Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 Art & Design
Over the three years of compulsory Art education, students have the opportunity to investigate and explore a range of materials to develop skills, techniques, processes and media control. Artists, designers and craft makers are introduced and a range of Art History developments are investigated. Reflection and evaluation are critical components of all Art & Design processes, thus, students are equipped with the skills to reflect, refine and evaluate their actions and choices as they develop their practical and theoretical practice.
If students are keen to get ahead and learn new skills and techniques in Art, we would always encourage Direct Observational Drawing in the first instance...
Drawing from direct observation is also often called drawing from life. The artist uses their preferred medium to draw their chosen subject by observing it in 'real life' as opposed to using a photograph or any other secondary reference. This could an arrangement of objects, the human figure, a landscape, an interior scene or anything else that can be observed directly and first-hand. In the traditional sense, artists did their best to record the subject matter as realistically as possible. Over time, this can build up many skills in observing shape, form, recording gestures, understanding depth, scale, angles and viewpoints in the world around us.
Though not every artist uses direct observation as a means to create perfectly realistic representations of what it is they're seeing, this method is able to bring a level of energy and originality to art that simply cannot be achieved when using a photograph as reference. There's no doubt that recording from life challenges the artist in a way that using a photograph doesn't and it can greatly improve our skill.
Resources/Opportunities to support learning:
Various sites for Art History research such as:
Art history | Arts and humanities | Khan Academy
YouTube sites for building skills with differing levels of challenge such as: