perspective (i.e. the student is the one who has to draw this thing day-in / day-out for a whole year). Now that I have been a teacher for quite a few years, I would take it further than this. I know that many student folios are aesthetic investigations only – i.e. they depict things that are interesting visually, but are absent of clear theoretical ideas. Many students achieve outstanding grades using this method – it is certainly a tried and true approach.
Art in general, however, has a greater purpose other than just to please the senses, and the ability of a student to use image to communicate seems (in my view) to be taking on greater importance (deservedly so) with the examiners. I would say this is certainly the case in CIE Art and Design, where I witnessed folios about ‘gutsy’ issues achieving marks that were ‘above’ where I would consider them in terms of their technical skill. While I am not experienced in NCEA Art, a similar trend seems to be appearing in the folios used as exemplars by NZQA. For example, if you read the descriptions of these two 2010 NCEA L3 printmaking folios (one on peer pressure to smoke and another on the abuse of fighting dogs) you can see the importance of the ideas. Here is another example from the Top Art site (these are Scholarship folios that tour NZ each year – which I strongly recommend visiting – they are free to go and see at schools in your local area).
I also strongly recommend going through and reading the commentary alongside each of the folios on the NZQA site…you will get some really valuable insights.
All the Scholarship folios can be found here, and the Level 3 Art folios here. It is particularly helpful to see comparison of the Excellence, Merit and Achieved folios.
With regards to my NCEA Pinterest Board – yes, these are mainly Excellence folios, although they are not all Level 3. Don’t take too much notice of the ‘kowhai tree’ labels etc – these are unfortunately my lazy titles and are not necessarily reflective of the student’s ideas (I will go back and write more informative labels when I have time). Also bear in mind that it is the L1 and L2 folios that typically have ‘simpler’ ideas.
I wouldn’t worry so much about the folios being judged very quickly by examiners. After years of viewing them it is very easy to quickly assess them. The only risk would be a folio that was entirely abstract, with no representational work to ‘fall back’ on, should they not ‘get’ the abstract pieces.
Personally, I like your computer theme best (more than your last identity suggestion) but again, you should go with your gut instinct and it is better to get started as the one thing I have learned about art education is it takes TIME to produce an awesome folio. The earlier you get cracking the better!
Good luck!
Sorry forgot to mention I am doing NCEA 3 Printmaking also. Thanks, Karen
I am an art teacher. and this is the first time that i am teaching A Level Art this year. I have no idea about the topic of Unit 1 cousework assessment currently, but i already tried to told them one topic but they didn’t know how to start it. And I also confusion how to help them get the idea. I am really appreciate if you have some suggestion to give me.
Thanks
Hi Leng,
Thank you for visiting my blog. It is great to have more comments from Art teachers.
Are you teaching CIE Art and Design? This is my area of experience, so I am unable to offer detailed help for other qualifications.
You may find it helpful to read this post about how to develop A Level Art projects.
Best wishes.
Hi Amiria, Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me so thoughtfully. I have decided to go with the technology resulting in social decay topic.. everything you said made so much sense. This topic is for me, the big meaty scary one to take on because it ticks a lot of boxes. And also gives me butterflies! to think that I am not taking an easy way out – when I want to score as high as I can this year all round. I can make this work, and I know I have to work on my drawing. Your answer was really what I needed to know and hear. Thanks again, Karen :->
Great Karen – I hope your project goes well!
hi im stuck on what to do for my final piece for gcse art. at the moment i am basing my work around self harm for here and now and im using the artist brus gunter but i need another gory artist to do with anything like his work or x-rays with nails in etc. could you please suggest an artist and any suggestions on my final piece would it to be challenging but not to expensive and very unique or different thank you for reading hope you can help me. <3
Hi Charlotte,
Wow, Brus Gunter certainly deals with some graphic imagery. I am not sure of an artist who explores x-rays etc, but you may be interested in works by Han Hyo-seok or Justin Mortimer (who does some scarily depressing works – viewer discretion advised), or, of course, Jenny Saville.
It is difficult to give you advice about your final work without seeing your images in person – I would approach your own art teacher for this.
Good luck!
Hi Amiria,
I love your blog. I am currently studying art as gcse in high school. We are soon coming up to our exam, I need to think of a final piece I could do maybe on a canvas todo with extaordinary and ordinary people. Please could you get back to me ASAP with sone ideas?! Thankyou!
Hi Sophie,
I have added a section on ordinary / extraordinary people to my post with ideas for the Art exam. Hope that helps!
i need a very good story for my art exam based on the topic “OLD AND NEW” i thought about many ideas but i still cant find a perfect story can some one please help me by sharing your ideas.
Hi Churchill,
I have added some ideas for the ‘Old and New’ topic to the Art exam post. Hope it helps!
hi Amiria…
i haVe a question ALL THAT GLITTERS for my interpretative paper i.e paper 2…
im quite confused about the theme…may i have some suggestions? thank you
Hi Pri,
The most important advice I have for this topic is… don’t use glitter!
I would case your study on something like:
- shiny, fish, with light bouncing off the glittery scales;
- a sequinned costume / richly decorated dress up party;
- water reflections;
- a child’s party with brightly coloured, eye-catching things…
Choose something that is relevant / personal to you, as described in the blog post above…
Good luck!
PS. In case you are wondering why you shouldn’t use glitter, it is because almost every art teacher I know deeply fears glitter, due to its strong association with childish, tacky artworks – along with pink hearts and unrealistic drawings of flowers…
There are always exceptions to every rule, of course!
hey, i wanna do dancers ( mostly ballerinas ) for my boards but What can i represent through dance ?
i was thinking about representing different types of women or different sides of 1 women through dance …. but i am confused :/
What can i represent through dance ?
Hello, I would be grateful if you could give me some ideas for my project. I am doing my final major project on childhood memories. I was thinking of doing it on ‘Loss of innocence” or the importance of toys. I am going to do Textiles design at uni. I would appreciate your help! Thank you!
Hi Amiria,
thankyou
I’ve just started my art work with the theme pulled apart but I didn’t have any good inspiration. and this is my first time doing this coursework. can you give me any suggestion advice or any link related?
Hi Jessica,
Are you a CIE Art and Design student? I suggest you find some way of relating it to something that is important in your life. Some suggestions include:
- A family that is pulled apart;
- A piece of fruit that is pulled apart, ready to be eaten;
- A dissembled structure, toy or some other item.
Hope that helps!
Hello Amiria,
thankyou
I’ve just started the exam for ocr A2 with the theme of facade,i am struggling with imformation and artists, i have looked at modern artist but i would like more tradional masters also various ideas i would be eternaily grateful.
Hi Joshua,
I guess it depends on how you have interpreted the exam topic (see this post about the art exam for ideas). If you are going with the literal meaning of facade – as in the front face of a building – then you might be interested in Antonio Joli, Francesco Tironi or, more recently, some of the Edward Hopper works…
Hope that helps!
Hi Amiria. It’s really nice to see such a great advice for the coursework! never seen such a helpful guidance!
Well the fact is that.. I’m struggling a lot with my coursework. I started studying the topic ‘Dream’ since last July and I was really enthusiased to work on it. I’ve been recording all my dreams(the dream I get when I’m asleep) for 2 years and I was really interested in the psychological aspects of them. I thought I would be able to derive out a lot of things in relation to my characters and personalities from those dreams and actually thought that i’ll be able to get some nice works as they reflect my thoughts and etc… But as you said in your writing, it was really hard to get the relevent photographs that I could actually refer to and draw, as dream is somethink that you can’t see. So I was really confused and it turned out to be that I didn’t do a lot of studies and paintings. The works i’ve done are somewhat not related to each other or not related to the topic.. I started drawing human bodies when they are asleep but I still think that it barely has any relation between the topic. I think this happend because I couldn’t get enough advice and sources for my subject. The most important thing is that I didn’t know where to start and I still have no idea where to start.. There’s only one month left untill the submission date and I’m planning to start everything again. One month is short but I’m ready to do my best to achieve a great work. Plus, the summer vacation has started for my school so in fact, I have a lot of hours to work on it.
Well, so that was my problem. Sorry for writing too much
Can you give me some advices about
-Where I can start and gather ideas for the topic ‘Dream’
-What kind of photographs I can refer to
-whther it’s ok to just evaluate my own ideas if I don’t have enough sources to refer to
-how I can develop my own ideas.
-whether I’m really in short of time that it’s hard to tell if I’ll be able to achieve nice coursework…
Thank you for reading my long, long inquiry.
Hi Jeesoo,
Firstly, can I stress that I would NOT throw away your earlier work and start afresh. I see far too many students who do this – often the perfectionist type, who are unsatisfied with a work and think they can do better. (Not there is anything wrong with aiming for perfection – this is a good trait!) Students will then frequently start afresh an end up producing work that is not much better than the first piece. Even if they do produce work that is better, they have then wasted the time spent on their initial effort. It is a much, much better idea (in almost every case) to work over work you have already done, either improving it as is, or modifying it, so that it links in with your project in a more cohesive way.
Completing a whole A Level project in one month is going to be an enormous task (in answer to your last question), so I would VERY strongly recommend [re]using the work you have already produced in some way. Dreams can cover a whole range of subjects, so paintings on virtually any subject should be able to be incorporated.
One approach might be to kind of disassemble images – so sort of suggest how memories inside the brain get fragmented and then joined together in absurd or crazy ways while dreaming…? You could then use a collaged / mixed media approach, which might help you with the time issue as well.
Although your drawings of human bodies might not relate to the actual dreams themselves, at least they are a clear way of communicating to a viewer that your work is about something to do with sleep (and thus dreams). If you simply present a whole lot of disconnected images, the viewer might not know what they are about if the image of a human sleeping isn’t present.
Another approach – if you already have lots of drawings of people sleeping – is to not make it about dreams at all (as I mentioned in an earlier comment to someone else) but simply to make it about people sleeping…showing them in the unflattering / unglamorous poses – with all our defences gone… etc.
It is really hard to guide you without seeing your work. If you are a CIE student, I will soon be having a paid service available, where students can submit work for my feedback / advice…but this won’t be up and running for a few more days (just got to redesign the website a tiny bit to accommodate this).
Sorry – hope my answer makes sense – am typing REALLY fast to get through all the questions before my baby wakes! Good luck!
Oh, I forgot… When you ask whether it is okay to ‘evaluate your own ideas’ if you ‘don’t have enough sources to refer to’ – are you asking whether it is possible to complete a project without referencing artists? Because it is not – you definitely must learn from artists!
Hi Amiria
I’m struggling with my a-level topic ‘Responding to the Landscape’. I started drawing/painting trees but I can’t seem to move on from that. I want to create a emotive final piece but I don’t feel like anything I’m doing reflects that. Please, please, please can you help! Thank you!
Hi Helen,
Yes, I imagine that a project involving the drawing of trees would need to be aesthetically intriguing in order to retain your interest for the duration of the project. I imagine you don’t have some ‘issue’ to deal with (i.e. one to do with litter / or deforestation etc)…but are rather focusing on an aesthetic exploration, whereby it is the appearance of the trees that is driving your project. In this case, you will need to make sure that the trees themselves have enough ‘substance’ to them to give you something to work with. For example, they could have really beautiful textured bark or lichen, which might lead you to making really close up studies that then become abstracted… (perhaps along the lines of this or this – or leaves, like this one by Georgia O’Keeffe). You could then go into really textured / layered works.
Here are some other ideas:
- Take random things from the trees (sticks / seed pods / leaves) and line them up or hang them on a wall, similar to Jim Dine’s tool paintings…or hang ‘miniature’ trees on the wall (who knows why – might be best to come up with some ideas behind your work to justify this)!
- Or work on layered canvases, like this…
- Or you might be interested in the patterns that are made between the branches (the negative spaces, in other words) and you might begin to abstract these…
Also, you could also use prints from bark texture in your work…
Hope that gives you some ideas!
Hi again Amiria
I think your comment helped a lot! Now I sort of got the idea of how to reassemble all the works iv done and reuse them… I think I’ll start drawing about the fragmented images and show the distortion.. kind of aspects about my dreams. Oh what I meant to say was that, I was confused about where to get the images I can refer to, when I want to illustrate my dreams, since we cant get the clear images like photographs of our dreams. Of course! I’ll study the artists.
But now I kinda got the idea where to get such resources.. Maybe I can draw objects getting twisted and distorted? Well, for that I can surely get the images of any ordinary stuffs.
Thank you so much!
Hi Jeesoo,
Yes, I would recommend getting images of ordinary things (things you can actually see and photograph) and then, when you incorporate them into your art, manipulate the images in some way so that they take on a dream like quality.
Have a look through the artworks I have collected on Pinterest for ideas, particularly in the painting and drawing boards.
I am glad I was able to help! Good luck!
Hi Amiria!
Your blog just gets better and better! While looking through some of the other students eye popping work which you’ve been posting, I realized that I have a bit of a weakness. I’m planning on doing a portrait for my Igcse exam (based on photos, as I mentioned waaaaay back somewhere in the comments). But I’m not entirely sure how to go about putting in an interesting background, and want to avoid the classic mistake of just filling in the background with flat color. Do you have any advice or links for how to do a decent background?
Thank you very much
Razan
Thanks Razan,
I really appreciate your kind feedback!
As a note, I would mention that it is not always a classic mistake to have a flat background – sometimes this absence of detail and tone can be advantageous. It is true, however, that if a flat background was used without careful consideration, work may look two-dimensional, unfinished and/or uninteresting.
I suggest you read a comment I wrote to Sabine at the bottom of the Art Exam post. She asked a similar question regarding backgrounds, and I listed several possibilities.
Reading this post about creative use of media may also give you some ideas.
Hope that helps!
Hey Amiria, Seamus again!
Want to thank you again, for our short and infrequent chats because it has made me feel like one of your many 100% students! I like to pretend my work is one of the ‘top in the world’ folders haha!! You will be glad to hear my final piece for my exam is not just a flower anymore but a bee and a spider and lots of artistc influence! looking forward to you seeing the project
Hi Seamus,
Thank you for creating your fantastic video and here’s hoping you do indeed get 100%!
I think a bee and spider sounds like a much better idea.
Good luck!
Hey amiria,
its rishabh again
just wanted to confirm if this is alright,,, I am doin A and AS in one year ( i have to) so for AS i have sculpture and my topic is masks,, for A its painting and the topic is Dance…
Thanks
Rishabh
Hi Rishabh,
With regards to choosing Sculpture for one, and painting for another, this is fine, as the syllabus states that the work for the two Coursework components “may or may not be from the same area of study”. Your topics sound fine, although it is what you do with these topics that is important. For example, someone might gain 100% with the painting topic dance; they might also fail miserably and get ‘ungraded’. It really just depends on the quality of work; how ideas are expressed; how artist models are used and so on…
But at a basic level, what you have proposed sounds fine.
hi
I’m having some difficulties choosing my a-level topic.I started doing about Rastafarian but after some reaserch it does not seem so interesting. i don’t know how 2 choose atopic could U guide me please..!!!thnx
Hi Adrien,
My best advice is contained in the blog post above!
Please re-read it carefully and follow the brainstorming process, narrowing ideas down as suggested. Once you have got down to a few possible suggestions, I am happy to help you select which one would be best. Good luck!
Dear Amiria
Looking at the quality of work on this site is astonishing and I was wondering if you could give me any advice as to how I could improve my work? I am doing A level art this year and I got a B at AS level, but I really want to bump my mark up to an A. My theme is a mixture of personal environment and portraiture and I was wondering if you could possibly give me any ideas of an unusual and interesting medium that I could use or just any advie or ideas at all for me? I’m feeling really uninspired and really stuck. Thanks
Thanks Diandra,
If you got a B at AS level, you will need to work really hard to bump your A Level result up to an A. It is definitely not impossible, however, so I am very pleased that you are working towards this. I am in the middle of writing a series of blog posts about creative use of media. The first is to do with painting on unusual materials; the second is about painting on grounds. The others will come soon (if you are subscribed to this blog – above right – you will be alerted whenever I write a new blog post). I hope these gives you some ideas.
My main advice would be to refine what your work is about. For example, you mention personal environment and portraiture, but what is your art really trying to say?
Good luck!
Hi, basically I’m doing AS art and have very limited ammount of days left to do my exam prep, my board is edexcel my exam title is encounters, meetings and experiences.
A teacher of mine really considered to go down the route of family background from mauritius but I have no original picture or primary resources and my coursework has been painting of portraits so I really don’t think the theme of objects or so would have a good impact on my final piece but I still have a lot of pictures of portraits of this cousin of mine and really wanted an idea and a theme to go with it,.
my teachers really like the fact that my paintings tell a story and told me to look down the route of storytelling but I don’t really know how to relate that to myself and I don’t really know how what artists to look at.
I was thinking expressions and stuff, and to make prep according to different expressions and themes but I really don’t know I don’t think it would hold a lot of value I don’t know how to relate it to myself plus I don’t have any ideas to make it original and stand out could you please help me thank you xx
Hi Mini,
I am a little confused about your question. Are you looking for a theme that would support something based on photographs of your cousin? If you have photographs to work from, rather than first-hand sources, I would consider turning the photographs themselves into the first-hand sources. By this, I mean make your project about the collection of family memories or experiences, and draw the photographs themselves, i.e. pinned on pinboards or stored in boxes, or strewn across a desk. This way you can draw the shadows around them, creases in the photographs etc…as well as what is actually in the photographs. Here is a brilliant NCEA Level 3 project (the equivalent of A2 Art) about photographs and memories fading over time, which may give you some ideas.
Good luck!
Hi!
I’m a CIE student and am really struggling to find ideas for my coursework. So far I thought of the topic “solitude” depicted within one’s room. But my artwork style usually doesn’t depict realistic objects (or I prefer a more abstract/surreal style). I was wondering in what ways can I make use of my style with this topic?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you can provide!
Hi Oni,
I suggest hunting out artists to inspire you. Have a look through my Pinterest Boards for ideas. Here are some that spring to mind: this, this, this, this, this (it’s not quite realistic), this or this!
Thank you those helped me immensely! I apologize for the late reply.
For my personal study I’ve chosen the topic “Journey” (through life). Could you recommend a few artists again?
Thank you so much again.
Hi Oni,
Please look through my Pinterest Boards for ideas!
Oh, actually, just saw that this was for your Personal Study. The main artist for your Personal Study should be a local one, who you can visit. Your art teacher – as well as local galleries etc – should be able to help you with this. Good luck!
Hi Amiria,
I’m doing my A2 art this year and would like to initially focus on exploring the way humans interact with their surroundings (fitting in with the theme combinations and alliances). For example, how humans have transformed landscapes but also how we physically move through our environment (people’s everyday movement through a city/children in a playground). I know this probably sounds a bit vague but I was wondering if you had any artists or ideas that could possible link in or relate to this? I’m trying to find a way I can develop and expand and produce some of my own pieces in response.
Secondly, for my Art Foundation application I have been asked to produce a sample essay, ideally related to art and design. Although I have written many essays before, I have never done one in regard to art and am at a loss with trying to find a title. Can you suggest any popular topics of discussion?
Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks x
Hi Sophie,
This is a great topic. My main suggestion would be that you quickly narrow in on ONE particular interpretation of this topic, as the imagery associated with children in a playground is likely to be quite different to that associated with movement through a city etc. Feel free to look through my Pinterest Boards for Artist ideas. One idea might be to use sequential images overlaying on top of each other, so give a sense of movement through a space?
I will be writing some more articles about artist essays soon (make sure you subscribe to this blog top right of the screen if you wish to be alerted when I write new posts). In the mean time, you be interested in reading my article about the Personal Study (unfortunately this doesn’t have topic suggestions – but I will get to this soon).
Good luck!
Hi Amiria,
Sophie
Thanks so much for your reply, your blog is super helpful! I think (following on from what I’m currently working on)I’ll focus on the idea of children moving through a playground and link it in to my exploration of the development of photography and movement (Muybridge etc). I really like the idea of use sequential images too.
Another slightly off topic request for advice: I aim to do a Fine Arts degree after my Foundation year and then hopefully specialise in Conservation and Restoration. I noticed you were a New Zealander (my mother is too) and I was contemplation studying at Elam after I finish my Art Foundation. I was just wondering what your views were on Elam as an institution? My cousin has just finished her Fine Arts degree there and loved it, but said there is a strong focus on training you to become an artist as opposed to falling into a related career, which might not suit me as I would love to go into restoration. Also, in respect to international ranking, is Elam a highly regarded institute? I understand it might be a bit of a presumption thinking that you know the answers to these questions just because you’re a Kiwi, but I thought I would ask anyway!
Thanks again for your help
Hi Sophie,
Sorry for the delay in reply – it takes me forever to get through all the questions!
I am relatively familiar with Elam. I did not go there myself (I studied architecture, which was just over the road from Elam) but have heard about it from those who did study there, including one of my sisters, teaching colleagues and a number of past students. Their experiences were all quite different. Some have liked it; some have not. From what I can tell, it is great for encouraging creativity, self-discipline and for introducing students to contemporary art-making practice. It is perhaps less suited for students who like structured, directed ‘lessons’ with specific learning objectives etc. It is more about experimentation and self-development…with a definite (if not sole) leaning towards those who intending on becoming practising artists. My guess is that if you are contemplating art conservation and restoration, Elam may not be best suited for you.
Elam is part of the University of Auckland which is New Zealand’s highest ranked university (I think it ranks 50th world-wide) so it is definitely a highly regarded institute in New Zealand.
When I get a chance I intend on writing a blog post about art schools in New Zealand but I am not sure when I will get to this!
Good luck with your decision making!
No problem – I understand you’re in very high demand! And thank you for your advice, its really helpful talking to someone who has some personal connections and opinions on it and I will definitely take what you said into account. I will have a look around for some Fine Arts courses that are not so geared to becoming artists. And in regard to conservation and restoration, do you know of any good places to study?
Thanks again for your responses, they’re very much appreciated ! Sophie
Hi Sophie,
Actually I am not really sure about places that might be ideal for conservation / restoration. But I have added one about New Zealand art schools to my list of upcoming blog posts for which I will interview students at a range of art and design schools in New Zealand, so hopefully this will provide some clarity for you!
Hi Amiria,
I cant thank you enough for your help, your website is my guide for this entire course.
I have already done the AS level of art last semester and now I am doing the full A. What exactly do I have to do now that I have already completed the AS Level CIE. I don’t want to re-do work I have already done.
Does this still mean that I have to do 10 final A1 size sheets and a final sheet or is this considered done with the AS work?
Thanks a ton.
Hi Angelina,
Thank you – that is lovely to hear!
For A2 you need to complete an entirely separate Coursework project that consists of 10 x A1 sheets (maximum), a final piece and a sketchbook. Note that the 10 pages is a maximum quantity, however. So, yes, you will need to an entirely new project for A2.
Hello I am currently doing my O level art coursework. The topic is “Asleep”. Basically my final piece for the painting would depict doors hanging from branches of a tree. The doors represent our decisions and paths in life whereas the tree represents ourselves. The trunk of the tree would have a troubled face on it with branches sticking out of the head.
This is to show that our troubled minds keep worrying when we are faced with tough issues or problems, how we would cut links with from reality as we do that, how our mind woulld lose focus in the reality and become unconcious and unaware of it and hence asleep in our surroundings. These will be used in the development.
But here is the roadblock. I have to show examiners in my research why and how are trees and doors or even rope, which, will be used to hang the doors, are related to the topic.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Sofia,
It should be evident from viewing your work how and why the various subject matter has been included. When you discuss the ideas behind your work it all sounds quite coherent and logical. I don’t imagine they will have too much trouble relating your topic to the subject, particularly if the face on the tree appears to be asleep or screwed up with eyes blocked / closed…as if trying to block out the worrying world etc? They key is really to make sure that you don’t just suddenly assemble all of these items together in your final work, but rather show the examiner how these things became integrated and developed throughout your preparatory work. Reading this post on Development may help you understand this (it relates to the exam as well as Coursework).
Your ideas remind me of this student’s great work (which I will feature on this blog soon – click on the images at the bottom). You can see how different elements all become integrated and successfully communicate a message, even though there are quite random and unrelated things (i.e. ladders and tree roots).
Hope that helps!
Hi, Well, i’m doing an ‘A’ level coursework based on the theme “Artificial Beings”. It is mainly based on the evolution of human to cyborgs. My preparatory starts like this:-
.At first, on the first page, i show natural human’s bones, muscles, intestines, etc..(drawing and shading)
.2nd page i show how the humans starts to change from natural to robotic style…(pen & ink)
.3rd page i show the humans changed completely to cyborgs..(coloured pencils)
.4th page i show some stuffs which will be at the background, like electrical tubes and pipes connected to robots..(aquarelle)
.5th page i show really how are the cyborgs created, or born..(gouache)
.6th page is the first proposal
.7th page some artist works, and inspirations
.8th Development of first proposal
.9th Final proposal(aquarelle) here i’ll show some human beings are being born out from electrical, mechanic stuffs and machines. The humans are born like human beings, but the skin shivers and you see there internal machines inside..
Well, what i really wanted to know, is the steps of my folio good enough, or something is missing? If something is wrong with the steps, i would appreciate if you reply me the best step of the works…:)
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, i really need help. Thank you!
Hi Christopher,
I am not sure if you are a CIE Art & Design student, as this is where my experience lies. If not, you will have to check with your own teacher to make sure my comments are relevant.
With regards to the development you have described, my thoughts are:
- It might be beneficial to mix / integrate media on the pages, so that the pages flow more smoothly from one to the next (rather than jumping from one media to another);
- I would consider having artist influence integrated within the earlier pages, as the way you have described it makes it seem to me to be a tacked-on thing, rather than something that is integral to your project;
- Ensure that the development that occurs is not just to do with illustrating how the cyborgs are ‘born’ but rather is the development of your artistic technique and composition.
To give more accurate feedback I would really need to see your work. If you are interested in a formal appraisal of your project so far, there is more info about Progress Reports here!
Good luck!
Hi Amiria
Thanks for such a helpful page, I’m doing AQA art AS atm, the brief I chose is called Sky High. I have been concentrating on perspective and have used a lot of photography of landscapes and streets, also have been looking at stairs and the idea of ascending. Some ideas were to juxtapose multiple images with the same vanishing point, and abstracting these into one painting, but I’m not sure exactly how to go about it, and was thinking about incorporating parts of photos? I could use oils to create some relief, e.g. stairs sticking out slightly.. and either on a large canvas or just cartridge paper if collaging photos down!
Thanks very much, looking forward to any suggestions!
Hi Anna,
Your ideas sound very promising. I think you would benefit from locating some good artist models to help guide you. There is no one right answer – it just depends on the direction you want to go in. This, this, this and this might give you some ideas.
Another strategy I would use in your case is to digitally combine images of your existing drawings and paintings, with photographs, to play around with ideas for compositions. This can be a fast and fun way to plan artworks. I think it would really work well in your case!
Good luck!
Hi, I’m currently doing my art exam and the topic I have chosen is Under the Rain. However I have trouble thinking of an idea. Any suggestions?
Hi Grace,
That is a cool topic! I am guessing the best bet would be to think of unusual or unexpected things in the rain? i.e. a drenched dog,
Or maybe something to do with downpipes or floods? (Here is a great student folio about floods – click on images at the bottom of page). Or it could be a person…perhaps with ambiguity about whether water on their face is tears or rain…along the lines of this.
Good luck!
hi,
I’m currently working on my a level art exam project and have chosen cancer as my subject. My main idea is looking at how beauty can be found in disease and decay and also how it is still such a taboo in society. So far I have been doing variations of bubble prints to represent the destruction of cancer, using it as a metaphor and have printed it onto objects and medical things to deform and decay the things that are seen as symbols of help. I am also looking at other ways to create cellular forms or processes or ‘beautiful’ decay, crystalizing powdered fabric dye and growing samples of mould but am very stuck as to how to progress from that. I am really interested in textiles/print/ installation art but very bad at painting and drawing! My sketchbook is pretty empty at the moment and I’m really struggling to find helpful artists or inspiration from other works too and was wondering if you had any suggestions? Thank you so much for your help!
Hi Sarah,
Cancer is something that sadly touches the lives of many, so my initial thoughts would be to make sure that you approach the topic sensitively (the last thing you want to do is risk upsetting an examiner through a poorly worded comment etc). Cellular forms and their decay / mutation, however, can be very beautiful so this does indeed have enormous potential as an artistic topic.
I would probably approach your investigation in the following way:
- Establish your source material…i.e. beautiful photographs of mould / crystalised fabric dye etc / other photos of cellular forms. I would also include observational drawings at this point, even if it is not your strong point (spend ages on them, if necessary). I would then begin the journey towards abstraction / textiles / print etc, so that the images gradually morph into this.
This post on how to develop an art project may help.
Good luck!
Hi
Im doing Alevel Art and my theme is Memorabilia.
I’ve been looking at what you’ve said and its helped alot.
Im struggling for ideas for my final piece and memorabilia artists i can use for inspiration and research.
Would appreciate it alot if you could help me
Thanks.
Hi Maddy,
The artists you select depend on your exact subject-matter and also the techniques / styles of working that you wish to explore. It is thus difficult to guide you without more information. You are welcome to look through my Pinterest Boards which contain a great collection of artists that are appropriate for students to study.
Just wondering whether you have also seen this blog post, which has some ideas for Memorabilia?
Hii, Im currently studying art at A levels my exam peice is to do with encounters, meetings experiences. I was looking at a response you gave to “mini” and seeing as I want to venture into death, old ageing and memories that ware away too I thought I should msg you, and I wanted to produce a peice that showed how a pretty girl will eventually turn old, so paint a picture of her and have the photograph of parts of her face torn, and paint an old lady behind that torn picture which will show that her life will eventually be torn away and that will be her outcome because that’s something that strikes me. What I wanted to know from you is how would I build up my art work leading to that product that will achieve me an A and what well known artist have you got which I can relate to directly could you possibly give me a few, P.S. I also found this link useful =)
Hi Sarah,
I would begin with observational works of both a young girl and old woman, and then would look at artists who merge image together in a way that you find intriguing. Use these artists to guide your development. It may be that you don’t end up exactly where you envision right now.
i.e. one option might be rather than torn edges, to fragment the image into squares, with some squares showing nothing, some showing the old woman and some showing the young.
I also suspect you could do some amazing digital experimentation, whereby you overlay two images (find two people who look remarkably similar…i.e. same face shapes etc, like a child and grandmother or something) and then erase parts of one so the old one shows through (with the transition blurred out, so you can’t tell where one photo begins and another ends).
Please also read this blog post about how to develop an art project. What you want to avoid is jumping from plain observational pieces, to the ripped/torn idea and then having no further development.
I will soon be writing a blog post about the work you linked to – but unfortunately it might not be up in time for your exam.
Good luck!
Hello Amiria, I’m currently studying art at A level and the ocr exam board and have chosen the topic of facade i have gone into the human facade of hiding the outside appearance and i am kind of struggling i have not many artist relating to this. i have also struggled in finding masks artists.
i have also thought about political facade like the cold war and such if you could please help me it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks ever so much joshua
Hi Joshua,
Have a look through my Pinterest Boards. You must be getting pretty close to your final exam by now, so I imagine it is quite late to be narrowing down your topic! I would stick with what you have done so far (human facade etc). Remember the artists you study don’t necessarily have to relate in terms of theme, but can provide inspiration for technique or composition etc… You could maybe do something like this but with fragmented layers of people?
Hey! Ive been looking through your blog and I think what you do is amazinnng!
I’m in a really sticky situation, Ive been working really hard on my coursework with the guidance of my teacher who has just informed that that 2 of my sheets presented are not visually related. and that I have only a few days to come up with something new or I could fail :/
On my first sheet. I have different mediums of birds, on my second sheet I have used leornado da vinci as my inspiration to show a fetus in the womb, of both birds and humans.
On my 3rd sheet now, I plan to show the rib cage of a human with birds inside it/on it. as well as a bird cage with humans trapped in it. I want to stick to this idea, but I dont really know how to link it. I was thinking of something to do with being trapped by the society, and being free ( the bird maybe symbolizing freedom ) ? I honestly have barely any time, and I have no idea what to do! PLEASE PLEASE any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thankyou so much!
Angela x
Hi Angela,
I see that you mentioned you only have a couple of days to remedy your issue: I suspect it might now be too late for me to help you
Your trapped by society / freedom idea sounds fine to me…something that would very clearly be depicted by the idea of humans in bird cages etc. It sounds as though your sheets are related by subject matter…but that your issue is primarily how to link the compositions so that work develops coherently from one piece to the next. If there is still time and you wish me to have a look at images of your work and give you some suggestions, you might be interested in a paid Progress Report. I suspect it is probably too late, however, so all I can say is that I hope it went well!!!
Hey Amiria,
Yeah It went alright :/ I only just saw this but thankyou for replying!
I will be sure to get in touch with you much before my exam the next time!
Thankyou so much once again!
Angela x
Hi Amiria.
Next semester is my final year for Diploma in Fine arts and now iam on my semester break. Lectures asked us to think of subject matters and ideas for all painting,sculptures,printmaking,drawing subject. it has to be the same theme. So, ive thought about “Human nature: Everyone is a moon & has a dark side which he never shows to anybody”" is it strong enough? iam interested with things that look beautifull but has dark sense in it. My artist reference is Olivia Charmaine. PLS replyyyyyyy I really need your helppppp.
Hi Nadia,
The topic itself is absolutely fine. It just depends how you develop / portray this. I would be careful not to make it too literal, obvious or cheesy. If done well, however, the work could be exemplary as this is certainly an issue/topic which most humans can identity with.
Good luck!
hiya, i’m not doing Alevel art but will be doing so next year. I’ve got my GCSE art final exam (10hours) on Monday and i’m not sure what to do. My project is on extraordinary emotions. I’ve looked at bruising and death masks, i’m going to do it on a canvas in acrylic. My whole project seems quite depressing and dark hench the death masks. I was wondering if you had any ideas for me?:)
Thankk yoooouuu
Hi Becca,
I see your exam is today (possibly your tomorrow, depending on what time it is in the UK right now) so unfortunately I have not been able to get to your comment in time to help!
Best wishes – I hope your exam went/goes well!
Hi
I am doing my AS-level CIE art exam in a couple of days and I have chosen the topic ‘Transparent’. I’m struggling and I dont think that I have enough ideas.Recently I’ve done work on Transparent emotions and feelings and I’m not sure if that was right ! I was wondering if you could help me and give me some ideas
Thank you
shushu
Hi Shushu,
There is no one right way to respond to an exam topic – transparent emotions is perfectly fine. The only real requirement is that you begin by observing directly from primary sources. In other words, even if you take an abstract approach, your starting point should involve some analysis from direct observation and personal experience.
As a side note, it is not always necessary to have a wide range of ideas – quality and in-depth investigation and development is what it is important.
Good luck!
Hi ameria
I’m doing my as exam in about two weeks and have decided to look into the topic ‘transparent’. However, I’ve chosen to do textiles but I’m struggling with ideas. I was thinking of designing a dress or a top inspired by jellyfish? but I was wondering if you happened to have any other ideas involving the topic transparent, or any artists/ designers work I can look into!
Thankyou! I really appreatiaite all your help
Nielle
Hi Nielle,
A jellyfish sounds like an amazing starting point! I can imagine absolutely beautiful work generated from this theme. I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying / fretting about whether you have found the ‘best’ interpretation (there isn’t really such a thing anyway, as it all depends how you develop and execute an idea) – I would simply dive in and get started!
Unfortunately I don’t have too many resources related to textiles / fashion / wearable art, as my speciality is Painting and Related Media, however this is an area I will be expanding on in the future.
Good luck with your exam!
hi my a level art exam is soon and im really struggling to develop my ideas!!!
my theme is meetings, encounters and experiences.
i’ve looked at how things can be presented in different ways such as a clown can be shown as a scary one to fear people or as the mc donalds clown for example, id like to kind of do maybe fantasy or circus?! need more ideas.
any ideas will be so appreciated. thank you!
Hi Florence,
Have you looked at this post about the A Level Art exam topics? It contains a collection of ideas for your topic.
In your case, it sounds as though you have a starting point sorted however (although I am not entirely clear how this links to the exam topic?) and are simply looking for ways to develop / explore this. I recommend reading this post on how to develop an art project (it applies to exam work as well as Coursework). It is usually the selection of artists that help guide students with how to develop their projects. Please feel free to look through my Pinterest Boards for examples of artist models.
Good luck! (Btw – don’t spend too long sorting out your ‘idea’ – you have got to actually give yourself time to produce an awesome body of work)!
Hey. I have a new A level art project. The project is memorabilia and I am looking into old fashion but have to make it personal too. I have research but need to start creating pieces of my own work. I adore fashion and would love if you had any ideas? Thanks. C
Hi C,
This blog is lacking in the fashion area – so thank you for your query…it is a good reminder that this is something I need to address! At the moment I’m afraid I don’t have any resources for fashion or textile students (as my speciality is Painting and Related Media / Fine Art) but this is something I will definitely be compiling in the months to come!
With regards to starting points, I’m not sure if you have seen those I listed on this post about the Art exam paper? They are probably more suited to Painting students, but they may give you some ideas.
Best wishes with your project!
Hi Amiria..
Im nearing the end of my exam project for my AS art this year, and I really find it hard to be ‘messy’ with sketchbooks, I have found in all the sketchbooks I create, there organised and neat, and I take ages in deciding how to stick down something! Just any ideas on how to be more creative and ‘arty’ with my sketchbooks?.. thank you! Also one more question, I need an idea for a final piece, and the course deadline is next week :/ eeek! And the topic theme is geometry in nature, and I have gone with textiles and fabric patterns that include floral designs and natural forms within them, that sort of thing.. and I went with Japanese Kimono’s and how their both geomatry and naturey… and I’ve created several fabirc patterns of my own, I just need something to call a final piece and Im really not sure? Any ideas or comments would be unbelievably helpful!!! Thanks so much for your help!!
Ben
Hi Ben,
I have written a blog post about sketchbook presentation which may help you. Basically, my advice is to forget about fancy headings / decorative font / borders on pages and any other form of ‘decoration’. Concentrate instead on producing quality images / artwork, along with legible annotation and arrange these in simple, but aesthetically pleasing layouts. If ‘messy’ is not your thing, don’t force yourself to work in this way. Go with your strengths.
I will be making some new posts on sketchbook presentation soon, but unfortunately I don’t think I will get to this before your project is due!
Actually, looking at when you wrote this comment, I think my whole response is going to be too late!
I hope it went well!
Hi!
im doing ncea level 2 photgraphy this year which is just basically 2 boards!
my overall schools theme is identity of family which i have narrowed down in my boards theme to finding heritage in photos.
so far the photographers i am looking at are:
david hilliard, eileen cowin,loretta lux,cardiff and miller, jim goldberg, joann verburg, annette messenger, david hockney, jerry ueslmann and joe marotta.
some are more complicated and i will look more into for my second board.
so yeah! do you have any ideas of this theme? especially where i could start with with an artist model, i was thinking loretta lux of the girls family and then move on to david hilliard/hockney, cardiff and miller and eileen cowin for when she finds the photographs and starts looking at them to find her heritage.
what do you think?
thankyou!
Hi Emily,
Have you seen Grace Pickford’s amazing folio? Hers is a Painting folio (she got top in NZ for Painting last year) but it explores a similar theme and may give you some ideas. I will be doing an in depth post on her work soon, so stay tuned!
There is no one right way for approaching the topic…and it is often better NOT to plan out the whole thing from the beginning, because usually the journey of discovery will take you in a fun, unexpected direction anyway…
I would simply start with one (Loretta Lux is fine) and see where it takes you!
Good luck!
Hi Amiria.
I’m currently studying my GCSE art, and I’m doing the subject of ‘Non conformity’; as in, not conforming and being society’s idea of ‘normal’. I’ve been brainstorming ideas, and so far I have things like illegal street art, appearance, gender conformity, age conformity, social etc. I’m also thinking of exploring discrimination against others because they are ‘different’. I’m just not entirely sure how it’s going to pan out visually. At the moment I’m looking at artists; any artist recommendations? and any advice for initial sketches I could put in my sketchbook?
Thanks
Hi Ruby,
Different schools have different approaches to this, but my own view is that it is always best to focus on one area and do it exceptionally well. In other words, I would settle on one particular interpretation of ‘non-conformity’ (such as gender conformity) and explore this in great detail. You will then hopefully find it easier to locate artist models as you will be addressing a single issue, rather than a multi-faceted topic. Remember too that you can select artist models who appeal to you in terms of technique, as well or instead of simply in terms of those whose ideas relate to yours. I have collected lots of artist works on Pinterest which might inspire you.
As for what to put in your sketchbook…this will be determined by which particular angle you focus on. If it was gender conformity, for example, you might begin by getting some of your friends and dress them up in gender-stereotypical ways and go from there…or perhaps deliberately blur / obscure genders of your friends…
Good luck!
Thankyou so much for your reply
I’ve found over sixteen artists that I like, and I’m now analysing and finding more before I decide completely on subject matter I’m going to use in my sketchbook…but the ideas on gender conformity are really very good ones. And I’m also following you on Pinterest now, because I checked it out and absolutely adore the work that you pin. Again, thanks for helping me out, I was really stuck 
Awesome! Thank you!
Hi Amiria,
I’m currently working towards my A level exam which is happening next year, and my skills are in drawing, particularly life drawing. I have recently had to pick my topic for paper 3 (I think) and my interest is in similarities between art around the ring of fire. I picked 5 countries, and have been looking first into similarities between their belief systems. I feel like my topic may not be specific enough, and I’m not sure how to narrow down my research to create an end piece. I want to end up with a series of 3 pieces, that portray the main concepts in indigenous art and religion, in a more modern way. I’m not sure how to narrow down my research topic, or look for artists that on some level relate to my topic. I’d really appreciate any advice? As far as work up to a final piece I’ve done some sketches and pieces based on the “creation myths” of each culture I’m looking at, and I’m thinking about doing some sketches about indigenous art in modern society.
I’d love any help/criticism/input.
Thanks!
Hi Kathleen,
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘around the ring of fire’?
Looking at belief systems / religion etc is certainly interesting. It might be hard to explore belief systems from other countries however, unless you have access to first-hand material to draw from? If your creation myth work involves drawing from the artworks of others – or your own imagination – as opposed to real objects (or parts of real objects) this usually (but not always) makes it trickier to do well.
Your topic does sound quite all-encompassing and as though it might be hard to bring it cohesively together. I also wonder if you have established a viewpoint or a message that you are hoping to convey? This can make it easier to know how to proceed.
Hmmm, I know I have not given you much specific advice, but hopefully that gives you something to think about!
Hi Amiria,
I am currently in the process of brainstorming, researching and finalizing ideas for my level 3 NCEA painting folio. I am having trouble coming up with a topic that I am passionate about and that I can develop throughout the remainder of the year. I have no boundaries in what I choose which is proving to be a bit of a problem. I was thinking of doing something to do with time and time management. I am a very busy person and I often find myself trying to balance school work, school leadership positions and sporting commitments. This idea is very general and I am having trouble deciding what to focus on. I enjoy the mechanics involved within time and clocks but I don’t know if I can incorporate this into my work. Do you have any ideas about where I could go from here?
Thanks so much,
Courtney
Hi Courtney,
A topic involving clock mechanics / time certainly has potential. It would be best if you had access to excellent first-hand material for this. Do you have access to awesome old wooden clocks (grandfather type ones that you can open and see all the mechanisms)? Or perhaps you could visit a clock repair shop and ask them if they would be able to give you all the old watches / clock parts that they were going to throw away…or visit some second hand shops…
Once you have the material, it depends on the way your teacher wants you to approach it. Sometimes an artist model is selected before your initial observational drawings…sometimes after. Either way, I think your first step is to actually go and find really high quality things to draw from.
Good luck!
Hi there,
I am really pleased to know your website through searching of fine art stuff on Google. I would love to ask you a help, it would be great if you could help me with the ideas for my fine art piece. My topic is travel, I have done many development works but is unable to work towards Final outcome. Could you kindly give me some suggestions on what I should do and I want to use painting as my medium.
Thanks Rachna,
Unfortunately it is very difficult to guide you in this matter without seeing the work you have done previously, as there are many great ways to respond to the topic ‘travel’. Your final work needs to follow on from your preparatory pieces. If you are interested in having me view your works and give you personal feedback, there is more information about the paid Progress Reports I offer here.
I have written this series of posts on how to be more creative with painting and drawing mediums which may also help.
Good luck!
Hello,
I’m doing NCEA level 3 art, and am having trouble coming up with a topic. For my past internals and boards I have chosen a site and then developed that site bringing ideas into it, such as a railway crossing and the idea of different paths and choices.
I was thinking of doing Music as a theme, but more of the listening to it, such as headphones, iPods, stereos etc and then bringing in an idea, but i wasnt sure what i could really do with the theme. I was also thinking about the impacts of humans on the environment or repression, but i’m not sure really what to do with that, especially because i am not using people in any of my artwork. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Hi Emma,
If you are really at a loss for ideas, I suggest that you look at artists for inspiration. Feel free to browse through the collection of artist and student work that I have collected on Pinterest.
With regards to the starting points you have suggested…
- Ipods / music technology: this has potential, but it might help to form some kind of view or message about this before you begin.
- Impact of humans on the environment: this is a relatively common topic, so you would need to have a fresh approach to it. For example, if there was an example of horrific pollution near where you live, this would give you good raw material to work with… I also advise picking one particular aspect of the topic (i.e. the effluent overflow from one particular factory / type of factories), rather than pollution in general.
- Repression… again, this would be better with a specific situation or example in mind.
Hope that helps!
Hello miss,
I want to give my CIE xams on art……..I am good at sketching and acrylic painting………I dont know wat will i have to do in my coursework and also in my first unit………. if you plz explain me, it would save me from a lot of confusion…….THANK YOU
Hi Vinylgrave,
Are you an IGCSE or A Level Student? I have written these posts to explain the A Level Art & Design course. I have just added IGCSE to my list of upcoming blog posts!
You can also learn a lot from looking at the student examples I have on this site.
Good luck!
Oh also can plz plz explain me about the unit 1…………and wat i will have to do about it……….I even have confusion about wat units i will be giving for AS
Oh, hi again – sorry, I didn’t see this comment when I wrote my earlier response. If you are an AS student, this blog post explains Paper 1 (the Controlled Test / Art examination); this post explains Paper 2 (the AS Coursework project). The link I gave you below shows how these fit together (ie. each are worth 50% and combine to give you an overall grade out of 100).
Hope this helps.
Hi Amiria,
Firstly your website is such a huge help. It’s so great to know that there’s a place I can go to for advice and inspiration every time I’m in a sticky, art-related situation!
I am currently beginning work on my Year 11 NCEA painting portfolio board and my chosen theme is “masks”. Initially, I started with developing this theme into the idea of identity, but am unsure about where to proceed from there. Others in my class are doing relatively easy topics such as “food” and “animals, yet I seem to have a lot of trouble with developing coherent ideas for my theme without making it too repetitive. Our portfolio boards are mainly going to be assessed on how well we show the development of our ideas, and I’m really worried the end result of my board will not meet the criteria. I wasn’t too sure whether you focused on Level One work or not, but it would be a HUGE help if you could give me some advice
Thanks Morgan,
I haven’t taught NCEA, but I have seen a lot of student work…and many of the teachers in our school came from a NCEA background, so I am relatively familiar with what is required. From what I can gather, the method of grading and quantity/presentation of work is different, but the actual development process is very similar. My guidance should only be followed in conjunction with advice from your own teacher… but basically it sounds as though you would benefit from the selection of some good artist models that can shape the way your project develops. (Read this blog post for more about development of an Art project).
Your identity / masks idea is relatively common – but it is perfectly fine. Remember it is not so much the ‘awesomeness’ of the original idea, but what you do with it. I would work on selecting artist models that allow you to explore this in an innovative and exciting way. Feel free to peruse my Pinterest Boards for ideas.
Good luck!
PS. You write exceptionally well for a Year 11 student! I am sure you will do well!
hey ,
i am doing alevel as photography and want to aim for an astar can you give me some example work which i should improve in my book, and tell me what i should experiment to get the grade
Hi Mia,
I will be adding some more Photography projects to this website soon. In the meantime, you are welcome to look through my Pinterest Boards for ideas. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there is not one right answer in Art, so it is impossible for me to say which techniques / media experiments etc will be guaranteed to get you good grades.
Have you seen this blog post about Photographic techniques?
Hi Amiria,
First of all I love your blog, there are so many helpful posts all over the website.
I am currently doing level 3 art completing 3.2 and 3.3 (folio). I am looking at abandoned buildings and the decay of these buildings over time. So far I have gathered images of my subject matter and have done some paintings and drawings of different buildings. I was wondering if you have any ideas of different artist models that I could research that would go with my work?
Thanks a lot for your help
Thanks Lucy
I suggest you look through my Pinterest Boards – there are lots of artists (mainly contemporary ones) who might give you ideas!
Good luck!
Hi! Im doing an ncea lvl 3 folio board in painting and i am stuck on coming up with an original theme, I want to include people but everything seems to have already been done! Self discovery, mental illness, self appearance etc is over used and i dont know how to make something more original. Im stuck… please help.