Earth, Sea and Sky

or
Food and Drink

project
Investigating your theme
We are going to generate some ideas around the
theme of Earth, Sea and Sky for your research
pages.

● Mind maps
● Lists
● Collages
● Sketches
● Statement of intention

The first page should be a mind map.

Which of these three do you think

would achieve the highest grade?

Examples of mind maps
Mood board
A mood board is a collection of images and or objects that relate to your theme. It
allows you to start thinking about visual links to your theme, using line, shape, form,
colour, texture, value and space. (The seven elements of art).
Look at the examples on the slides to give you some idea of how it could look.
● The mood board should be interesting and clearly show the theme of your
project.
● Your mood board should show clear and relevant colour ranges.
● Be creative- don’t just stick the images down as you find them, cut them out,
arrange them thoughtfully, overlap and layer sections, and then stick them
down fully.
Mood board
● Higher grade mood boards always include pictures from a number of different
sources, for example, newspapers, magazines as well as the internet.
● Higher grade mood boards will be arranged creatively and thoughtfully and will
include a broad range of images, inspired by, but not limited by the words on
your mind map.
● A higher grade mood board will be annotated to say what you did and what you
learned from the process.
Evaluation of your initial research
Look at the mind map, the mood board and your initial drawings that you have created and evaluate the
things that you find most interesting. You may have a gut feeling about this, but it is important that you
communicate clearly to the examiner why you have chosen to focus on a particular area or subtheme.
Example
Having done some initial research into the theme Earth, Sea and Sky I have decided to focus on climate change as
this is something that affects the whole planet. I feel very strongly about climate change as it will affect my future
and that of my children. My next steps will be to research climate change by collecting images, reading and
recording newspaper or online articles and watching documentaries so that I have a better understanding of the
topic and can start to visualise the elements that I could use in my art work and the message that I would like to
convey.
Evaluation of your initial research
● Higher level work will have a clearly defined subtheme with a narrower focus
● Higher level work will state how they will carry out the next stage of their research and there
will be evidence in the sketchbook that this has been achieved.
● Higher level work will be presented clearly and creatively
Artist Research
All artists are inspired by the world around them, their life experiences, and also the work of
other artists. It is very important that we can write clearly about art using specific
vocabulary that helps us to communicate our thoughts and feelings about art, the processes
and methods that have been used and what and we can learn from the art that we view.

You are now going to select one artist, either from the list provided, or from your own
research. You will analyse the artist’s work in depth and present your findings in a creative
and visually pleasing way, reflecting the style of the artist.
Artist Research example pages
Artists for the theme Earth, Sea and Sky
Elaine Hahn Nigel Peake

Gyotaku Amiria Gale

Andy Goldsworthy Sandi Whetzel

Jack Tarpon Yellena James

Shannon Rankin Kate Bright

Tomás Saraceno Katsushika Hokusa

Mark Powell J.M.W. Turner

Cathrin Machin Stephanie Redfern

Artists for theme Food and Drink
Wayne Thiebauld Elizabeth Kostojohn

Sarah Graham Leah Gardener

Kate Brinkworth Diana Tonnison

Karen Appleton Wanda Edwards

Joel Penkman Kate Talbot

Janet Fish Christel Assante

Georgina Luck Carl Warner

Emma Dibben Song Dong

Kate Malone Stephanie Shih

Architects for both titles
Zaha Hadid Frank Gehry

Santiago Calatrava Frank Lloyd Wright

Antoni Gaudi Steven Holl

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Norman Foster
Designers for both titles

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ingo Maurer

Eileen Grey Lotta Jansdotter

Charlotte Perriand Marc Newson

Ron Arad Marcel Wanders

Philippe Starck Cecilie Manz

Tom Dixon Alain Monnens

Artist Research pages
examples
Initial Drawings and sketches
Observational drawing

You must find an object or objects related to your theme that you can bring to class. Your object(s)
should be listed on your mind map or shown on your mood board and should be small and easy to
transport.

You are going to use all of the materials that you received in your art pack over the course of the next
few lessons to create your first observational drawings in your sketchbook.

● Graphite pencil
● Soft chalk pastel
● Oil pastel
● Acrylic Paint
● Watercolour Paint
Artist Research pages
examples
What needs to be included in an artist research
page?
1. The artists name
2. Images of the artists work, correctly referenced.
3. Annotation about how and why the artist works in the way they do.
○ If you cannot find this information easily, then say why you think they work that way, or email them and ask them!)
4. Annotation explaining your response to the work, why you chose it, how does it relate
to the theme that you are investigating. This should be your personal opinion.
5. Your own artwork in the style of the artist, created from your own photograph.
6. The presentation of your pages should reflect the artist’s work and be creative.
○ Black on white is simple and clear, but would writing on coloured paper, or with coloured pen reflect
your artist’s aesthetic more?
7. Next Steps, or What next? box of text explaining what the artists work inspires you to
do next.
How do I annotate
● Use subject specific language - talk about the elements and principles of art.
● Write clear sentences or bullet points with no waffle.
● Ensure your writing is easy to read, do not write to small, and if you have poor
handwriting, type and print your text.
● Ensure you reference the names of the pictures you are analysing.
● Break your writing into smaller sections.
● Sketches can also be used to annotate, they can help you explain your
understanding of the composition the artist has used.
● Read the annotation do’s and dont’s sheet *stick it in the back of your book.
 Photography
for Art & Design

How to gain higher marks

for primary sourced images
Planning your photoshoot.
In order to raise your marks at GCSE and A-Level it is imperative that you use primary source images
rather than relying on secondary sources from the internet or books. Once you have selected a
theme to work from begin to plan what objects, people or places you wish to include in your work, and
begin to plan a photoshoot.

Write down a plan to show your intentions

● What do I want to photograph?

● Where can I do this?
● What objects/people/places do I want to include in my photographs?
● How can I source the objects I need?
● Where am I going to take the photographs?
● Is there natural light or will I need additional lighting ( a desk lamp can often suffice).
● What background do I need to create to help generate the image I want?
Using your mobile phone to take good
photographs
Here are some top tips to help you take better photographs with a mobile
phone.

● Clean the lens! Our phones pick up a lot of dirt and fingerprints.
Before you attempt to take any pictures, clean your camera lens or
you will get blurred images.
● Go to your camera settings and select the grid lines function. This
will enable you to balance your images and use the rule of thirds.
● Set your cameras focus. Most cameras are set to focus on the
foreground. Tap your camera screen where you want the image to
be focused.
● Avoid using flash, take your image in natural light or set up your
own lighting with desk lights to create shadows.
● Stand still! Even better, use a tripod, rest the camera on a table, or
lean yourself up against a wall to avoid camera shake.
Find new perspectives
When thinking about compositions it is important for you to find new perspectives, to look
at things in a different way, or to force the audience to look at things from your point of
view.

Look at the images that have been provided to you and try to organise them into groups.
How have the photographers who have taken them taken a new perspective?

How have they arranged images, how have they thought about colour and contrast, where
were they when they took the images?
Look at the sheet provided,
can this help you to sort the
images into different groups?
Think about the elements
and principles of art as you
are planning the
photoshoot.

Plan to include interesting

shapes and textures, think
about the space around the
object.

Photograph objects against

a contrasting background so
that you can see them
clearly.

Select close up shots,

zoomed in shots and group
shots.
Begin to plan potential compositions at this point.
Think about how your frame the subject or subjects.

If you cannot move the objects, then try moving

yourself in order to get a better composition.

Embrace negative space, many successful images

contain ⅔ negative space.

If you have already looked at other artists work at this

point, then you should consider their subject matter,
colour scheme and composition, and then try and
create your own photographs in the style of the artist.
You should not copy their subject matter, colour
scheme and style, but be inspired by it.

Composition refresher video

 Photography
for Art & Design

How to gain higher marks

for primary sourced images
Planning your photoshoot.
In order to raise your marks at GCSE and A-Level it is imperative that you use primary source images
rather than relying on secondary sources from the internet or books. Once you have selected a
theme to work from begin to plan what objects, people or places you wish to include in your work, and
begin to plan a photoshoot.

Write down a plan to show your intentions

● What do I want to photograph?

● Where can I do this?
● What objects/people/places do I want to include in my photographs?
● How can I source the objects I need?
● Where am I going to take the photographs?
● Is there natural light or will I need additional lighting ( a desk lamp can often suffice).
● What background do I need to create to help generate the image I want?
Using your mobile phone to take good
photographs
Here are some top tips to help you take better photographs with a mobile
phone.

● Clean the lens! Our phones pick up a lot of dirt and fingerprints.
Before you attempt to take any pictures, clean your camera lens or
you will get blurred images.
● Go to your camera settings and select the grid lines function. This
will enable you to balance your images and use the rule of thirds.
● Set your cameras focus. Most cameras are set to focus on the
foreground. Tap your camera screen where you want the image to
be focused.
● Avoid using flash, take your image in natural light or set up your
own lighting with desk lights to create shadows.
● Stand still! Even better, use a tripod, rest the camera on a table, or
lean yourself up against a wall to avoid camera shake.
Find new perspectives
When thinking about compositions it is important for you to find new perspectives, to look
at things in a different way, or to force the audience to look at things from your point of
view.

Look at the images that have been provided to you and try to organise them into groups.
How have the photographers who have taken them taken a new perspective?

How have they arranged images, how have they thought about colour and contrast, where
were they when they took the images?
Look at the sheet provided,
can this help you to sort the
images into different groups?
Think about the elements
and principles of art as you
are planning the
photoshoot.

Plan to include interesting

shapes and textures, think
about the space around the
object.

Photograph objects against

a contrasting background so
that you can see them
clearly.

Select close up shots,

zoomed in shots and group
shots.
Begin to plan potential compositions at this point.
Think about how your frame the subject or subjects.

If you cannot move the objects, then try moving

yourself in order to get a better composition.

Embrace negative space, many successful images

contain ⅔ negative space.

If you have already looked at other artists work at this

point, then you should consider their subject matter,
colour scheme and composition, and then try and
create your own photographs in the style of the artist.
You should not copy their subject matter, colour
scheme and style, but be inspired by it.

Composition refresher video

How to create a contact sheet.
A contact sheet is a device that photographers use to edit all of their photographs. It is a page of
thumbnail sized prints, so that they can judge all of their photographs next to each other to select the
best.

There are numerous ways to create a contact sheet.

Microsoft computer
● Upload your photographs into a folder in the pictures section of your file manager on the
computer.
● Open the folder and highlight all of the images you wish to print as a contact sheet.
● Right click and select print.
● In the options bar down the right hand side, scroll down to contact sheet and press print.
Directly from your phone
● Go to the photo selector on your phone, take a screen shot of the images that you want to print
and then add them to a document, resize and print.
Use powerpoint or google slides
● Add images to a slide and edit until they are all the same thumbnail size.
● Print the page and annotate by hand
 ● CROP LINES: Would you want to crop your subject
matter/composition?
● TECHNIQUES: perspective, shadow, lighting
(natural/artificial - which direction? What is the result of
this?)

If you are using a digital SLR camera, make sure you annotate
the contact sheet with the following information.
● CAMERA SETTINGS: Shutter speed/ F stop, ISO, white
balance….say why and evaluate the success.

Summary of your photo shoot

★ What were your intentions for the shoot?
★ What are the successful elements/ what worked well?
★ What were the unsuccessful elements/ what didn’t work
well?
★ Link back to the artists you looked at.
★ How could you improve or develop ideas from this
shoot?
Editing your images
Images can be cropped manually or digitally. Look at the cropping worksheet provided and try to draw
crop lines to show how the images could be improved.

Digital manipulation of images can be used to improve poorly composed photographs or to enhance or
creatively develop images.

www.photopea.com is a great online tool to do this with, it is a free site that you can upload an image to,
edit and then download from.

There are some great photopea tutorials made by a UK

Art teacher at the following YouTube channel.

Mr. E's Art Club

Remember to take some screenshots during the process

to help explain what you did and how.
Personal response to stimuli
Artists and designers find stimuli in the world around them or research a particular topic to find
stimuli. They use this material to help them generate a personal creative response in their
work.

The Environment Music

Everyday objects Film and Television

Different Cultures Society and politics

People Photography

Literature Artists’ Work

Perseverance and longevity
When choosing your own stimulus, try to do the Using primary and secondary
following: sources
● Select a stimulus or stimuli which will It can be useful to work from both primary and secondary
interest you over a long period of time . sources:
● Ensure that you have easy access to your
● You might decide to explore ideas about a social
chosen stimuli. issue from a news article (secondary source) using
● Try to choose stimuli which will allow you locations, people or objects that you have access to
to work from primary sources at least (primary sources).
some of the time, rather than relying on ● You might use an artwork or textile design
(secondary source) to help you create a
secondary sources.
background for a self-portrait or still life of real
objects (primary sources)

Don't give up and select another stimulus when

you encounter difficulties. You are likely to come
across some challenges responding to most
stimuli but keep persevering.
How can I respond to a stimuli?
● Make a list or a spidergram to explore all possibilities.
● Doodle some initial ideas in your sketchbook.
● Make a collage of images in your sketchbook.
● Copy an artist's work to explore their technique so that you can then apply it to your own ideas.
● Take photos as a record to work from later.
● Make a collection of inspirational artists' work.
● Make drawings using different techniques.

This preparatory work for a book cover design explores different Chinese

traditions using a range of media

Approaches to your expressive stimuli
You can respond to the same stimuli in different ways to create very different results. Think about the style you are interested in
achieving and which aspect of the stimuli interests you most. When you are making drawings or taking photographs, consider:

● Realism – what degree of realism are you trying to achieve?

● Expressive qualities – are you interested in expressive mark-making, or in recreating the
style of a particular artist or art movement ?
● Visual elements – which are the most important visual elements?
● Attention to detail – are you interested in capturing detail? If so, think about close-up
viewpoints.
● Abstraction – are there abstract qualities in the stimuli that you would like to explore?
● Capturing a mood – is your response about capturing or communicating a particular mood
or atmosphere?
Using artworks as stimuli for expressive work
Artists who work in your chosen area and whose ideas and techniques you
are interested in can be a good source for stimulus. Choose key artists who
will influence your own practical work and analyse their techniques. Present
the work in your sketchbook.

You should consider how the artists’ approaches might influence your own
work. Think about:

● key visual elements and how they are used

● the style of the work and how this is achieved
○ Does it belong to a particular art movement?
○ What are its characteristics?
● social and cultural influences that have had an impact on the
artworks This still life clearly states and
● materials and techniques used
shows its inspiration in the work
of the Scottish Colourists
Make this work visual. Include as many relevant images as possible. See if
you can find close-up details of the works or see the work in real life if
possible. This will help you understand the artists’ techniques.
Next Steps
Write bulletpoints about what you find inspirational from the artist you have
researched.
Choose one of your photographs which links to your artist and explain how it links.
Decide what media and scale you will work in, and explain what you intend to do.
Complete an artwork in response to the artist you have chosen.

To be completed by Wednesday 26th October

It all started with a line……..
Create a continuous line drawing on the lightbox or the
window using one of the photographs that you have taken
in your photoshoot.

Create photocopies of the drawing and use them to

explore a range of different ideas. Think about how you
can use the different elements of art to create new
experiments. Use line, shape, colour, form, texture, value
and space.

Develop your ideas, annotating your work as you go.

Shape, a line that intersects itself to form an enclosed space
Choose a photograph from your photoshoot. Edit it on www.photopea.com using
the following settings.
Image, adjustments, black and white
Image, adjustments, brightness and contrast (bring contrast high)
Image, adjustments, threshold.

This should give you a clear image of black and white shapes that you can use for lino
printing.
Lino Printing
Lino printing uses a combination of
line and shape to create
monochromatic images. You
simplify the image and create a
printing plate that allows you to
make repeats of the image. Use
this to experiment with different
colour combinations of ink and
paper.
Second artists research
Cas Holmes Jennifer Collier

Lisa Kokin Peter Randall-Page

Andy Singleton Angie Lewin

Michelle Stitzlein Heather Collins

Isabel Dibden Wright Richard Box

Naomi Renouf Julie Shackson

The 7 Elements of Art
To help you understand and write about the 7 elements of art, I have put links to
some videos below for you to watch. Please take the time to review them over the
holidays or in your cover lesson so that you can develop your critical analytical
writing skills.

THE 7 ELEMENTS OF ART COLOUR

LINE TEXTURE

SHAPE VALUE

FORM SPACE
Cover work for 20th March 2023
Aitana and Martina

You should review this slide presentation from the beginning and make sure that you
complete work in the order that it is laid out, Aitana, particularly check for any gaps
of things that have been missed and make sure that you add them to your
sketchbook, Martina continue to work on the tasks one at a time, ensuring that you
draw from your own photographs.

If you are unsure what to do, then use one of your own photographs to create a
drawing or painting.