gcse art coursework examples

25+ Ideas and Tips for GCSE Art Sketchbooks

In GCSE , General by Think Student Editor March 15, 2024 Leave a Comment

Students often struggle with heavy coursework in subjects like GCSE Art. For such a broad portfolio, it can be hard to manage with the limited time students have, and it can also be hard to find inspiration. Additionally, students often struggle linking the artists they choose to a final idea, which is also usually unclear to GCSE students at the start of their modules. Fear not! This article is focused on finding subjects of interest that can be incorporated into a portfolio that can make any student shine, as well as some tips on expanding your work to really get the examiner’s attention.

While GCSE Art may seem like an easy subject, it really is a lot of work to get a high grade. With that in mind, here are some ideas to help students, as a student who got a grade 9!

Flowers are something that’s recommended often by art teachers, but it isn’t without merit. Not only can this show off your knowledge of natural form, there’s also a lot of symbolism that can be drawn from it.

For example, you can use the Victorian flower language to develop your work: cultivating a unique message that shows the examiner that you’re aware of messages in art. You could also do flowers in stages of their life cycle to convey tone within the art – for example, decaying flowers can be used to show mourning or death.

Some examples of artists who do flowers include Georgia O’Keeffe and Claude Monet . You can find more information about Georgia O’Keeffe at the O’Keeffe Museum by clicking here .

While Monet focuses on a range of subjects, you can incorporate both his style of flowers and techniques into your art. If you would like to read more about Claude Monet, you can find more information at Claude Monet Gallery here .

If you like creating art of living beings that aren’t humans, animals are a creative way to express messages and deeper meanings. While there isn’t a codified set of meanings for animals, some animals are commonly associated with different emotions and settings .

Animal symbolism featured heavily in the Renaissance: ermines for purity, birds for sacrifice and resurrection, to name a couple. It’s useful to think of what you want the viewer to feel when planning out a piece of artwork . Do you want them to feel troubled, sad, happy, or angry?

This can be a good choice for those who are fond of their pets, or those who like animals in general. Some people might even go for a touch of surrealism and give human bodies animal heads or vice versa!

An example of an artist who paints animals is Marcia Baldwin, a fine artist who paints colourful oil paintings of animals and nature . To read more about her work, check out this page from her website!

If you’d like to lean into futurism and technology more, then robots might be the way for you. Personally, I found that robots allowed room to show examiners technical skill and detail, such as reflective surfaces, mechanical parts, and reimagined body parts.

Another interesting thing was taking organic forms and making them into metal structures – for example, I drew metal and robotic hearts and lungs to explore anatomy while keeping it on theme. By expanding on a topic, you can give yourself a lot more to work with when it’s time for your final piece . Additionally, there’s a lot of symbolism to be found with robots; themes like control, being similar to humans, and detachment. It’s definitely a theme that stands out.

The artist I chose to study for robots was Hajime Sorayama, an artist who uses airbrushes to make extremely detailed images of robots . Another good example is Makoto Kobayashi, an illustrator who focuses his work on mecha robots – more information can be found on Sabukaru Online here .

4. Childhood toys

A great way to show the passage of time and have interesting subjects is by focusing on toys and other childhood memories. Not only does this subject convey a lot of symbolism, it can also be very versatile to fit with different themes.

For example, with ‘Reflections’ it can mirror someone’s childhood or aspirations (lost or not) – and the condition of the toy can create a more emotive piece. With ‘Lock’, for example, you could also show toys being locked away as time goes on.

The artist I selected to study was Margaret Morrison, a realist and surrealist painter who explores the wonders of childhood through brightly coloured toys . Her smooth use of techniques also makes her work a valuable reference to study – check it out at Woodward Gallery by clicking here .

5. Sweets and food

Food and sweets are often underappreciated during GCSE Art as many students discredit them as ‘easy to draw’; on the contrary, it takes a lot of skill for food to be captured on paper. Food drawings can show the examiner technical and observational skill – just keep in mind to develop your art over a series of drawings of food, rather than just one!

Different foods can also contain a lot of symbolism: in different religions, cultures, and countries. For example, tangerines during the Chinese New Year represent good luck and abundance. Eating can also be representative of many things: jealousy and love being just a couple.

An artist who does still life of various foods and sweets is Sarah Graham – more information on her and other artists who cover food can be found here on The Art Teacher website.

6. Sculptures

There are many interesting statues that students can recreate on paper – one that might not be terribly common. If you’re interested in working in 3D mediums, sculptures are a great way to show the examiner a range of techniques that aren’t just limited to a page.

By focusing on various sculptures, you can incorporate various subject matters as sculptures cover a wide range of styles. If you’re into abstract art, there are plenty of interesting sculptures to cover.

3D mediums like clay, wood, or even metal can be used to develop your coursework and show a broader range of skill . If you’re interested in a Classical style of sculpture, you could check out Michelangelo’s sculptures like the Pieta and David.

Alternatively, you can check out some contemporary sculptors at Contemporary Art Issue here .

7. Woodwork

This ties into sculptures, but woodcarving is a great, ‘softer’ medium than stone and can show the examiner that you can utilise a range of mediums to achieve a result. If carving a whole statue isn’t your thing, you can try woodblock carving – either to stamp paper with or keep as a piece of art in itself.

An example of a cubist sculptor who works in wood is Ossip Zadkine, with an example of his work being Prometheus in 1930. More information about him and other wood sculptors can be found here at the Artsper blog.

8. Buildings and cityscapes

If you’re interested in architecture, looking at buildings and cityscapes can be a great way to explore that. Not only is there a range of building styles – Gothic, contemporary, modern, etc. – but focusing on buildings is a great way to show reflections of the time period.

Additionally, showing technical skill in things like perspective drawings and models is a great way to explore and develop your coursework further . An example of an artist is Catherine Yass, a photographer who creates colourful photographs focusing on the inside of buildings.

More information on her can be found here on the Cristea Roberts website.

9. Household objects

A great way to explore your surroundings and skills in observation is to focus on household objects in order to convey a personal connection to your art . By using objects personal to you and your household, it might be easier later on to decide on a final piece that’s personal to you.

Sketching and creating art of household objects can increase your proficiency in observation but also the different arrangements of objects can help your eye for composition . Additionally, everyone’s household objects are wholly different; this is a chance to show what represents you

An artist who does clay sculptures of pantry products is Mechelle Bounpraseuth – information on her can be found here on The Art Teacher. Another artist who does various products in a colourful and highly textured style is Raymond Logan – more is found here on his website.

10. Portraits

Looking at portraits and studying humans is a great way to show your understanding of art for natural form. Portraits are a great way to develop technical skill but also to develop a personal style. Examiners value portraits a lot as it can very distinctly show progress.

You can really explore with portraits as you can display a range of emotions, but also positions and forms that you can develop for pages and pages on end . For example, I explored various forms by looking at various reference websites and did double pages on them to bulk up my books.

An example of a photorealistic artist who does his portraits in biro is Oscar Ukonu – more information about him and other portrait artists can be found here on The Art Teacher website.

11. Insects

Insects are chock-full with symbols and allow students to capture natural forms while also boasting a wide variety of species and colours . As a subject matter, insects are definitely an interesting option that students can use to showcase a range of skills and technical knowledge.

When choosing subjects, it’s important to be able to expand on the topic . Insects come in all forms, so there’s definitely room to expand on any work! For some examples of further ideas, you could try studying just the wings of bees, or exploring the shine of a beetle’s carapace!

An artist who creates fascinating metal sculptures of insects is Mike Libby – more about him can be found on his personal website, linked here .

12. Reflective surfaces

Reflective surfaces are a great way to explore emotion and lighting – this applies to things like mirrors, lakes, glass, and more . While it looks cool, it can also allow you to develop important skills like being able to include depth in drawings.

Mirrors are a good way of expanding on ideas of deeper meanings – such as retrospection, or someone’s inner self. One of the key word themes for a past exam unit was “Reflections”, and while it’s not always literal, mirrors are a good place to start.

An surrealist artist who focuses on reflective surfaces and interesting reflections is M. C. Escher – you can read about him here on the National Gallery of Art website.

13. Nature and landscapes

If you like the outdoors, natures and landscapes is a good way to explore natural form and scenery . Looking at nature is extremely broad as it encompasses a wide range of terrains: cliffs, trees, leaves, lakes, etc. There’s certainly a lot of room for developing ideas!

Run wild! Looking at nature can help develop composition skills and also observational skills . As the subject varies a lot, you can look at different animals, natural monuments, and anything else that piques your interest.

Birds carry a lot of symbolism that can easily be used in your artwork. Not only can you develop your sketchbook with studies of wings or feathers in various medias, but you can also specifically look at certain birds that represent various things.

For example, doves represent peace and reconciliation, while crows bear ill omens in some traditions. One of the artists you could look at is Mark Powell, someone who not only does stunning images of birds in biro, but also portraits – check out his work at The Art Teacher here !

15. Skeletons and anatomy

Skeletons and anatomy can be a great way to show examiners that you understand form and the technical aspects of humans . For example, one of the artists I did for my art unit looked at hands – I developed my understanding by painting the skeletal components, then the muscular ones.

Looking at skeletons and anatomy and linking it to your artist (even if it isn’t someone who does look at skeletons) can help deepen your understanding for anatomy and how motion in humans works.

Some famous artists who looked at anatomy include Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo!

16. Storyboards

If you like telling stories visually through art while conveying messages more directly, why not try storyboards? Storyboards are what they sound like – drawings that map out a story . If you’re working with animals, humans or even objects, you can definitely tell a tale with them!

Storyboards are a great way to translate mediums into other uses . For example, when I did puppets and marionettes in Year 10, I included a story about a marionette’s journey to gain its freedom in the outside world.

Additionally, if your story has a cyclical structure (meaning it begins and ends in the same way), you can translate it onto a strip of paper that loops into a circle . This creates an infinite story!

17. Surrealism

If you like surprising people with your art and making them question it, why not try surrealism? Surrealism can be used to perplex people, while simultaneously being engaging for the viewer!

For example, when I was painting a traditional English breakfast, I decided to create a character made completely out of it: fried egg eyes, bacon hair, a mushroom nose etc. Placing elements meaningfully with the intent on creating questions is definitely something examiners notice!

Some examples of artists who use surrealism to convey various ideas are Rene Magritte (who can be found here at the Museum of Modern Art) and Salvador Dali (found here at the Museum of Modern Art).

18. Sewing and fashion

If you’re into clothes, looking at fashion is a great way to explore time periods and ideas through fabric. Not only does this show the examiner exploration of different mediums if you decide to actually do some sewing, but if you’re also drawing it shows technical skill through fabric folds and design!

Fashion helps reflect culture and ideas of different times. It can easily be developed by looking at similar fashion, or even trying your hand at designing your own! Additionally, you could expand on your work by doing studies on fabric folds and different weave and pattern types!

19. Light and candles

Lighting is definitely an interesting subject to study – it covers photography and many other disciplines you can easily explore . Lighting is very important in art as it plays a big role in things like composition and depth, therefore it’s a valuable thing to focus on.

This can be explored through many ways – using candles, ordinary lamps or even just a flashlight to take photos of various forms . You can use those photos to draw from or paint from – different mediums for the same photo shows development as well!

Hands are a fascinating way of looking at organic forms and engaging in expressive art. You can easily reference your own hands for drawing – something that makes it easier to observe how different positions convey different moods.

There is also a lot of weight carried in someone’s hands – clasped could indicate anxiousness or worry, whereas open palms could represent shock or joy. When paired with other elements, like an object with personal meaning, a whole message can be conveyed through hands .

An artist who focused on hands later in his life was Henry Moore, a 20 th century artist who believed feelings of an artist were conveyed through their hands. More about him can be found on the Tate website here .

21. Emotions

This is a topic that is pretty simple to develop – looking at various emotions and how you can represent them in your art. It encompasses everything from expressions, colours, subject matters, and composition.

It can be worthwhile to look at as it can help establish an even deeper message in your final piece. It can also help develop understanding in colour theory, expressions, and other aspects of art.

23. Instruments

Instruments are a great way of adding liveliness and engaging in various culture and music. If you’re a musician, or even just a fan of how instruments look, then this might be an interesting subject for you.

With a wide range of instruments available around the world, there is plenty of material to observe and develop . Some instruments also play heavy roles in various cultures, which can be something you can lean on if you’re from a particular culture.

Certain instruments may also be personal to you! If you would like to see some various illustrations of instruments in art – and also the artist – you can check out the Google Arts and Culture page here to see different representations of music.

24. Family and friends

Often, people choose to draw their family and friends as they have a deep connection with the subject – it usually makes things easier when thinking of a final piece. Friends and family can be readily available to use as references if necessary.

Additionally, studying people you know and see in real life can improve your anatomy perception and increase your understanding of planes of both the face and body . Having a live model will certainly make understanding 3D bodies a lot easier!

25. Fantasy creatures

If you’re interested in mythology or fantasy creatures in general, it’s entirely possible to translate that as a topic in your book. You can use already-existing interpretations of creatures, or even fashion your own out of source material.

Not only is this a cool way to express yourself, but if you’re using traditional figures from mythology, then it’s a form of visual language conveying hidden messages. For example, an interpretation of Athena (maybe as an owl or olive tree) can be used to indicate wisdom.

If you would like to see some artists inspired by mythology, you can check out this article from the Tate Gallery to read more about them!

26. Ships and the sea

Looking at the vast sea and tools of navigation can be used to showcase the might of the ocean and humanity’s attempts to make a little bit of the unknown known. There’s plenty to explore – the fish, the beach, the depths, light in the water, and many others!

Some artists who paint the sea include Winslow Homer and Katsushika Hokusai, both of whom can be found on the Art Wolf website here !

27. Technique pages (various techniques)

Showing thought processes and progress is a vital part of GCSE Art. By not constraining yourself to a single medium and technique, the examiner can see a clear variety in your work that shows development .

Some examples of different mediums include watercolours, acrylics, pencils, biro, lino printing, oil painting, chalk, oil pastels, woodwork, clay sculpting, photography, ink drawings and monoprint.

A good way to showcase developments and bulk up your book is to make several double pages on different techniques . For example, I used about six pages to make lino prints in a range of colours, with various comments on the colours and how they affect the piece.

Another way to bulk up your book is to experiment with textured surfaces – I was a fan of using cardboard and sticking it in with paintings on them! You can use newsprint, sugar paper, card, and even fabric! Showing a large range of mediums shows examiners your dedication and proficient skills.

How to annotate

One of the most important things you can do in your sketchbooks is annotating. With every piece of art you create, you should write about your process .

This can tackle things like thoughts while creating, challenges you overcame, techniques and mediums used, as well as the intended effect on the viewer. For each exam board, annotating is part of the Area Objectives ; this means you get graded on your input in this area.

When choosing an artist, make sure to annotate at least one of their artworks: discussing various techniques and effects on viewers . There should be writing with each piece talking about each process – planning, during the process, and thoughts after.

You should also include artists when writing information about your own pieces – such as if they inspired you, what elements of yours and theirs are similar, whether there were any techniques of theirs you tried out.

If you would like to read more about planning and other tips on getting a 9 in GCSE Art, check out this article from Think Student on the topic!

Final piece tips

It’s perfectly normal to not have thought much about your final piece when first starting each GSCE module. What matters most during this time is cultivating various ideas that you could possibly use later on when planning it out.

You can’t use a subject in your final piece if you’ve never linked it to your main theme before. For example, if your focus was on sweets and food, you can’t decide to suddenly include butterflies in your piece without first linking the two.

With that in mind, if you know you want to go down a certain direction for your final piece, make sure you have a variety of sources to choose from . Choose your artists based on what you’re drawn to and want to incorporate eventually, and link as many topics with your artist as you can.

For example, from a single Van Gogh painting on angels, I explored that theme as much as possible even though it was only a single artwork. I translated the painting, studied wings, biblically accurate angels and explored ways of depicting them. Link all you do back to your artists!

What should you do if you’re struggling with ideas for a piece?

If you’re struggling to find any sort of idea of what you want to do, you could start by thinking about how the theme makes you feel. For example, our theme ‘Lock’ seemed gloomy, so that’s what I chose to make the examiner feel by creating a tragic story between my subjects.

Think of subjects you’ve been collecting in your sketchbook – are there any you could link together to create that feeling? If you feel like it’s missing anything, you could try link those things to your artist so you’ve got them in your sketchbook.

Maybe it still doesn’t feel like enough to you. If that’s the case, try creating a little story of things that are personal to you. Compile a list of objects you’d be interested in including, and make sure you’ve developed them in your book and linked them back to each artist.

If you’re still extremely stuck, you could look around online galleries and exhibitions for ideas – you can get inspiration for techniques, compositions, and subjects! You could also try talking to your art teacher, who can help with finding rough compositions and subject ideas!

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Art Themes to Explore in GCSE & iGCSE

If you are looking for art themes to explore in GCSE or iGCSE lessons, the huge list below is a great starting point.  Thank you to art teacher Annie Chapman who started this list and to other teachers for making suggestions which I’ve added.  I also have an ‘ Artists Listed by Theme ‘ page, which lists lots of artists under a huge range of themes. Some words link to art teaching resources on this website.

Aboriginal and native art

Abandoned places

Advertising/Consumption and consumerism, Rich world vs Poor world

Ageing, old and new, decay and change

Art & Words

Beauty.The beauty myth, Self-image

Beautiful vs Ugly

Book illustration and text

Casting Shadows

Colour and mood

Carnival and Celebration

Culture Patterns, objects, traditions:  eg: Africa, Asia. Japan

Collections

Dream/Surrealism

Design eg. clothes/shoes/campaign poster

Depression/Fragility

Fear and Nightmares Environment

Faces and features

From natural to abstraction

Fragile things

Flowers and plants

Game Design

Graffiti/murals/Protest messages

Insects/butterflies in nature

In The News

Impressionism /light in painting

Illustrate a story

Landscapes of the mind, loneliness, loss

Magnification and macro

Mirrors/reflection

Money /inequality

Metamorphosis/change

Myths and Legends/Magic

Natural Forms

Out of Place

Ordinary vs extraordinary

Pattern eg. patterns in nature/repeat patterns/rotational patterns

Planets/Save the planet/Space

Pop Art and Comics

Rich world-vs-poor world

Reflections

Realism/Surrealism

Refugees/War

Stories and storytelling

Seven Deadly Sins

Self-portrait

Secrets/a secret place

Time and Space

Time-lapse/freeze frame/movement

Transformation

Tropical vegetation/Jungles

Trash and/or treasure

Through a Window

Ugly/beautiful

Under water

Vegetables and Fruit

Washed-up, things found on a beach

World within a world

Women in Art

Zoom-in/Close-up

This website is for art teachers.  I’m pleased that art students also enjoy it, but I am not able to respond to individual students who want help with ideas for their GCSE projects.

Please comment below if you have more art themes to explore in GCSE & iGCSE lessons and I will add them.

There is also a fantastic list of artists listed by theme on The Arty Teacher.  Click the link below to find out more.

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The Arty Teacher

Sarah Crowther is The Arty Teacher. She is a high school art teacher in the North West of England. She strives to share her enthusiasm for art by providing art teachers around the globe with high-quality resources and by sharing her expertise through this blog.

74 responses to “Art Themes to Explore in GCSE & iGCSE”

Hi im doing my first sketchbook for my igcse course.Im really struggling on finding a subject.At first i thought of teenages. And thought to talk about depression , social media and etc.But i have noticed that many people choose this subject so i dont really want to do it now.I have in my mind now social media impacts.Or even artificial intelligence.I believe its something unsual and not really talked about in art topics.Although im struggling on what photoshoot and some artists references.Could you please give me some ideas

Hi Yolanda, It’s good to choose a topic that no one else is doing. This shouldn’t be too hard: just look at the list above! It sounds like you like issues rather than something that is purely asethetic. At the following link are artists who have created artwork about interesting topics like the environment, social issues, isolation, death, emotions, identity and more. It might inspire you: https://theartyteacher.com/artists-themes/ What ever you choose, make your life easier by connecting it to something that is easy to photograph in an interesting way. e.g. If it is about death you could photograph churches and graveyards, if it is about social media photograph someone all alone and people in a group having a great time.

Hello, Is childhoon a good topic for igcse art and what subtopics can we explore for this theme and the reference artists?

Yes, childhood is an excellent theme. As for a subtopic, perhaps you could look at your own childhood to help you. What was significant? Toys? Place? People? Make it personal and think of something really good to photograph to make your life easier. The section on nostalgia on this page may help: https://theartyteacher.com/artists-themes/

Hi, I am grade 10 student and i am struggling to find a suitable topic. I have tried 3 to 4 topics and created many art works for them but I end up not liking them or feel like the topic is boring.What should I do also the topics i find interesting are hard to take pictures for.I mostly stay at home so can’t get pictures easily.Is there any topic i can explore which is interesting and easy to take pictures for?

Hi, If you have already tried 3 or 4 topics and created many artworks, you really need to pick a theme and stick to it. Choose a topic where it is easy to take inspiring photographs. Why pick something hard? Fantastic photos can be an inspiring starting point. There are so many good starting points in the blog post above. You need to think about what you are interested in and what you enjoy. Sometimes finding an inspiring artist can be a good starting point if you can’t find a topic that excites you. Only you know what you find interesting!

I want to do islamic architecture as a topic but I don’t know if it can be used as a topic, can you tell me if it can be used and what type of different panels I could make with this theme? , I have a feeling that it might be too broad and not very precise?

I think Islamic architecture is an excellent starting point. Start by researching it broadly and create work based on your findings. Then really think about what it is that you find appealing about it and narrow it down to that. Is it the colours, the patterns, the gold leaf, the domes? It is the religious aspect? A particular geographic area? Explore it further.

hi the arty teacher, i am a year 11 student taking igsce art and our theme is identity, however we need to choose a “sub-theme” sort of to explore along with that in regards to identity. would it be alright to explore something like ghosts or media (as in film, devices, internet, etc) ?

Yes, but it would be good if you could say why Ghosts is identity or what aspect of media you see as identity. Also, find some artists who explore identity through these sub-themes.

i understand what you mean, thank you! would something like the theme of confusion/belonging (not sure what’ll work better) in identity using ghost symbolism be better then?

I think you are exploring some interesting ideas. Why and how would a ghost symbolise confusion or belonging?

Hello Arty Teacher, I am an A-level student and I’m doing Art & Design. The theme given to us is “Observe, Seek and Challenge” but I am struggling to find any ideas, and I also don’t know many artists who have done paintings related to this theme. Would you please suggest any ideas that I can use and talk about so I can create an individual response to this theme? Thank you very much!

Hi Lili, I have a useful page on this website of artists listed by theme which is great for researching: https://theartyteacher.com/artists-themes/ “Observe, Seek and Challenge” is nice and broad. All artists observe. Seek, is interesting. What is the artist seeking? ie trying to find, desiring? I think artists seek ways to communicate, seek inspiration, seek to explore their own identity and that of others, seek to explore natural and manmade environments. Artists challenge us with their ideas all the time. They raise our awareness about climate change, social issues, race, gender, fears, prejudices, and stereotypes, ethical dilemmas and mental health challenges.

I think I’d pick a challenge first, find some artists, see what they are seeking to say and how.

Hi, the theme I’m exploring for my final GCSE piece is the power of love but I’m struggling to find inspiration and an artist. Any suggestions? Thanks

If you are struggling to find inspiration, it may not be a good theme for you. Try choosing a question from the paper that gives you lots of ideas. The word ‘ideas’ appears in 3 out of the 4 assessment objectives and you should be the one who is having the ideas. Lots of artists have been inspired by love. Jim Dine painted hearts. You could use them as a symbol of love. Make sure to include in your annotation why Dine used them. He was responding to a close friends mental breakdown. You can read more here: https://cranbrookartmuseum.org/artwork/jim-dine-the-heart-at-sea-in-a-non-secular-way/#:~:text=Dine%20felt%20the%20paintings%20were,Dine's%20is%20a%20compassionate%20one . The Pre-Raphalites painted about nature and religion but also literature and poetry, particularly text that dealt with love and death. Many of their painting depict beaufiul women. Rob Ryan creates paper cut outs. Many of them are romantic. If you google ‘paintings about love’ or ‘artists who depict love’ lots of things come up. I hope these suggestions help.

The aqa exam paper released and I want to do portraiture theme would faces and features be a good theme?

Hi Ayesha, I don’t think faces and features are a theme, they are simply part of portraiture. Themes could be: family, loniless and isoltion, cultural and ethnic identity, Intamcy and connection, time and aging, spirituality and faith.

Hi! I was wondering which to do between war and the Japanese imperialism and how it still seems to affect future generations or the role of beauty in horror. I have many many points for both but the first is much more personal but it seems to be quite controversial. What would you recommend i do?

These all sound like good themes. I would go with the most personal one. Controversial can be exciting when you explore it through art.

The edexcel exam paper has been released early for 2024 and the theme is power. I’m thinking of doing the power in oppression /war/genocide but I’m unsure of how to take a photoshoot/portray these ideas. I do have other ideas like discrimination (islamophobia, racism) , medicine, drug addiction , etc. I’m just not sure what to do that will be easy and fun?

What pops into your head when you think of oppression, war and genocide? I think of old rusty chains, blood stained cloth, dirty old hands, tattered flags, gas masks. These are all things that would make a powerful photoshoot. Could your drama department help? Do they have any war-appropriate costumes? Do you have a museum near by with artifacts? (War museum in London or Salford) Start with a broad photoshoot showing lots of ideas and then after you have worked from these photos, do a second more specific photoshoot to ‘develop your ideas’.

Hi there, this site is really helpful well I wanted to ask that can I go with the topic Indian gods

I think Indian Gods would be an excellent topic. You could look at how lots of different artists have drawn/painted them and then perhaps focus on an artist that you particularly like.

Thanks so much for your assistance Sarah. Please can Game design be considered as a theme?

Hi Liz, Great idea; I have added it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hello I am called Robert from kenya any new themes for IGCSE exams for November and June exams 2023/24?

Hi Robert, No one will know the themes that will be on the exam papers until they are published.

my son is doing GCSE coursework but wanted to do it on African culture but he has to choose famous artists to tie in with that theme any help please

Hi Billie, You can look at a culture instead of an artist. GCSE specification states that you need to look at ‘contextual sources’. These could be artists, cultures, films, animation, or anything that inspires creativity. If I had a student who wanted to look at African culture, i would want them to narrow it down to a tribe or country within Africa. He could do a page in his sketchbook on ‘African Art’ to start with, but then look at Maasai Clothing or Senufo Masks. If his art teacher insists upon an artist, and hey, they are running the course, there are some great choices here: https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/10-african-artists-you-absolutely-must-know/

Fantastic resources, I appreciate you making them available to us. The extensive list below is a wonderful place to start if you’re seeking for art-related topics to cover in GCSE or iGCSE classes. This incredible collection was compiled by Annie Chapman, a teacher of art. A few of these words are clickable links to useful pages for art teachers. Keep writing, I really enjoy reading your posts. Come across Joshuacreekarts.com and hope you can visit this too to get more information.

Hi! Thanks for your positive comment. I’m delighted you like the list. I’m happy to keep adding to it, so if you have any ideas, do let me know. I do mention Annie at the top of the post! I’ll check out your website.

Greetings, may you please advise what aspects are considered irrelevant and ‘out of topic’ when choosing a starting point?

Hi Klavier, I think you can pick any theme as long as you can see how you can fulfil the assessment objectives for your course. Choose a starting point that really excites you as you will be working on that theme for a long time. Pick something where you are inspired to record in a variety of ways. (Photography, drawing etc) Most of all, be creative and make a personal response!

I am an IGCSE teacher from Ghana. I have 5 learners and I am currently preparing them for the exams. However, I am a bit lost with the kind of themes to make available to them to choose or help them choose. Kindly, share some possible themes with me. It will really be helpful.

Hi Elizabeth, Thank you for your comment. You could choose any of the themes in this post but I always think it is a good idea to choose a theme that makes it easy for students to photograph something and to easily find artists. For examples ‘Natural Forms’ is a good theme as learners could choose from a huge range of items that would photograph well. There are also lots of artists that cover this theme. You may find these links useful: Artists listed by theme: https://theartyteacher.com/artists-themes/ Natural Forms Artists: https://theartyteacher.com/downloads/list-of-natural-forms-artists/ List of Natural Forms: https://theartyteacher.com/downloads/list-of-natural-forms/ You may also find these complete units of work useful: https://theartyteacher.com/category/arty-students/

This is so helpful and very relief. Thank you.

Hi Elizabeth, I’m so pleased you found it helpful 🙂

hello art teacher, is it true that we can choose to draw whatever we want in igcse art? or is there a subject for igcse art every year?

Hi, Different art teachers run their GCSE courses in different ways. They may give you a theme to start with at the start of the first year. If you are a self-motivated, confident learner they may well let you plot your own course but it is up to your teacher to guide you and do what is best for the whole class. When you get the exam paper in the second year, there is a broad range of starting points and often you can fit in what you would like to do into one of the questions (but not always!). I hope this helps.

Hi, this blog post is really helpful to me. But is art a good subject to take for pursuing engineering or design?

If you are thinking of persuing engineering or design, I would think that art would be the perfect subject to study. Think of polymath Leonardo da vinci, he found that recording his observations and ideas through drawing was essential. Many of his drawings were engineering designs! Many design courses would expect your to have studied art.

is art a good career choice? im 15 and haven’t actually decided a career choice, I used to just draw any image that I liked, but recently I have started learning art, practicing anatomy for example I have got a sketchbook that I actively use and, I also have another one which I am working on a comic in. i love drawing, but is it a good career choice? and if so, what opportunities are there abroad that I can look into *for the future*.

Hi Huzaifa, If you love being creative, studying art at a higher level can lead to all sorts of interesting jobs. It might help you to look at all of these art related careers here: https://theartyteacher.com/art-careers-written-for-kids/

Hiii, is it ok to do a fictional character as a theme?

Hi Jordan, Yes, that would be an interesting theme. I would strongly advise you to find an artist who has created artwork about the fictional character you choose. Or an animator or has created artwork, or a theatrical set designer who has made sets or costumes about the character. This would make your life easier!

Hi! i’m a gcse art student and i was just wondering if something about old fashioned clothes or something like armour would be a theme. i currently don’t have an art teacher :/ do we have to do the same theme as everyone in our class

Hi, Thanks for your message. Yes, both ‘old fashioned clothes’ and ‘armour’ would be excellent themes. Choose a theme where it is easy to photograph something. You don’t have to do the same as everyone in your class, you can all do your own theme. I would start by photographing either old fashioned clothes or armour, and then draw from your photos in a range of different media. Think about working on different surfaces and different sizes. You then need to find an artist that links with your theme in some way. Create a beautiful artist research page. Good luck!

Would surrealism be a theme ?

Hi Vishva, Surrealism is a movement rather than a theme. I’m trying to think if movements have ever come up on the exam papers and I can’t think that they have. I don’t see why you couldn’t research into Surrealism if that was something of interest. There are themes within Surrealism such as ‘Dream Like Scenes’, ‘Illogical juxtapositions’, or ‘Distorted figures and biomorphic shapes’.

Hi, my son his in his 1st year of art gcse. He is a good little drawer but that’s it really, not particularly good at painting or using different textiles. we are a little confused as to the structure of the course…. I do need to speak to his teacher but so hard getting to do this! portfolio/theme idea he has thiught of is western/ cowboy….came from his love of an xbox game. We’ve had a little look at the ladscape artists for that era and he has favourite characters from the game that he can sketch etc just not sure how to make it into a portfolio….any help would be grateful. thanks.

Hi Mari, Hopefully his art teacher has shared the GCSE assessment objectives with him. You can see them on the following page: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/art-and-design/gcse/art-and-design-8201-8206/scheme-of-assessment If you scroll down to ‘Assessment criteria grid’, in bold you will see the 4 assessment objectives. The first reads ‘Develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources.’ ‘Sources’ can be artists, designers, film-makers, books, anything creative really, including the designers and artists who made the xbox game. I would suggest he created a research page all about the game, the publisher of the game, the artists. You can find all sorts of stuff online about the art in games. For example here I found some fan art on the Rockstar Games website: https://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/51ka2k2819a1ak/fan-art-spindel-art-s-portraits-of-the-van-der-linde-gang After this research page, he could photograph someone dressed up as a cowboy. Make sure he considers background, lighting, focus. Present these photos in the portfolio. Draw from these photos. Draw in different media e.g. pencil, ballpoint pen, fine liners, markers, chalks, charcoal (what ever he feels comfortable with). Draw on different surfaces: white paper, brown packing paper? Cowboys drink coffee: coffee stain some paper and draw on that. Hopefully once he’s done this his art teacher will be able to tell him what to do next!

Hi, I am a teacher at a school in England. We have had our new brief for our y11 exam and the theme is ‘MAKE MUSIC DAY’. We are stuck for ideas on what the students could research into as well as artist who relate. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Chloe, I hope you’ve discovered my ‘Artists Listed by Theme’ page. There are some artists listed under the theme ‘Music’ that might be useful to your students. You can see it here: https://theartyteacher.com/artists-themes/ I hope your school has a music department. I would be straight up there to borrow instruments as some students might want to start with photography as instruments are so photogenic. Other ways students might begin: Photographing a friend listening to music. Ask if anyone plays an instrument and use their own experience as a starting point. This article was interesting: https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/24-times-fashion-designers-got-their-beat-from-music They could pick their favourite band and promote them as if they were playing at ‘Make Music Day’.

Hello Mrs! I’m a current IGCSE art and design student, our school doesn’t have a art teacher yet. I have no idea what to do, should I start with making a portfolio on my own first? thank you! A topic I want to do is “behind the eyes” it’s a topic surrounding mythical creatures and mythology. would this be appropriate? thank you so much!

Hi, That sounds like a very difficult situation. I’m surprised your school is letting you do an art course without an art teacher. Are you in your first year of the course? What have you completed since September? I would first try and find a couple of artist that create artworks about mythical creatures and/or mythology. Produce some research pages on them in your sketchbook. Then try and think of something real that you could draw (a primary source) that relates to your artists. (This will depend on the artist you have chosen, but it might be something like animal skulls if your school has them) You could also work from secondary sources, perhaps images of lizards? Or could you get a real octopus from a fish mongers and draw and photograph it? (I’ve had students do this!) You could then use your drawings to create mythical creatures of your own. Make sure you work in a variety of media and on a variety of surfaces. Hopefully this would be a start. Let me know how you get on.

Hi The Arty Teacher, I am teaching iGCSE Art and Design for the first time. Just wondering as to what you would consider as an ideal number of themes that can be introduced to a class over the course of two years. Is it several or is it a matter of concentrating on one theme only throughout the entire course? Much appreciated, thank you.

Different teachers structure the course in different ways. At my school, we do one theme in Year 10 with two main outcomes. In year 11 they do another theme (we run this a little bit like a mock). Then they do the externally set task from January.

Great job! ” The Arty Teacher” The resources and responses you provided are very helpful and so inspiring. I teach Igcse Art and design in keystages 3,4&5 in Africa. Thanks!!

Hi Cletus, I’m so pleased to read that you find my resources useful and inspiring – thank you 🙂

Interesting and informative. I am an igcse teacher.would like to see the blog

Hi Ina, Thanks for your comment. You can see more blog posts here: https://theartyteacher.com/blog/

Have just come across this blog…. hope to gain more!!

Hi Brenda, That’s great to hear. I hope you enjoy more of my posts!

Hi Arty Teacher,

I am an art teacher in Africa Nairobi Kenya teaching IGCSE Art & Design. Just wondering if you still do this blog. Any materials would be appreciated including advice on Photography.

Kind regards. James

Hi James, Yes, if you go to the home page of the blog you’ll see I post every week. If you look under the category ‘Techniques and Processes’ there are some articles about photography. https://theartyteacher.com/category/techniques-processes/

Good day what ideas could I work on for Stories or story telling

I think you might find the artists listed on the following page under ‘Narrative’ inspiring. https://theartyteacher.com/artists-themes/

Hi Annabelle, That sounds like an excellent theme to me. Don’t worry about it – enjoy it. You could go in so many directions and make it personal. Within that theme, you can look at one aspect of it and then flow into other areas of it. Here is a list of artists you might like to look at: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/8-lgbtqi-artists-you-should-know/iQLiswH6mVfoJQ

‘Inside Out’ is a great topic. You could do a person without drawing a person e.g. A house on the outside where the objects in the house represent the person, or a jewellery box where what is in it represents the person. Both these could be 2D or 3D. Or make a book (or a box) where the outside is the personality you show to the world and the inside is what you keep hidden. You could take a more literal approach: You could do fish and fish skeletons. If you didn’t want to do a portrait, you could still do feet or hands and draw them and also the bone structure or x-rays.

This is really helpful thank you so much for sharing these I’ve already gotten an idea of what I want ❤️

That’s great to hear. Thank you.

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Pastel Inspire

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GCSE Art Sketchbook Tour [A* / Grade 9 FULL MARKS student || Pastel Inspire]

With a new set of Year 9s and 10s about to begin their GCSEs, I thought I’d share some some of my GCSE coursework and discuss a bit about my experience of GCSE Art. Many posts and forums online paint GCSE Art as a large amount of work with little gain, while in reality an open mind can go a long way; in my experience, GCSE Art taught me a lot about new approaches to art and allowed me to develop more as an artist.

My first ever GCSE Art sketchbook pages

I did GCSE Art & Design with AQA from 2015 to 2017, whereby my class had to cover at least two different projects with different media; my class chose to focus on fine art and ceramics. For my full GCSE Art sketchbook tour, please scroll down to the end of this article.

The first project we did was fine art and still life, where we primarily focused on fruit and skulls in our early lessons; this is an ideal starting point for students new to GCSE Art, as it really allows you to focus on improving your basic shading and proportion skills, which is really useful for a top grade at GCSE.

I really enjoyed this project and it is actually how I truly fell in love with painting flowers amongst other things, as I found that perfection was not the be-all-and-end-all, giving me the ability to sketch and paint liberally. Some of the pieces I used to hate in Year 10 are actually not that bad, seen in retrospect, since I am now less of a perfectionist in art. Sure, plenty of times I see mistakes in my work which should be fixed, but I have also learnt the lesson of not overworking my art, which can certainly happen.

Initial artists I researched included YouTuber Sakuems and French Realist Édouard Manet

Something really lovely about GCSE Art is how it teaches you to appreciate different artists and really forces you to study them, not just appreciate them. Doing artist studies and research into their styles was never really important to me until GCSE and this is an area where you can exercise a lot of freedom in terms of picking your own artists; initially, I chose YouTubers and artists I’d seen online, though eventually I started developing an appreciation for the more traditional artists. (For example, my EPQ, a research project undertaken alongside A-Levels, is based around the Impressionist Artists.)

Naturally, I am not one to work from light-to-dark, preferring to continuously jump between darker hues and white (I use a lot of white…). This meant that I really was not confident working on light surfaces with watercolours or other translucent media, and you can see from this early ink painting that I often ended up overworking so that the painting was too dark, due to clumsy, rash brushwork.

However, as I developed as an artist over the course, I began experimenting with techniques and found that methods such as stippling (shading with dots rather than consistent layers) allowed me to be more precise and cautious when painting, leading to this Year 11 mock artwork being one of my favourite studies to date. Development like this is a really rewarding part of GCSE Art, especially if you want to go on to study Art at a higher level or have interests pursuing it as a hobby.

My practice “vessel”

Initially, I absolutely detested the GCSE ceramics project we did– in fact, I was so bad at clay-work, that my first “pot” completely sank and looked like a sad excuse for a bowl by the end of my first lesson. However, I really did grow into the project and allowed myself to learn from my mistakes, leaving my final ceramics piece to harden between layers of my coil pot, so it did not sink. I had a lot of issues with my clay pot as the art department even ran out of the key glaze I wanted, so I had to water it down for a less even result. I was so unhappy with the outcome for a long time but, looking at the photos and the finished result, I am actually quite proud of it.

Photography was also very new to me coming into Year 10, as I had rarely considered my composition in prior artworks. I must admit, I am still no natural at taking pictures, but GCSE really spurred me on to research art theory concerning composition, such as the rule of thirds and the Golden Ratio. This was never something I was interested in before I began taking photos for my final pieces but the more projects I did, the more I wanted to experiment with subjects being off-centre, or photos taken from above or below. With the ceramics project, some of my favourite photos are the ones where I was more adventurous with angle and perspective.

The most important thing to remember for GCSE is that you do not have to be the best artist in the world to get an A*. In fact, as long as you fulfil the Assessment Objective criteria (AO1-4), there is little emphasis on how much innate talent you have as an artist. Remembering the AOs is particularly important when it comes to art/artist analysis, as it is easy to describe the art or give a history of the artist, yet explaining and analysing is actually quite hard.

For some of my top tips for GCSE Art, you can find my article here.

For my top tips for paintings for GCSE Art, you can find my article here.

You can find my full first and second GCSE Art projects below:

Project 1: Still Life (Natural Forms)

Project 2: Ceramics (Organic Vessels)

If you enjoyed this article and want to hear more about GCSE Art, amongst art advice, reviews and more, please consider subscribing to my blog.

To subscribe, scroll down to the bottom of this page and click the subscribe button; simply follow the instructions sent to your email and you’re set!

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The Art Teacher

Art Lesson Ideas, Plans, Free Resources, Project Plans, and Schemes of Work. An 'outstanding' art teacher in Greater Manchester. Teaching KS3 and KS4 art and design.

GCSE Artist Research Guide

Creating research about artists is a creative and exciting part of a GCSE course. It will allow you to discover new artworks and learn about how artists think and work.

This GCSE artist research guide will help you find an appropriate artist, analyse their work and present your research to a GCSE standard. The purpose of research in GCSE Art is to help you understand the artist’s style , techniques / processes and themes . You will use this knowledge to inform your own artwork.

Researching artists / art exhibitions / photographers / designers is an important aspect of your GCSE Art course and can help you improve your own work and generate new ideas.

Successful GCSE artist research pages are produced by collecting information and images about an artist you are studying or want to study. Your research should include:

• A brief biography of the artist
• Pictures of their artwork
• Analysis of their artwork(s)
• The inspiration behind their pieces
• Your own response

A guide to creating high quality artist research:

• It is important to choose a relevant artist. If your project is about portraits , you shouldn’t really be looking at artists who specialise in landscapes !
• You should also choose an artist that you like . It’s no good choosing an artist if you think their work is boring.
• Use an artist who has similar skills to you. Do you prefer drawing? Avoid painters!
• This will show that you understand the context of their work.
• This will make your research look more professional.
• Artists often use social media to show their processes. Online museums and galleries also share information about the artist’s work or techniques.

How to present your artist research:

Once you have found an artist that you’re interested in and you have started to research them, you need to present what you have found. Use these tips to help show off your research:

• Plan your layout
• Include colours related to the artist
• Have a clear title
• Write neatly, checking spellings and grammar
• Type up annotations if it will help you
• Create a response using the same materials as the artist (eg. acrylic paint)
• Create your research on a computer if it will help you

DON’T:

• Spend hours on a fancy title
• Spend hours on a fancy background
• Feel like you need to write lots and lots
• Copy a full piece of the artist’s work – a colour study, or a section of their work is enough to learn from them

Let’s look at a good example of GCSE artist research :

• The layout is simple and clear; the background lines link to the artworks.
• The student has stuck to black and white, just like the artist.
• The title is clear and reflects the ‘glitch’ style of the art
• The writing is neat, along straight lines
• The drawing is high quality and uses appropriate materials (pencil and white pen). The student has clearly studied the artist’s work carefully.

How to analyse artwork:

You should choose a piece of artwork by the artist to analyse . Writing an image analysis about art can seem strange because there are no absolutely ‘correct’ answers. However, if you’re not sure how to analyse artwork, this guide to analysing art can help.

You don’t need to answer every question, but aim for at least 2 or 3 from each section:

Artist: Janet Fish Title: “Untitled (Two Packages of Pears)” Date: (1969) Medium: oil on canvas Size: 52 1/4″ x 42″

Let’s analyse an artwork using some questions from the “Content, Form, Process, Mood” Guide:

What can you see in the picture? Think about objects, colours, shapes and textures. The painting shows two packets of green pears, there are six in total. They are still in the wrapper and there are a lot of reflections painted to show the plastic covering them. What is the composition (layout) of the work? The pears fill the whole canvas and we can’t see much of the background. There is some symmetry with three pears on each side. Is there a colour scheme? Why or why not? There is a limited, harmonious colour palette of calm greens, blues and yellows. The colours are quite realistic and natural to reflect the subject matter. Is it realistic, or surreal, or both? Why? Overall the piece has realistic and surreal elements due to the sharp shapes of the light reflections that add contrast to the soft natural shapes. The shape of the reflections stand out against the soft round edges of the pears. How was the artwork made? The artist has used oil paints which enhances the glossy, plastic effect. Do you think the artist made any other versions or sketches? I think they would have sketched different layouts and mixed tester colours to match the fruit carefully.

Creating your own artist response:

Your response to an artist or artwork should use the same (or similar) materials to the artist. You might choose to focus on their use of colour or composition for example.

You should always include your opinion about an artist’s work in your research, explaining why you like/dislike their work.

You should also explain how it will inspire you or influence your own work.

In this artist research example the student has studied the artwork of Tjalf Sparnaay. Their response is a good quality drawing of a fried egg, copied from one of the artist’s paintings. The artist is a hyperrealist painter, but the student has responded with coloured pencils, showing skill in the accuracy of their drawing and managing to show some realism in their work through natural colours and a range of tones.

In this example, the student has researched the ceramic artist Mechelle Bounpraseuth . Their response doesn’t use clay like the artist, but the student has used the same idea as Bounpraseuth and chosen to draw a food object that reminds them of their family / friends. The drawing is highly skilled, showing a range of tones and highlights with exceptional attention to detail.

GCSE Artist Research examples:

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Artist research page checklist:

Now that you’re got an idea of what good artist research looks like, download the checklist below to use and help make sure you have included everything you need.

This artist research page checklist is simple to use and will make sure you / your students have included everything they need to make a successful, GCSE standard artist research page!

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Amazing work thanks

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Published by art_teacher_mcr

Making and teaching art. Based in Manchester. View all posts by art_teacher_mcr

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Online GCSE Art Course

About this course

Be inspired and explore your creativity! This online IGCSE Art Course is perfect for students looking to further their art and design skills. The course is run by an energetic and enthusiastic qualified art teacher in her weekly live interactive lessons. If you can’t make our timetabled lessons then you can study independently with dedicated teacher support, and you can also view all weekly lessons in our archive.

You will also have access to our specialist tutor team who are practising artists and freelance commercial designers with a passion for teaching and inspiring the next generation of artists. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist or designer, our online Art Course gives you the opportunity to extend your technical skills and build confidence in your creative ability. You will be encouraged to explore materials, approaches and techniques towards final outcomes.

The IGCSE Art Course is run over two years as standard, and can be completed in one year through our intensive GCSE art course (see below). In year one (starting at any time) you will gain confidence in drawing, painting and sculpture. You will also make connections between your own work and the work of other artists and designers. In year two you will use your new skills, knowledge and understanding to express yourself in a themed project in preparation for the exam later in the year. You will also be asked to write (Component 3) an essay of 1500 – 2000 words about an artwork or art movement. For students wishing to gain an art GCSE equivalent without exams or essays, try our Level 2 Certificate in Art & Design. 

The final grade for the qualification is a summation of two components, a critical and historical assignment (component 3) and a final exam project (component 1). Preparation for these is a key aim of your tuition and a key role of your tutor. Lessons and tuition can be arranged with your tutor at mutually convenient times. Our tutors main goal is to support your art education, so they will work with you to realistically schedule your art study around other courses you may be taking.  

Our examination centres will provide you with an exam timetable with the key dates for sending paperwork and information about the exam weekend. They will also send you and your tutor a copy of your GCSE art exam paper. The exam paper will ask you to build an art project around a particular theme over a period of 6 weeks. At the end of the six weeks preparation period you will have 8 hours (4 hours a day x 2 days) to make a final piece that relates to your project. Upon completion your work will be graded, and you will receive your Art IGCSE.

Graduates will have created a specialist portfolio that expresses their personal brand of Art and Design. The completion of the Art IGCSE along with your portfolio enables access to our Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, which will fast track you to top universities and employment as a professional qualified artist or designer. 

Work produced on this course

Course overview

Entry Requirements  

In order to study our online iGSCE Art course, you must meet the following requirements:

• Be age 14 years or older
• No previous art or design qualifications required.

Please note that this is an online GCSE art course. You must have a computer with broadband connection and basic art materials in order to participate in the course.

Study options

Study online Art and obtain your GCSE in a way that suits you. With a variety of study options to match your lifestyle and time commitments:

• Part-time programmes:  available all year around – enrolling now
• Full-time programmes:  start December to January and September to October. Exceptions may apply.
• Standard 2 year programme
• Intensive 1 year programme

Accreditation and progression

Our online Art IGCSE is fully accredited and leaves graduates with a recognised art qualification. Upon completion, students are perfectly positioned to continue their art education. See the details below: 

• Accreditation : Cambridge International Examinations Board (CIE) 0400 syllabus. OCAD is not affiliated in any way with CIE - we simply support students with the 0400 syllabus.
• Progression : Completing our IGCSE Art gives students everything they need to progress to our Foundation Diploma in Art & Design. The level 3 / 4  course prepares students to study art at degree level.

Additional Course Information

Progression : To Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

Tuition:  Face to face, one to one – unlimited

How it works

Our online art students receive access to their own online studio where they can work through their course. Units and assignments are listed along with supporting resources, video tutorials for skills development, step-by-step guides and more helpful tools to ensure progress. Photographs of students’ completed art projects and coursework pieces are uploaded to their college e-portfolio for assessment and constructive, friendly written feedback on how to progress. 

Additionally, students are invited to LIVE interactive online lessons at timetabled times, where they will learn from qualified teachers and industry professionals. If students can’t make the lessons they can watch them in their own time, so they won’t miss any of the course content. The fully qualified and experienced school art teacher is available for feedback via email and messenger. Students are invited to discuss their progress and receive face to face verbal feedback, encouragement, and support. Students may also benefit from relationships with their fellow online students as they can view profiles and comment on each other's art work if they wish.

Optional LIVE enrichment classes are offered most weeks during term times. These fun classes are enjoyed by students but are not required to complete the course. When purchasing this course you are not paying for these FREE classes – they are a GIFT! The teacher has to strike a balance between providing enrichment and fun for students and supporting them through essential units on their course. This may mean live lessons are postponed from time to time. The teacher reserves the right not to run these optional free lessons.

You will be continually assessed throughout the IGCSE Art Course and tutors will provide constant feedback and help with improvements. 

Students’ timed test / final major project and written assignment will be assessed externally by the exam board and this will decide the final grade. You will be kept informed every step of the way on how to improve your work.

Structure of the course

This exciting course has been designed to ensure you produce a stimulating and rewarding art & design project (s) which allow you to develop your knowledge, skills, understanding and confidence in developing your interests and ideas in an artistic way.

The first part of the course takes you through a programme of developing skills in drawing, painting, mixed media (collage), digital art and 3d (sculpture).

In the second part of the course you will be asked to make an art project that is related to a theme which is of personal interest to you. Previous themes have included:

• “Identity”
• “Natural Forms”
• “My Manga World”
• “I Me & Mine”
• ‘Bully’
• “Success’
• “Acceptance’
• “Delicate”
• “Overhead and Underneath’
• “Surfaces’
• “Precious”
• “Through The Keyhole’
• “My Dream World”
• “Taken”

Your artwork in two components will be assessed by the examination board to determine your final grade:

• Component 1 Timed test – 8 Hour Practical Exam at an Exam Centre
• Component 3 Critical and Historical Assignment – 1500 – 2000 word Assignment / Essay

Download Syllabus ➝

Standard 2 year course: £2000 GBP ($2600 USD)

Intensive 1 year course: £3000 GBP ($3800 USD)

Join our network of international agents – contact us

Outside Europe

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Silhouettes and Landscapes: IGCSE Art Coursework (A*)

Last Updated on April 2, 2023

This article features Enrico Giori’s CIE IGCSE Art Coursework project (Component 4) completed in 2014 while studying at St. Louis High School , Milan, Italy. Enrico was awarded 97% (A*) overall for IGCSE Art (see also Enrico’s IGCSE Art exam ). Enrico’s project is a very interesting example: although it draws upon first-hand observation, it does not have have a large emphasis upon realism. Enrico demonstrates a stunning understanding of composition, coupled with mature, in-depth investigation of a wide range of mediums and processes, such as linoleum prints, plastic-plate etchings, sewing, digital manipulation and mixed media collage.

Two of Enrico’s sketchbook pages are included in our new book:  Outstanding High School Sketchbooks . This book has high-resolution images so that fine details and annotation are clear, making it an excellent resource for students and schools.  Learn more !

READ NEXT: How to make an artist website (and why you need one)

I have always been fascinated by surrealist artists such as Magritte and I decided, as I started my IGCSE Art qualification in Year 10 to explore the concepts that lie behind surreal images. I started looking at the use of color and objects in art and I decided to focus on still life at first, not the human figure, which I saw as too complex to draw or paint. I then understood, by looking at some pieces by Magritte, such as Golconda or The Son of Man that the human figure was the starting point and the most important features of the surreal current. I therefore decided to analyze the human figure, reducing it to silhouettes, such as the one filled with a moonlit landscape in ‘The Happy Donor’, which I looked at with passion and admiration for a whole month. I discovered, almost by mistake, the wonderful world of printmaking and have experimented with linoleum prints and plastic-plate etchings. I decided to make a series of etchings for my IGCSE final outcome piece, and I am very proud of the result I have achieved. I experimented with a varied range of techniques: acrylic, pencil, charcoal and chalk, colored pencils, watercolors and watercolor pencils, oil paint, lino printing, etching, collage, pen and ink (one of my personal favorites), sewing and digital image manipulation (I have experimented overlapping images with Photoshop and photocopiers, achieving interesting results). I am also passionate about photography, and I have also tried to show that through my project.

The descriptions of my work below are derived from the annotations that are glued on the pages themselves, listing materials, processes, strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement.

This page has crossed many stages of development, and the original drawing which I based my page on was done in a courtyard that we went to once with our Art teacher to draw from direct observation. For this page I combined various techniques and materials: acrylic, 2B, 4B and 6B pencil, water soluble graphite, watercolor pencils, watercolor, pen and ink and coffee. This page started from the drawing on the left, which I drew from direct observation on my sketchbook. I then decided to place it on my page and extend it with another drawing from direct observation. The left part of the page is mainly done with pencil, watercolor and acrylic for the wall decoration on the bottom. I believe the watercolor is perfect for the wall because it creates an interesting texture that almost looks like a brittle and old wall. The acrylic decoration is interesting because it stands out on the page and makes it more expressive and eye-catching. The right side of the page is personally my favorite, because I worked a lot on it and I find the final outcome pleasing and quite well done.

I decided to combine a few techniques to make the outcome more attractive and realistic, because different techniques are better for different purposes. For example, I found the pen and ink useful to give a sense of the three dimensions through cross-hatching because I find it an interesting and unusual way to give dimension to the page. I then filled in the drawing with watercolor and I used some white acrylic to paint the highlights of the step near the girl. I kept the girl in 4B pencil and I highlighted the areas of shadow using cross-hatching with pen and ink, so that it looked like a silhouette. I then painted the rightmost wall using coffee and a stiff brush so that the wall looked old and wet by water. The right part does not continue the scene on the left and this choice is intentional, because I wanted to overlap images and create a study of the same place seen by two different perspectives.

One of the strengths I can see in this piece is the evident use of cross-hatching, which I feel is easier with pen and ink than with a handwriting pen. One of the elements that was hard to draw and paint was the girl on the steps, because I wanted to keep her minimal (so she didn’t affect the scene of the door) and because I didn’t know how to make her look three dimensional. To improve this page I would make the details more accurate and I would focus more on the shadows and highlights.

I started developing this page by looking at people and especially their shadows and silhouettes from different perspectives. I decided to combine photos and drawings on this page to give a more interesting effect to the whole composition. For this page I have used: graphite pencils (2B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B), watercolor graphite, putty rubber, watercolors, calligraphy pen, white chalk, charcoal, photography film, acetate, tracing paper, newspaper, acrylic paints, glue stick and PVA glue to combine all the elements on the page.

I drew the silhouette on the bottom left of the page first from primary observation, and from there I developed all the other pieces. I have taken all the pictures on the page and have used the figure of the small girl dancing in water to create the two pencil drawings on the right. I decided to make a larger one and a smaller one to show movement and a dynamic scene compared to the profile drawing, which looks quite static. I added on the smaller girl a dress made out of newspaper and, to replicate the effect of the fabric folding around her body, I glued a newspaper by folding it in specific points and layering on top a fine wash of turquoise watercolor. I then used the pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the street in Manhattan to continuously give the idea of people’s silhouettes in different situations of the day. I then decided to overlap the little girl’s photo printed on acetate over these photos to give an effect of depth and perspective, and I also feel that it offers a creative contrast between color and black and white. I have included a montage of the same photos I created on my computer where I compared the movement of the girl’s arm together with the position of the Statue of Liberty. I then painted the background of the page in a bright tone of acrylic blue to illuminate the work and, especially because blue is the complementary color of orange, I have an orange ochre element, which is the background of the Statue of Liberty photo. To make the composition more pleasing, I also used an odd number of elements (7) on my page.

I believe the final effect of my page is very interesting because I managed to include various pieces, even if done with different techniques, that are all connected one with the other. I think a strength of my piece is the use of color and the combination of mediums on the page. I could obviously improve something, and that would be making the rightmost silhouette of the girl a bit lighter, so that it looks less dark and oppressive on the page.

This page has been quite complex to put together, because I had many ideas and themes I wanted to include and I had to work out which ones could be combined together effectively to create a pleasing composition. The main focus of this page is the artwork of Gary Hume , an English artist that gave me the idea that lead to the fabric and felt silhouette on the left and the acrylic painted silhouettes on the right, that I drew from some photos I took in Cinque Terre for the grey woman and in New York for the green building top.

This page shows clearly the use of many materials and techniques. These include acrylic paint, graphite pencil (2B, 4B and 6B), colored metal wire, tissue paper and PVA glue, colored felt, colored fabric, colored cotton and needles for sewing, a glass bead for the bird’s eye and montage cardboard for the lamp.

I started the page with the sewed silhouette on the right, which was inspired by two paintings of the artist Gary Hume, Begging For It (the man praying) and The Mother (the bird on top). This work took a really long time to complete because I had never sewn before. I then painted the hands on the felt with glossy black acrylic, because I thought it looked a lot like the texture of Hume’s original painting. I made the two silhouettes on the bottom with colored wire, tissue paper and PVA glue. These were quite easy to make but I found the technique very interesting. The last ‘big’ piece of work I created for this page was a pencil drawing from direct observation of the Tolomeo lamp of the famous Italian designer Artemide.

I then started to put the page together, using even some interesting pictures of silhouettes that I took the weeks before, but I didn’t like the effect, so I decided to draw two of them using Hume’s style, keeping them simple and as line drawings. I used mounting board under the lamp to make it look like it had its own real shadow, and I like the effect of this. I then colored them with acrylic.

I decided to include one of my pictures, so I cut out the small black woman and I glued her on the bottom of the page, so that it looked like she was popping out from behind the big, grey woman’s legs.

One of the main strengths I can identify in this piece is the use of different materials and the experimentation with new techniques, such as sewing and wire drawing. I think that these two techniques are really difficult to learn at first, but that when you learn how to apply them correctly, you can create some strong pieces of work. This piece of work seems to connect many of my pages, some for the bright colors, some for the silhouettes and some for the techniques. If I had the opportunity to improve something I would work on the shape of the hands on the blue silhouette and especially on the pencil drawing, so that it could look even more realistic. One of the elements I feel I have to work on is how to show light on my drawings, as sometimes the direction of the light source isn’t clear.

To develop this page I used some photos of people that I found after searching on the Internet. I chose to look closely at a woman with a container of water on her head and a ‘surreal’ silhouette of a man with a park on his head.
To work on this page I used many materials: fabric, batik wax, batik dye, Image Maker, Brusho®, acrylic, watercolor, wax crayons and photocopies.I combined many materials on this page and I explored some different techniques. For the silhouette on the top left I colored the paper with Brusho® (an intense, water-based paint powder) and then I painted the edge of the silhouette with white acrylic. After that I laid several layers of red watercolor to highlight the shape of the person. For the silhouette of the same person on the right I used a different technique. I drew the silhouette with wax crayons and then I painted the outside of it with Brusho®. At the beginning I didn’t like the effect, because I used too much color, but after I played around a bit with the leftovers of paper, I decided to use some small pieces of the paper to make the silhouette more interesting, and then filled the gap in the middle with white acrylic.

The big piece of fabric on the left is a combination of a photocopy and a batik piece, on which I used Image Maker for the first time. I applied the photocopy of the silhouette on the fabric with Image Maker and then did a mirror image with batik wax. I didn’t like this because the effect was messy and not what I imagined before doing my batik. I then used the photocopy that I colored by accident with fabric ink to cover the mistake and I find the effect interesting and creative. Meanwhile, the batik on the right is done with the standard batik technique and then I colored the fabric with batik dye.

I think the effect the page is interesting, because the four sections are clearly separated, but they seem to blend together because of the strong and vivid colors.
 I think the page is made up by a ‘series of mistakes’ and that I have used the work in a creative and innovative way because I blended pieces that I thought would have never looked good together. I believe that the use of color is one of my strengths in this piece because I managed to use many tints and still have a pleasant composition.
I found it hard to blend the fabric and the paper because they were materials that couldn’t be united together, so I decided to make the background grey and make the pieces look like they were part of a puzzle or sequence. If I could improve this piece of work I would try to create some more interesting effects with the batik on the big piece of fabric, so that the colors would look more precise and intentional.

This page is a composition of lino prints that I made looking at people and how they may be compared with landscapes. To create this page I used the traditional tools that are used for lino printing (linoleum board, lino cutter, cutting block, opaque lino printing ink, ink rollers). I used paper and fabric as printing supports and I completed my page with a layer of pale grey acrylic.

The page started with the lino prints I designed. I used silhouettes of different people and experimented with them, blending them together to create an interesting and investigative effect. I decided to use various colours such as red, green, yellow, blue and black, because I felt that mixing more colors on the same print gave an idea of three-dimensions and perspective. After I created the lino prints, I worked on one of them with pieces of collage paper, to see how this would affect the print. I found the outcome interesting, so I decided to include this in my page.

The composition of the page was hard to design, because I wanted to get a new and creative effect, not a dull puzzle of images, that seems quite traditional and antique. I therefore played around with the images for a while and decided to place them so that they could tell a story to the observer, and especially so that they could give an idea of development and experimentation.

I liked creating the silhouettes with the lino printing technique and I didn’t find this task difficult, especially because it allows you to complete last minute edits on your work. In the end I decided to include one of the printing blocks I used during the first part of the page creation, but to make it look more interesting I painted the leftover lino silhouette in black acrylic and then I decorated the surroundings with some light touches of white acrylic.

One of the strengths I can identify in this piece is the interesting mix of different materials, such as different papers, fabric and linoleum. I feel that this gives a unique effect to the page because it shows that the same image can be replicated successfully onto other materials. One of the areas of improvement I would consider is the composition of the page, as I would care more the layout of the prints, so that they could look even better and acquire more importance on the page. One of the strengths I can see in this piece is the interesting mix of different materials, such as different papers, fabric and linoleum.

The development of this page started looking at people’s contours and how human figures can be simplified to an ordered set of lines showing dimensions but also tone, texture and features. To develop the composition on the page I used many materials: cotton, Image Maker, tracing paper, photocopies, acetate, magazine pages, sewing cotton and a needle, acrylic paint, fine brushes, a black calligraphy pen, 6B and 2B pencils for the contours on tracing paper and felt tip pens.

I first created the geisha face that I have transferred onto fabric from a color photocopy with Image Maker. I decided to show how the figure could be simplified to basic lines that showed the contours of the face, as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth do in their drawings, so I drew these using graphite pencils onto tracing paper, that I then glued on the fabric and Image Maker. I then developed the same idea of contours on an Arab woman wearing a burqa. I first did the rightmost drawing with calligraphy pen on tracing paper and I then photocopied it and colored it using red felt tip pens, as in the original image I found the garment was of a bright scarlet red. For the last of the three women wearing the burqa I decided to sew some of the contours using primary colored threads. I then developed the three faces of a model from a magazine to complete my page. I sewed some of the contours of the face on one as I did for the Arab woman and then I created a negative image of the sewing on the one at the top by coloring with felt tip pens the spaces created by the threads I sewed.

I have done the last face by cutting curved shapes into the photocopy and then layering below it an image cut from a magazine of a field with defined lines in it. The contours of the landscape remind me of the creases of clothing that I have been looking at with the photo that portrays the woman in a burqa.

The last piece I included is a photocopy printed onto acetate of the rear of the sewed model’s face, taken against a light source and then processed on the computer to increase contrast and saturation. I finalized my page by painting a pale turquoise background and by adding thin white lines around the work to emphasize the idea of movement and to make the faces more interesting.

I think the effect of the page is curious because all the work seems to blend well together and creates a composition that is pleasing to the eye of who looks at my work, as the composition seems to guide the eye throughout the whole page in a certain direction. A strength of this page is the use of color and texture that create a unique collage of patterns and all the effort and creativity I have put into it, as it took me a lot of time to develop all the pieces on the page. If I could improve my work further, I would make the contours on the geisha even more precise and I would try top find a way to make them stand out more, so that it would acquire more importance on the page.

I started developing this page by looking at a photo of a model with a butterfly on her mouth and some lithographs by Barnett Newman , especially Untitled (The Cry) , that I decided to actually include on my page to show my starting point and the influences I have had to make this project come to life. I saw some lithographs by Barnett Newman at the Pollock and the Irascibles Exhibition in Milan and they interested me particularly. To complete this page I used a plastic sheet, an etching tool, screen printing ink, an etching press, heavyweight rough paper, and prints of the original photo, photocopier, and glue sticks and hot glue. I first looked at Barnett Newman’s lithographs and they interested me and their texture and they arose an eternal doubt in me: “Which line came first, and which followed second?” I etched upon a sheet of plastic with an etching tool the photo of the model and I afterwards printed some images under the etching press on heavyweight paper using screen printing ink. At the beginning I was not pleased with the effect, because I expected the lines of the face to be more defined, whereas on the majority of the prints they were quite abstract. The prints done with screen printing ink are the first total black and white on the top right of the page and the bottom left face.

I decided to overlap some etchings onto some photocopies of the original image using a photocopier. I have been very pleased with this effect, as it shows through some transparencies the original idea behind all of my work. I also included on the page some pieces torn out from a photo of the lithograph Untitled (The Cry) by Barnett Newman, in order to show where I got my inspiration. I finally decided to mount the original etching plate on the page overlapping it with a print to show where all of this started from, and also to introduce again this theme of transparencies that I have developed in this and other pages.

One strength I can see in this page is the interesting use of color, especially in the opposition between black and white and color and also the constant use of overlapping that aims to show a page composed by many layers, connecting myself to the work process applied by Newman. If I could improve this page I would try and use more types of surfaces to print on and also different colors of ink, in order to achieve a furthermore interesting effect.

The fold-out section of the page contains details of three collages that I created in A2 size with torn pieces of the etchings I made and famous paintings by Georges Seurat and Sigmar Polke . I selected details of the collages for this section and have explored them in a tactile way, focusing on textures, shapes and colors. I used details from the collages mentioned, fabric, image maker, photocopies, needle and colored thread, copper embossing foil, a biro pen, zippers, fibre mesh, watercolors, acrylics, hot glue, PVA glue and a glue stick. On the outside I included details in the tones of blue and yellow-green. I embossed a detail of the collages using embossing foil (as I also did inside the sheet) and I have included three image-maker details, which I inserted both in black and white color. Near the image maker on the bottom left, there is a detail of the original collage cut up and sewed back together with colored thread.

The other side of the fold-out section follows a more complex development. I inserted fibre mesh, embossings and painted fabric to add a sense of texture to the page. On some parts I used 3D acrylic to create three-dimensional lines and dots. I also included two zippers that I believe represent well the idea of ‘tearing things apart and putting them back together’ that I have embraced in the whole page.

I believe a strength of this section is the creative use of mixed media and the experimentation that I have carried out, which shows also the same idea in different perspectives. If I could improve this page even further I would consider inserting a wider variety of details and textures.

I started the development of this page by looking at a photo I took of a statue in Rome. A bird casually sat on its head, allowing me to capture the moment and to use this as a source of inspiration and a link with the page I made using Gary Hume’s work Beggin For It and The Bird. To develop this page I used a plastic sheet, an etching tool, screen printing ink, an etching press, heavyweight rough paper, textured materials, watercolors, a print of the original photo, glue sticks and hot glue. I also used fabric as a printing surface and acrylic and the back of a brush for the dots I have included to complete the page where it looked too “empty”.

I started etching the figure of the statue in in the plastic sheet, and, as I printed it for the first time, I was very pleased with the result because the lines were very defined and made a clear picture. As I felt more confident, I decided to print on many surfaces, such as fabric, felt, wallpaper, fibre mesh and sugar paper, but in the end I decided that the results on fabric were the best and that these were the strongest ones to include. Another experiment I did was to print using textured surfaces, and these allowed me to obtain the print on the right of the black and white photo on the bottom left. I then colored the etchings with watercolors both on fabric and paper.

I looked at two artists to complete this project, and I have included photos of their work on the page to show a direct comparison (Perry is on the bottom-right corner, while Lichtenstein is torn on the top-left corner of the sheet): Grayson Perry and Roy Lichtenstein . I have grasped the traits of the person, the lines and the shapes from Perry (in fact I also shaped a print like a vase, as the artist is an excellent ceramist), and I kept Lichtenstein’s flat and vibrant colors, the brushstrokes and the iconic dots, that I recreated using acrylic and the back of a brush.

I am extremely pleased with this page, especially because of the references I made to the artists and for the use of overlapping and color, which are surely the fulcrum of the work. I found it challenging though to compose the page, as I had many elements to choose from and I wanted to arrange them harmonically on the space available. If I could improve this page furthermore, I would include more care in the watercolor layers and I would also try to blend more the artist work into mine.

IGCSE Final Outcome Etchings

As Sigmar Polke said:

There has to be an element of risk-taking for me in my work.

For my IGCSE final outcome I decided to produce a series of etchings to emphasize and highlight once again two main aspects that I have considered throughout my Coursework portfolio: repetition (as my intention was always to produce pieces that were either related or worked into in different ways) and experimentation (as I tried to combine many techniques and I followed a ‘trial and error’ process to complete my etchings).

I decided to arrange my etchings in pairs. The first, Surreal Dream, aims to show a distorted and surreal reality where people and landscapes blend together and compare their shapes, colours and lines, creating the interesting effect of movement and depth.

The second pair, Dotted Reclining Woman, has a more mathematical and rational approach, where shapes and outlines become the decorative elements of the pieces. The comparison of an etching done on fabric and one done on paper is also, in my opinion, a notable feature of the composition.

Third in sequence, Polke Dots in Wonderland, aims to establish a rather direct connection with Sigmar Polke’s 1971 piece named Alice in Wonderland, where white dots and a rather unusual background become the contrasting elements of the finely drawn white images that appear and disappear on their own.

The fourth composition, Brushstrokes, has a quite experimental approach that tries to apply color in a new and creative way, either by filling in with watercolors some lines created with excess ink on the etching plate or melting wax crayons directly on the work. Also, the line suddenly striking through the first print creates a very strong and powerful visual effect.

The Faces of Color is what can be considered the peak of the project, as the etchings acquire more importance as the amount of work done upon them increases. The multiple exposure of the sculptures on the first etching, created by myself, enriches the composition and continues the blue was done above on the fabric. The bottom etching instead has fabrics photocopied onto it, creating an appealing effect of transparencies.

Last in the final outcome, Layered Figures is a diptych of digitally created images that contains the etching of the second composition overlapping photos taken by me, which creates a high level of contrast between the colorful backgrounds and the dark figures added on the work.

Did you enjoy viewing this Enrico’s Coursework project? You may also wish to view Enrico’s A* IGCSE Art Examination .

This high school art project was shared with our audience so that other students may benefit from the ideas, techniques and approaches used. We celebrate the effort and achievement of high school students and Art Departments around the world. If you would like to share your own art project (or that of your students), please read our submission guidelines .

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