1.7 Planning and development

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As well as thinking about the way you work in one picture, you should think about how you work in a sequence from one image to the next
Think about yourself as a producer of artwork rather than as someone making a picture: you should work in series and on multiple pictures simultaneously

Work from small pictures up to larger ones

Start by creating a quick sketch, think about the basic shapes and, work small scale
Next, think about how are you can progress your image in a second work: try a different composition; simplify the shapes; simplify the drawing
Make a series of larger images: start your first one at quarter page; move onto half page; then try full page image and follow that with a double page image
As you move forward you will take on more things as you increase the size
Your pictures will develop as you solve each new issue in your sequence of pictures
DON'T EVER TRY TO SOLVE EVERY PROBLEM IN ONE PICTURE: work through your problems one by one, in a series of pictures
Go from line drawing to shading
Move on from limited colours to multiple colours
Develop your image from simple to complex
Or, work from complex to simple
Whatever you do, don't try to put everything in one work
Make a series of images and solve one problem in each of them

With a little practice you will become used to the idea of working on more than one image simultaneously
Doing this helps you distance yourself from putting everything into one picture
It also makes you more distanced and especially about the decisions you make
This means the decisions you take will be better
You can respond to opportunities as you go along and each picture will become slightly different
You will end up with a bigger body of work
The exam board will be able to see how and why you have made the decisions and choices that you have
You will be able to provide more evidence of 'drawing as thinking'

Another easy to use an excellent technique is to work on images upside down
Artists have done this for hundreds of years
This approach helps you see things more distantly/ objectively and will get you over problems
It is particularly useful if you get stuck in the picture and don't know what to do
It helps you see the issues in the picture much more clearly
You can turn your work the right way up again any time you like
VIDEO: 3 ways to work - time, upside down, simultaneously

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