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50 Ideas Gcse Art Sketchbook Layout Artists For 2019

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Free art Lessons from the Virtual Instructor

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Free art Lessons from the Virtual Instructor

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if you are needing extra help with certain techniques in drawing, painting, composition, this will be a great tool to use.

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Free Art Lessons and Tutorials - TheVirtualInstructor.com

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You can create textures by first applying bold color to the paper and then going over it with another color until it is completely covered.

Next, use a razor blade or a palette knife to scratch off the second color, revealing the color underneath. It creates a result similar to a scratch-board.

By using a solvent (50/50 turpentine and linseed oil) with oil pastels, one can achieve results similar to painting without actually using brushes and paints.

You can always use just either one of them. Adding turpentine will make pastels dry faster than oil alone.

Use a Q-tip or a cotton ball to blend colors.

Using a cotton ball with a solvent is great for coloring large areas in your drawing (sky, backgrounds, etc...)

Remember that you cannot do detail work in oil pastels!
The best detailed work can be done using paper stumps.

If you are laying out your drawing with pencil first, be sure to draw lightly, as light colors will not fully cover dark pencil marks.

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Oil pastels. Color mixing and blending. Art lesson.

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How to use oil pastels. Beginner guide and tutorial. Lesson plan with a practice worksheet.

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amazing work

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Last Updated on April 2, 2023

This article features the International Baccalaureate artwork of Iris Cheung, completed as part of the IB Visual Arts Diploma Programme at Sha Tin College, Hong Kong, 2012. Throughout her Investigation Workbook and Studio Work, Iris challenges perceptions of identity using paint and photography.

We were lucky enough to interview Iris below:
Your IB Visual Arts project contains rich and varied subject matter that has been investigated in depth. Talk to us about the ideas that you have explored in your work.
My work aims to examine and challenge perceptions of identity through paint and photograph. Using people as the predominant subject matter of my work, the idea was to create 'distorted' or 'off' portraits that work against our normal expectations of someone of a particular age or gender. The portraits that I did of my grandma are my favourite - she's animated, lively, and bold, contrasting how the elderly are often perceived. Although I wanted the pieces to be as dynamic as possible, it was important to retain her age in the painting process; following the likes of Lucien Freud, I focused on emphasizing the wrinkles on her face through demonstrating the cooler undertones in her flesh and creating texture.

The best part of the project was getting creative! I loved exploring a range of ideas before focusing on one issue. I was interested in reflecting Hong Kong's 'cosmetics culture' and unhealthy obsession with beauty, and did so though examining the visual effect of repetition in creating an overwhelming (and near sickly) sense of affluence. (In the painting process, however, it was a massive technical challenge for me to get all the objects identical). I also tried painting from photographs of crumpled editorial portraits, which was inspired by Nigel Tomm and a fascinating way of distorting the face.
Your project contains a range of highly personal, exciting portraits. How did you ensure that you approach a common subject matter in an innovative and fresh way?
Whenever I began the process of creating a new portrait, it felt natural to begin with photography. It was important to use people I knew in real life as my subject matter, and building a rapport with whoever I was going to paint really helped me to encapsulate their identity on a deeper, more personal level. Taking photographic portraits prior to painting enabled me to explore a wide range of poses and facial expressions before choosing the most visually compelling images to work from.
Your workbook contains excellent annotation and analysis of artwork. What advice do you have for others who are struggling in this area?
A useful tool for art analysis is having a structure that can be followed regardless of the work. Having a structure ensures that you cover all aspects of the work, and that you are really scrutinizing the details. Analysis was much easier when I could split up my observations into components: composition, colour, and form, for example. If you struggle with accurately applying art vocabulary (as I did!), it might be helpful to develop a list of art-annotating terms that you can keep referring back to.

It helps to remember that good analysis is not necessarily positive; being critical of artwork enables you to develop your own stance and style as an artist. Where historical or social context has influenced the artist's decisions, try to explain how it has impacted the art work.
Do you have any other advice for high school Art students who wish to gain excellent grades?
For me, art is really about getting inspired. It's important to be exposing yourself to as much art as possible, and the type of art that you want to see in a gallery is potentially the type of art that you want to be creating. Student life can be hectic, but make time to go to the galleries and exhibitions. It helps to be learning from accomplished artists because seeing their talent and energy helps to pitch a high standard for when you're thinking about how to develop your own work.

Be open to both ideas and criticism. Listen to your friends and teachers!
More information about Ian Murphy can be found on his website. The journal pages above reference work by Lucien Freud and Chuck Close.
What is so successful about this investigation is the way that Iris is able to explore her concept in a broad ranging way that connects and develops ideas in a genuine process as the ideas have grown. She has not stuck with one successful formula; instead she has pushed her ideas around and taken risks by exploring different possibilities. You can see her learning from her experiments and building on her successes in this thorough investigation.

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International Baccalaureate artwork by Iris Cheung from Sha Tin College, Hong Kong. Iris challenges perceptions of identity through paint and photography.

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amazing student work

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Last updated

This article features the Higher Level Investigation Workbook (IWB) and Studio Work of Naomi Ng, completed as part of the International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Diploma Programme at Sha Tin College, Hong Kong. Her project was awarded Level 7 and provides an excellent example for other IB Art students, as well as those studying high school Art qualifications such as A Level Art and Design, NCEA Painting and AP Studio Art.

Throughout her IB Art project, Naomi demonstrates a clear, personal connection to her subject matter, drawing from scenes that are rich with unexpected detail - washing hanging in a street; Chinese characters; building facades; chairs and tables in a bustling inner city food court; and a dramatic exploration of her grandfather's fight with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Ideas about culture and the interrelationship between society and the individual lead towards captivating Studio Work: a striking example of how learning from relevant artist models can enrich and inform original student artwork.
We were lucky enough to interview Naomi about her project. Her responses are below. Your IB Visual Arts submission contains highly emotive work that captivates the viewer. What ideas, subjects and themes did you explore?
Naomi: My theme was 'People in the city'. I chose it because I liked the potential scope of this subject. During IGCSE I looked into various sides of Hong Kong: people, cityscapes and symbolic objects. As I continued to the IB, I just couldn't choose something specific to focus on! I didn't want to choose a theme that was too specific, so I chose something I'm interested in, yet broad enough for artistic development.

The 'city' I refer to is Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a visually vibrant city, a place where east meets west, old meets new. Hong Kong is place that is rich in historical culture cross linked with modernity... A crumbling building could sit right next to a skyscraper...I find that really quite impressive! In my artworks, I focused more upon the intricate yet sometimes overlooked symbolic features of Hong Kong, such as Chinese characters and newspapers.

My artworks are mostly research based. The subjects and people that are featured in my paintings are usually photos I took of families, friends, or the environment that I am interested in. Generally speaking, my early paintings were about social issues in Hong Kong that I was concerned with, such as social pressures on teenagers, the influence of media and so on. However, my later works were much more personal. I tried to look at the story behind one person and gradually 'zoom out' to the bigger picture and see what the 'story' reflects about our society. For example, the piece 'Who Am I?' (see the last image below) is about my Grandpa's fight with dementia and Alzheimer's, investigating where his identity sits within society. I looked at how he looks at the world and how the world in turn looks at him.
You have experimented with a wide range of different mediums in your Investigation Workbook, producing visually exciting pages. How did this range of mediums help you with your project?
Naomi: Throughout the course, I had the opportunity to experiment with a range of media. Acrylic paint is the dominant medium of my artworks, with specks of torn newspaper, tissue papers, PVA glue layers and stencilling just to spice things up. Utilizing various mediums has the power to make work 'pop up' from the flat canvas, and that was what I was aiming for. While I attempted to create mild textures and interesting compositions, I also experimented with the materials to investigate how they shape and form. It's just fascinating to see how materials react in different combinations! Looking at the effects of different mediums can also provide understanding for future works.
Your workbook contains evidence of numerous gallery visits and the studying of artwork first-hand. How did this help inform and shape your project?
Naomi: Given that my theme revolved around the notion of Hong Kong culture, I was predominantly influenced by Chinese contemporary artists Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, Zhong Biao and Michael Wolf (my art legends) just to name a few. Their conceptual implications or visual techniques prominently shaped my artwork. Going to galleries first-hand really opens up the chances for inspiration and getting to know more artists. My art legends first caught my interest mainly for their unique style of painting figures. They may each be stylistically different, but all very effective and it just grabs my eye in an instant. I particularly appreciated Yue Minjun's representational, yet eye-catching compositions and his use of repeated figures. I loved his use of black humour. At first glance, the painting surface is visually stunning, but, as you look deeper, you see an underlying layer of meaning behind it... It makes you think, and that's the power of art. That was exactly what I wanted to achieve.
What other advice do you have for high school Art students who are hoping to gain excellent grades?
Naomi: Experiment, experiment and experiment more! At times it might not work, but the more you try the more you'll understand about the materials and themes you are looking at. Before you even realise, you may have developed your own style. But having a consistent style is important too...it gives a strong sense of coherency and tells others who you are. Another tip, as cheesy as it sounds, don't be too caught up with grades. Art is subjective. Students can get high grades by doing things correctly, but your artistic development should not be hindered. As long as you are satisfied with it, you should hold your head up high and keep it coming!
The students of Sha Tin College consistently produce outstanding artwork. We are excited and honoured to be bringing you more work from their Art department in the near future. If you enjoyed this article, you may wish to view our other Featured Art Projects, containing discussions with some of the best high school Art students taking different qualifications from around the world.

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Last updated This article features the Higher Level Investigation Workbook (IWB) and Studio Work of Naomi Ng, completed as part of the International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Diploma Programme at Sha Tin College, Hong Kong.

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emulating an artists work and stating what you learned from it.

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Example of a visual analysis and how to document what you are learning from an artists and applying it to your own work.

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Experimentation and manipulation of media. 

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Experimentation and manipulation of media. 

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Example of student's perfect IB DP Score in art. 

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Example of student's perfect IB DP Score in art. 

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Last Updated on January 5, 2022

This article features the International Baccalaureate Exhibition Work, Comparative Study and Process Portfolio of Enrico Giori, completed as a part of the IB Diploma Programme at the St. Louis School of Milan. The work is that of the new IB Visual Arts syllabus 2016, which was examined for the first time in May. Enrico was awarded a level 7 at IB Visual Arts HL, obtaining full marks in all three components of the course. Through a comprehensive investigation of the figure of the 1950s stereotype of the "Happy Homemaker", Enrico develops both a conceptually and technically strong body of work, underpinned by thorough investigation in his Process Portfolio and in-depth artwork analysis in his Comparative Study.

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!

Enrico has answered some questions about his IB Visual Arts experience below, covering all three components of the course.

The body of work that you have developed is based upon a particular theme: the stereotype of the 1950s homemaker. Can you outline how you got to this theme and what types of ideas you have explored in your work?

Gender inequality is an issue that I feel extremely strongly about, and, in my IB Visual Arts body of work, I have decided to explore one of the most plastic images of women: the housewife. By employing irony, humour and storytelling, I have been able to explore the veil of ridiculousness that makes the 1950s inspired stereotype of the joyful, perennially well-dressed and smiling woman nothing but a "self-made hell". Through my work I tried to show how women are often unable to fully develop their own person and tailor the roles of housewife, professional, mother and so on to their own vision of their own lives.

Although my whole body of work revolves around this very intricate conceptual framework, I actually got to the figure of the housewife by investigating the anatomy of the human hand in my Process Portfolio at first, which led me to produce observational studies of dish washing gloves, which inevitably led my thinking to the domestic environment.

How have your IB Visual Arts Process Portfolio and Visual Journal helped you develop your body of work, and what advice do you have for future and present Visual Arts students when it comes to their PP?

The Visual Journal, which I then edited and digitally re-assembled to form my Process Portfolio, was fundamental in my Visual Arts journey: not only did it enable me to brainstorm, test and refine ideas, but it also allowed me to reflect on my art making and critically analyse my work and that of artists who I have investigated. One of my main pieces of advice for the Visual Journal (and the Process Portfolio which is then submitted for assessment) is to ensure that it clearly represents your thought process when it comes to art making. The assessment criteria for this component clearly states that you should be showing your ideas both using written text and visuals. Don't be too dependent on text to convey your thoughts, as this may hinder the strength of your imagery and concepts. Diagrams, photos of the art-making process and quick sketches may help you convey important information to the examiner.

Has your Comparative Study also informed your work? If yes, how has it done so?

My Comparative Study has greatly informed my work, especially because it allowed me to explore different pieces of art from different cultural, historical and social contexts. I selected three pieces of art, which were rather different one from the other: Rebecca Horn's Finger Gloves (1972), André Kertész's Paul Arma's Hands (1928) and a Japanese ukiyo-ye print by an unknown artist, entitled Courtiers With A Lady (1820 approx.)

Despite the pieces being extremely different, I didn't find it too challenging to identify similarities and differences between them. For instance, one of my comparisons was solely based on the formal elements of the pieces, whilst another was based around a more conceptual reflection on gender inequality and its portrayal in art. At HL, Students should connect the artworks compared in the Comparative Study to their own work, and this section of my Comparative Study really helped me analyse critically my own pieces, comparing my methods of delivering my concept to those of three different artists from differing cultures and times.

Which artists have influenced your work mostly? Have you been also influenced by other sources, such as popular media, literature and so on?

I have committed myself to include a female perspective in my pieces, and to try and employ art-making techniques that utilize unconventional mediums, such as stitching, embroidery and innovative sculpture forms. Feminist artists such as Martha Rosler, Rebecca Horn and Cindy Sherman have been inspirational to me in terms of conceptual values, whilst other artists such as Man Ray, Egon Schiele and William Kentridge have impacted my work both conceptually and formally. This has allowed me to develop a drawing and painting style that I hope I can call my own. Popular culture and literature have also influenced my work. 1950s advertisements helped me create a convincing image of housewives, and other sources, such as Lady GaGa's music video Telephone, have conceptually informed my work. I have chosen to connect each of my pieces to a quote from Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife (available from , an anthology of feminist poetry that gives voice to all the silenced women who accompanied the most important men of history. Duffy's boiling anger towards men and their pretentiousness, which is expressed in her compositions through humour, satire and popular contemporary imagery, reflects much of my own portrayal of gender disparity.

The video above is one of the pieces Enrico included in his final exhibition. The video draws upon many different sources, such as Lady GaGa's music video "Telephone", Martha Rosler's " Semiotics of the Kitchen " and popular imagery from the fifties. Enrico filmed the video, edited the footage, added some public domain 1950s music from the movie D.O.A. and recorded his own voiceover, altering a script from a real 1950s instructional film for women, "Marriage is a Partnership". Although the IB does not assess audio in the Visual Arts course, the soundtrack was useful in terms of establishing a connection with the audience at the opening of the exhibition. The relationship with the viewer, explained in the Curatorial Rationale, is assessed at IB.

In your exhibition work you use a range of mediums and techniques, some common and others a lot less traditional. How have your choices of mediums and techniques informed your work?

I have always enjoyed exploring and experimenting with techniques and mediums, mixing and combining to create something personal. For this body of work I have embraced stereotypical female craft forms such as dressmaking, embroidering and stitching and combined these with printing, drawing and painting. Materials and tools have also been derived from the domestic environment. Soap bars, bleach, vinyl embossed tablecloths used in frottage, fabric and wallpaper from my own designs, combined with traditional charcoal, ink, acrylic and printmaking characterize my work. Digital imagery has also played an important role and photography and video allowed me to portray my subject in action, allowing for the smooth development of a storyline.

Using unconventional mediums such as household cleaning supplies wasn't easy at first, but these materials really allowed me to produce a body of work that portrays my concept in full.

Do you have any further advice both for current and future IB Visual Arts Students?

Visual Arts is a tough course at IB, but with discipline, a good work ethic and the will to set aside quite a considerable amount of time, you are well positioned to succeed. Also, try and develop a love for criticism: your work will be periodically critiqued, and although some critiques may not be easy to take at first, they will help you in the long run. You don't want to know what my body of work would have looked like if I hadn't considered some of the critiques I got from my teacher and friends! Monitoring progress is exceptionally important, and I was greatly assisted in monitoring my own growth by Heather McReynolds' Self Assessment Rubrics that she posted on the ThinkIB Visual Arts website. This subscription site for schools contains a wealth of useful information, and many art teachers use it already (this is one of the websites mentioned on the Student Art Guide list of great websites for Art teachers). Furthermore, I would like to tell anyone embarking on this course to never be afraid of thinking "too big". Back at the start of IB I would have never imagined I would have created a 2.3 metre tall drawing, a painting using bleach and an installation made out of soap bars, a doormat and magazine clippings - but it turns out that by the end of my course I actually did all these things!

One piece of advice I would like to leave anyone reading this article with is to always love what you do, because if you do so, whatever you are doing will show love right back. I spent several hours every day working on my IB Visual Arts work, and I must admit that seeing everything completed on the day of the opening of the final exhibition made it all worth it.

If you enjoyed Enrico's IB art project, you may also wish to view his A* IGCSE Coursework and IGCSE Examination project.

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The "Happy Homemaker": IB Visual Arts Syllabus 2016

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Last Updated on January 5, 2022 This article features the International Baccalaureate Exhibition Work, Comparative Study and Process Portfolio of Enrico Giori, completed as a part of the IB Diploma Programme at the St. Louis School of Milan. The work is that of the new IB Visual Arts syllabus 2016, which was examined for the first time in May.

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The more you know and learn, the easier it is to learn and know more. - Tony Buzan

What is Mind Mapping?
Mind mapping is a visual information management tool that helps us structure, organize, memorize, arrange, brainstorm and learn information in a highly specialized way.
The past 20 years have brought us incredible insights into the human mind and our limitless capacity to think, comprehend and store vast reserves of information.

If anything, these studies have highlighted that our capacity to think effectively and quickly is very closely tied to our imagination and our ability to create associations between various information chunks.

Mind mapping has come a long way since the early days when Tony Buzan first introduced it to the world. It is now on the brink of becoming a mainstream tool used by academics, students, business professionals and many other individuals to manage, organize and reimagine information in a new and highly structured way.

These days though, mind mapping isn't just about creating a map. It's instead evolving into a visual information management tool that's transforming the way we think, work, and develop our visual thinking capacity.

The Visual Mapping Evolution

Visual mapping has slowly crept into mainstream awareness over a period of about 10 years. There are now a plethora of visual mapping software applications available on all platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.

Our methods for organizing information are changing dramatically, and visual mapping is quietly becoming a revolutionary tool that's keeping us organized, productive, and focused. The question is...

Are you on board yet?

What follows is a beginner's overview of the principles behind mind mapping.
Along the way, we will also explore several mind mapping examples using a variety of mind mapping software programs. This exploration will provide you with a visual comparison of the features of each tool to help you figure out whether or not it might be suitable for your purposes.

We will begin our exploration by defining the process of mind mapping. After which we will delve into the benefits of mind mapping and describe a variety of uses for mind maps.

We will conclude our discussion by taking a look at the industry accepted standards of how to draw mind maps and the rules that govern their design.

A Broader Definition of Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a method for storing, organizing, prioritizing, learning, reviewing and memorizing information.

It presents an overview and summary of a body of knowledge that fuses words and pictures together.

Mind mapping seamlessly blends logic and creative thought to help us think more proficiently and effectively about the subject we are learning.

What are the Benefits of Mind Mapping?

The benefits of mind mapping are extensive and far-reaching.

In a general way, mind mapping expands our ability to think laterally and logically in any given situation.

Listed below are several benefits of using mind maps for thinking, organizing information, and brainstorming ideas.

Mind mapping...

Helps you grasp a big picture overview of the subject under study.

Improves your capacity to explore detailed snippets of information.

Helps improve your memory, retention, and comprehension of information.

Helps you organize information into easy to remember chunks.

Helps reduce mental clutter, cope with information overload, and overwhelm.

Stimulates the imagination and encourages creative insights and ideas.

Helps enhance your level of focus and concentration while working or studying.

Helps expand your ability to take effective, better organized, and more comprehensive notes.

Makes learning and organizing information fun and exciting, which subsequently strengthens your interest in the subject matter.

Helps accelerate your ability to solve complex problems.

Improved your capacity to manage your academic workload.

Helps unlock hidden understandings within information chunks.

Helps unlock unexpected creative insights and ideas.

Helps you save time while working, studying or learning.

Helps you to prepare for tests and examinations.

Helps provide you with more clarity about your goals, ideas, and actions.

Helps triggers creative associations between seemingly unrelated bits of information.

This list of benefits is, of course, by no means comprehensive. There are many more value-added benefits that are specific to individuals who consistently work with mind maps.

To gain actual value from using mind maps, you will need to commit yourself to incorporating them into your work and study routine for at least 30 days. You will need at the very least four weeks to fully comprehend the value that mind maps can bring to your life.

Remember though, that you don't necessarily need to be a doodler to gain value from using mind maps. Mind mapping isn't about pretty little pictures and doodles. It's rather about the structure and process you use to organize and make sense of information.

What Can Mind Maps be Used for?

Since the dawn of the Internet Age, mind mapping has been growing steadily as a traditional method for collating, organizing, and expanding upon existing knowledge and information.

Over this period, many people have shared extraordinary insights about how they have used mind maps to help them organize, manage and improve their lives.

What follows, are various uses for mind maps that people from all walks of life have found of value.

Mind Mapping for Work Productivity

Here are examples of ways professionals use mind mapping at work:

Planning sales strategy

Planning marketing strategy

Organizing and managing projects

Organizing and managing meetings

Preparing for networking events

Preparing for interviews

Business planning

Research and development

Mind Mapping for Academic Success

Here are examples of ways students use mind mapping at school:

Mind Mapping for Life Management

Here are examples of ways people use mind mapping to manage their life:

The things that can be achieved and the amount of information we can manage at one time using mind maps is absolutely extraordinary. And this list only scrapes the surface of what's possible.

How do I Draw a Mind Map?

Drawing a mind map involves a rather simple process. All that's required is an understanding of its underlying structure.

Mind mapping is, in fact, a process that requires very little step-by-step explanation. For that reason, I will break it down for you here in only a few brief steps.

Here are several quick guidelines to help you get started drawing your very first mind map:

1. Take out a large sheet of paper and place it horizontally in front of you.

2. Draw a reasonably sized (colored) memorable central image that represents the topic you are going to be mapping. Alternatively, draw a circle and write some words inside the circle to represent that image.

3. Draw at least four thick organic looking branches radiating outwards from the central image. Using a different color for each branch is helpful.

4. Write key-words (headings) along these branches that represent the central image and the topic you are mapping.

5. Draw additional branches that extend from your main branches. The words on these branches are sub-topics of the words you wrote on your main branches.

6. Keep expanding the mind map outwards with additional sub sub-topics/keywords and branches.

7. Refer to the mind mapping rules presented in the next section to help improve your memory and recall of the information you are mapping.

For more information about how to draw mind map step-by-step, please see Drawing a Mind Map from Start to Finish.

What are the Rules for Mind Mapping?

The content in this section is built upon the mind mapping software examples presented in the next section.

You will gain significant value by downloading these images and referring to them as you work through the mind mapping rules listed below.

These mind mapping software screenshots will likewise provide you with a visual representation of the critical points of emphasis discussed below.
To improve your memory and recall of the mind map you are creating, it's essential to use some creative tools that will help stimulate deeper conscious awareness and free association.
Please keep in mind that it's not necessary to follow all the guidelines listed below. However, it can be incredibly helpful if you check all of them off your list. That's because following each guideline will help improve your memory and recall of the information you are mind mapping.

Okay, here are several mind mapping rules you should keep in mind when creating your mind maps.

Use symbols to classify different types of thoughts and ideas.

Use keywords on lines. Short phrases can also work well.

Use multi-headed arrows of varying color, size, style and dimensions.

Use codes to help draw your attention to specific sections of the map.

Use proper spacing between topics to separate your ideas.

Use stimulating images and colors throughout the map.

Use images to represent words in a metaphorical, sound-like, or in a direct manner.

Create boundaries and borders to draw attention to specific branches.

Create linear hierarchies of ordered numbers, lists and letters.

Create a hierarchy of lines where they start off think then thin out as they expand outward.

Draw thick branches that radiate outwards away from the central image.

Create word-hierarchies by varying word sizes to emphasize their level of importance.

Use UPPER and lower case to emphasize the importance of each word.

Create a memorable central image and complementary visuals that come off the main branches.

Draw different shapes to represent ideas and segments of the map.

Vary font styles to separate ideas and topics.

Vary branch colors to distinguish different topics.

Vary branch endings to emphasize words and phrases.

Vary branch thickness to highlight specific ideas.

Vary image colors, emphasis, and size to improve memory and recall.

For information on how to study using mind maps, please have read of mind mapping study skills.
Drawing mind maps in this way help stimulate our imaginations, form stronger visual associations while improving memory and recall of the information we are learning.
Below is a mind map that was drawn by Paul Foreman. It presents the above-mentioned mind mapping rules in a visually beautiful and practical way.
Drawing mind maps in this way allow for greater flexibility and freedom. It provides your brain with avenues for creative self-expression.
To see more of Paul Foreman's collection of creative and inspirational mind maps, please visit his Mind Map Inspiration website.

Paul also has a beautiful Drawing Tips for Mind Mapping ebook where he teaches how to create mind maps from scratch.

For further insight into Paul's drawing and mind mapping techniques, have a read of How I Drew My Mind Maps ebook. There Paul discusses how he draws his mind maps using a simple and easy to follow process of steps.

Creating a Mind Map Using Mind Mapping Software

These days there are a wide array of mind mapping software applications available on the market. Whether you're on a PC, a MAC, using Android, iOS, or Linux, there is a mind mapping application available for every platform.

Below I have represented the mind mapping rules (discussed above) using 3 leading mind mapping software applications.

As you will see below, each mind mapping application represents these rules in a slightly different way. I have also provided a short explanation of each software applications unique features below each image.

These images will provide you with a good point-of-reference of what each software application is capable of. However, do keep in mind that each software has many other additional features that I do not explore in this article.

iMindMap

iMindMap is a cartoon-like mind mapping software applications that most closely resembles the hand-drawn mind maps created by Paul Foreman. The design of this software is also very heavily influenced by Tony Buzan's rules for mind mapping.

The software is relatively simple to use, allowing each user the ability to draw and extend branches with their mouse or a digital pen.

Content is added to each branch via the keyboard once that branch (line) has been selected. Colors, fonts, images, symbols, and discrete notes can also be added to each branch as required.

The software is quite pleasing to the eyes from a graphical perspective and is probably most suited to young children and those who are starting out with mind mapping.

In recent years, iMindMap has been adding a ton of new features and capabilities to each version of their software. It began as a straightforward mind mapping tool. However, today it has a plethora of features for students, business professionals, or those looking for a robust information management tool. Definitely one of the better options on the market today.

MindManager

MindManager is a feature-rich mind mapping application that structures content and information in a very systematic and organized way.

MindManager's primary market seems to be business professionals. Their approach to mind mapping is very elegant and straightforward.

It doesn't look as flashy from a graphical perspective when compared to iMindMap. However, it has a vast array of features for managing information, projects, goals and more.

MindManager provides the user the ability to organize, arrange and categorize information in a variety of ways. It also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office and Outlook.

MindManager allows you to attach discrete notes to every branch, to insert symbols, images, web-pages, file shortcuts, folder links, and more. It also has a Gannt Chart and Flowchart feature.

MindManager also comes with an integrated web browser and permits users to save their mind map creations in an interactive pdf format that can be shared with others who don't have access to the software application.

I have personally used MindManager extensively since 2008 to plan my blog posts, set goals, organize my time, manage the information I am learning, brainstorm ideas, and much more. My life would no doubt be very cluttered without it. 🙂

NovaMind

NovaMind seamlessly blends the features found within iMindMap and MindManager and improves on them in several respects.

Within NovaMind you can position the branches exactly where you want them on the map. Moreover, you can create different branch styles as you can see in the example above.

NovaMind also gives users the option to use a variety of layouts and to attach graphics and text to their mind maps. They have a fantastic graphics libraries, all of which help the user produce beautiful mind maps.

NovaMind is excellent for teaching and learning, as it provides a number of unique and helpful features like the Suggesterator which suggests new ideas related to what you already have on your mind map.

There is also the BranchStorm capability which helps you blast ideas out very quickly. The user can also print out mind maps without text on the branches to assist with note-taking, memorization, and revision.

NovaMind also has specialist features for screenwriting, presentations, and project management, as well as a long list of import and export options.

NovaMind hasn't received as many updates or upgrades as iMindMap and MindManager over the years. However, it's still a fantastic option for those on a budget who are looking for a reliable mind mapping software solution.

Finally, I would also recommend taking a look at Xmind. They offer a free and paid version of their mind mapping software application.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope that this introduction to mind maps has helped answer some of the questions you might have had about mind mapping and the various software applications that are available on the market today.

Mind mapping is growing in popularity every year and gaining an ever greater foothold within niche specific industries where information management is of critical importance.

As a result, it will continue to grow, evolve, and adapt to our ever-changing information management needs.

Time to Assimilate these Concepts

Did you gain value from this article? Is it important that you know and understand this topic? Would you like to optimize how you think about this topic? Would you like a method for applying these ideas to your life?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I'm confident you will gain tremendous value from using the accompanying IQ Matrix for coaching or self-coaching purposes. This mind map provides you with a quick visual overview of the article you just read. The branches, interlinking ideas, and images model how the brain thinks and processes information. It's kind of like implanting a thought into your brain - an upgrade of sorts that optimizes how you think about these concepts and ideas. 🙂

Recommended IQ Matrix Bundles

If you're intrigued by the idea of using mind maps for self-improvement then I would like to invite you to become an IQ Matrix Member.

If you're new to mind mapping or just want to check things out, then register for the Free 12 Month Membership Program. There you will gain access to over 90 mind maps, visual tools, and resources valued at over $500.

If, on the other hand, you want access to an ever-growing library of 100s of visual tools and resources, then check out our Premium Membership Packages. These packages provide you with the ultimate visual reference library for all your personal development needs.

Free Articles and Resources

Here are a number of highly recommended free articles and online resources that will further help expand your understanding of mind mapping:

Mind Mapping Software Applications

Here are several mind mapping software applications you might like to check out.

These applications are either free, or they come with a free trial period. Some of these applications are cloud-based, and ideal for collaboration.

Many of them are also cross-platform applications that can be used on a Mac or PC. Xmind, Mindomo, and FreeMind have Linux versions. You will also find iOS and Android versions of some of these apps. Visit each website link for more information.

Recommended Books

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The Complete Guide on How to Mind Map for Beginners

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The more you know and learn, the easier it is to learn and know more. - Tony Buzan Mind mapping is a visual information management tool that helps us structure, organize, memorize, arrange, brainstorm and learn information in a highly specialized way.

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The term subjects in art refers to the main idea that is represented in the artwork. The subject in art is basically the essence of the piece. To determine subject matter in a particular piece of art, ask yourself: What is actually depicted in this artwork? What is the artist trying to express to the world... what is his or her message? And how are they conveying that message?

In this section, we'll learn about 6 main subjects that artists have been exploring in art for centuries:

still life- a collection of inanimate objects arranged together in a specific way

landscape - natural scenery such as mountains, cliffs, rivers, etc

nature -a focused view or interpretation of specific natural elements

portraiture -an image of a particular person or animal, or group thereof

Click on a subject matter above to read an in-depth description and see examples of artwork focusing on that subject. You will also find a depiction of what specific mediumscan achieve within that subject matter.

If you want to paint or draw, but you need some ideas and inspiration, remember that subjects in art can be anything you want them to be - whatever your imagination conjures up. The most important thing is to choose a subject matter that interests you - something that you can happily immerse yourself in while working on your piece.

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Subjects in Art: Explore Different Subjects in Art from Past to Present - Art is Fun

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The term subjects in art refers to the main idea that is represented in the artwork. The subject in art is basically the essence of the piece. To determine subject matter in a particular piece of art, ask yourself: What is actually depicted in this artwork?

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IN SOLIDARITY

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art stands with Black Lives Matter. We stand against police brutality, institutionalized racism, and systemic discrimination that targets Black Americans.

The Black community has taught us. We have made mistakes in our long journey to become an anti-racist institution, and we apologize. We have much more to learn. We are joining your call for immediate and lasting justice.

We are listening to Black community partners, to leaders in the faith, civic, and art communities, and to our staff members. The Nelson-Atkins would not be where we are without the cherished voices of Black community members. We thank you, and we will step up to support and celebrate you. We commit to doing better for you.

We are working every day to become an institution that is stronger, braver, and committed to the ideals of empathy, equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility. We stand with you now, and we will stand with you tomorrow.

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The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Kansas City

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IN SOLIDARITY The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art stands with Black Lives Matter. We stand against police brutality, institutionalized racism, and systemic discrimination that targets Black Americans. The Black community has taught us. We have made mistakes in our long journey to become an anti-racist institution, and we apologize.

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Google Arts & Culture features content from over 2000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online.

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Do you know the basics of drawing and digital art, but feel stuck at your current skill level? Do you admire the talent of your favorite artists and wonder how you could ever become as good as them? Do you want desperately to improve but don't even know where to start?

Here is some great news: In this...

read more

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ArtPrompts | A Prompt Generator for Artists

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Do you know the basics of drawing and digital art, but feel stuck at your current skill level? Do you admire the talent of your favorite artists and wonder how you could ever become as good as them? Do you want desperately to improve but don't even know where to start?

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Comparative Study Template

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Cardboard is a mundane material, so often cast off and thrown away or recycled - but these 12 artists have transformed it into objects that are anything but disposable. From expressive little faces made of toilet paper tubes to an entire cardboard city, these works of art range from temporary installations to durable sculptures that are imaginative and eco-friendly.

Junior Fritz Jaquet

The lowly toilet paper roll has many surprising uses, but perhaps none are quite so full of personality as the 'origami' sculptures of Junior Fritz Jacquet. This paper artist paints the inner cardboard tubes from toilet paper and folds them into expressive faces, each distinct and charming despite their humble origins.

Peeta

Italian artist Peeta is renowned for his graffiti, but it's his 3-D interpretations of his art that make him really stand out from the crowd. Cardboard is among the materials Peeta has used to transform written graffiti into complex forms that have been featured in galleries around the world.

Fantastic Norway Architecture

While living in a cardboard box is about as far from high-end architecture as it gets, a firm called Fantastic Norway Architecture managed to make hundreds of them into a unique hanging art installation. The boxes form a pixelated-looking 'cloud' suspended from the ceiling at the Center for Design and Architecture.

Mike Leavitt

Seattle-based artist Mike Leavitt created a series of cardboard shoes for the 'Don't Stop Object Shopping' exhibition at NYC's Fuse Gallery last April. The sculptures show what shoes like Air Jordan IVs, adidas Gazelles and Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars would look like in recyclable form.

"These are aimed at examining consumerism and the current state of the economy," Leavitt told Arrested Motion. "I've found a rhythm with making them, I'm learning new fabrication tricks which I'm still excited to apply, and continue to have tons of ideas on how to expand the series."

Jözef Sumichrast

Sculptor Jözef Sumichrast says he can't find any inspiration in traditional artists' materials, so he has turned to cardboard, shellac and drywall screws among other unusual media.

Of this piece, Sumichrast says, "Sometimes when I work for a couple of days without sleep fatigue sets in. These are the times when I see movement. Out of the corner of my eye a shape or undesirable object moves across the floor or falls from the ceiling. Recently... one of these shapes was a large rabbit. Though the rabbit appeared only for an instant, its image remains with me."

"I did not want to completely refine or cast this piece. The image came and vanished so quickly that I felt it needed an unfinished appearance. The medium for "Wall Rabbit" is industrial cardboard. The use of cardboard is a backlash against technology. However, I have found that when this lowly material is sanded, it is elevated to velvet."

Paul Orzech

Artist Paul Orzech's sculptures don't look like they're made of cardboard either - but that's because they're not, technically, though the material plays a large role in his technique. But Orzech uses strips of cardboard to form his designs before firing them in a kiln, resulting in cavities that are filled with molten bronze.

Joseph DeLappe

Artist Joseph DeLappe created a 17-foot-tall cardboard figure of his avatar in the video game Second Life, MGandhi Chakrabarti. In March of 2008, DeLappe and his avatar walked through Second Life for 26 days to reenact the real Ghandi's 1930s Salt March. DeLappe used a Nordic Trak Walkfit to travel the 248-mile length of Gandhi's original march, six hours a day for 24 days, converting his steps into those of his avatar. He provides instructions for creating the cardboard Ghandi at Instructables.

Miika Nyyssonen

Miika Nyyssonen used cardboard as the main component in his interactive Olin Hall Gallery installation 'M the Machine'. 700 cardboard boxes were cut according to ten different models, each surface containing between one and ten square holes that provide partial views of other interior spaces and of three sets of home movies from three decades as the viewer moves within the work, simulating the workings of memory.

Ana Serrano

The colorful and whimsical cardboard sculpture of Ana Serrano, including the pictured piece 'Cartoonlandia', are tiny imaginary worlds brought to life. The artist says, "Recently I've been working with cardboard because I find it easy to handle and manipulate, but also I like that it's a mundane and familiar material."

Ann Weber

Ann Weber's gourds, spires, pods, Russian samovars and other figures stand as tall as 16 feet, towering over the artist herself and shining with a patina of shellac. Weber, of California, began her career as a ceramic artist but began working in cardboard in the early '90s, intrigued by the idea of using such mundane materials.

Shigeru Ban

Is cardboard strong enough to be used in real architectural structures? Shigeru Ban believes it is, and he has created several surprisingly sturdy structures to prove it. Among his creations are a bridge across the Gardon River of France and a temporary tower on the South Bank in London, both made from cardboard tubes.

Cardboard Institute of Technology

Not to be outdone by any other artist or organization, the Cardboard Institute of Technology created an entire cardboard city called "Cardburg", exhibited at the Cell Space gallery in San Francisco in 2008. So what, exactly, is the 'Cardboard Institute of Technology'? It's a group of cardboard artists who, according to their website, "pride themselves in their well-honed hot glue and box-cutting skills."

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Paper Crafty: 12 Cardboard Artists Think Outside the Box

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Cardboard is a mundane material, so often cast off and thrown away or recycled - but these 12 artists have transformed it into objects that are anything but disposable. From expressive little faces made of toilet paper tubes to an entire cardboard city, these works of art range from temporary installations to durable sculptures that are imaginative and eco-friendly.

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Why do Artists create still life art?

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A Still Life is a work of art, a drawing or painting (usually) of a group of objects. Objects do not move, hence the word 'still'. In the past these objects tended to be flowers, fruit, and other kinds of food or dead animals - hence 'life'. The French for still life is 'nature morte', meaning 'dead nature'. You get the idea. Nowadays, though, still life can mean any objects small enough to be put in front of you, usually on a table. So when did it start?

People have been painting collections of objects for thousands of years. The Ancient Egyptians painted stacks of offerings for the gods, in temples or tombs (see right). The Egyptians were not interested in perspective, or in shading. They didn't care about making things look realistic. They just wanted to clearly show what each of these objects was. Can you recognise any of them?

You can see a basket of figs, grapes, bread, a leg of beef, duck, more meat, and a cucumber. Quite a feast for the gods.

The Greeks and Romans

Greek and Roman artists sometimes painted objects too. These were more realistic than the Egyptians' efforts. There are lots of mosaics of objects you can see on the floors of villas or in museums, and wall paintings too - especially at Pompeii (the Roman town covered by ash in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD79). There is much more effort in accurate shading and colouring here than the Egyptians managed. Look at the fruit on the left, and the way the glass is depicted with white lines. It is not done with true perspective, however. For that we must jump forward in time.

16th and 17th Century

Serious still life painting only took off in the 1500s in Northern Europe. During the middle ages, art was supposed to serve Christianity, illustrating scenes from the Bible. Highly skilled painters in the 1400s and 1500s such as Jan Van Eyck included arrangements of objects as part of their Christian scenes. See the painting Christ at Emmaus right, by Caravaggio (1601). Can you see the fruit, bread, cooked fowl and wine? Another example is The Ambassadors, below, by Holbein (1533). Can you see the scientific instruments between the two men?

Both of these paintings are in the National Gallery in London. Click on the links for more information.

During this time artists tried to create dramatic scenes in a very realistic style. In the 17th century still life became an art form in itself, especially in the Netherlands. These paintings were not thought as important as religious scenes or portraits, but they were very popular. Many beautiful works were created - see the examples below.

Pieter Claesz, Still Life (between 1625-30)

Compare the wine glass with the Roman glass above. The ellipse at the top is very thin - painted in perspective, as it would appear to the eye.

Jan de Heem, Festoon of Fruit and Flowers (between 1635 and 1684)

Vanitas Paintings

At this time vanitas paintings became popular too. The name refers to a passage of the Bible in Revelations, which says 'vanity of vanities - all is vanity'. The idea was that people love their pleasures in life, the things that make them feel important or wealthy, and yet it all means nothing because time soon passes and we die. Bit depressing if you ask me. Although perhaps it's true that we shouldn't get too attached to our possessions. Anyway, vanitas paintings always had expensive and fancy objects, musical instruments and wine goblets standing for pleasure, and so on - but also reminders of time such as a candle or hourglass, or of death, usually a skull. Here are a couple of examples.

Harmen Steenwijck, Vanitas (1640)

Adriaen van Utrecht, Vanitas Still Life with a Bouquet and a Skull (1643)

19th Century

Artists continued to paint still lifes, but they were still regarded as less important than scenes from the Bible or ancient myths, for example. That changed in the 19th century with the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Now artists were not concerned with making a photo-realistic painting - there was no point, now photography had been invented. Instead they experimented with colour, shapes, and the way paint was applied to the canvas, to create works which were beautiful in themselves - not because of what they meant. The greatest of these artists when it came to still life was Paul Cézanne. He single-handedly raised still life to a respected art form. Other well-known still lifes from this time include Van Gogh's Sunflowers, one of which sold for $40 million in 1987.

Look at the intensity and the non-realistic use of colour in these paintings. These artists wanted to evoke the beauty of these objects not by making photographic representations of them but by using exaggerated colours, or colours which worked powerfully together. Look at the brushstrokes - now you can see them, whereas before the application of the paint was supposed to be invisible. Now the painting itself was the focus, artists could paint in any way they wanted as long as the result worked.

Van Gogh, Twelve Sunflowers in a Vase (1888)

Cézanne

Paul Cézanne painted a large number of still lifes, as well as landscapes and portraits. He is one of my favourite artists, which is why I've included so many of his works here. He was a genius with colour. Look at the close-up details of the pear and the tea-cup and you will see the use of unexpected dashes of colour side by side, to give vibrancy to the image. This sort of thing is extremely difficult to master - I certainly can't do it!

One thing to look for is the use of warm colours (reds, oranges and browns) to make things stand out against cool colours (blues and greens). But there is an amazing range of subtly mixed colours in some of the backgrounds to these paintings - he didn't just paint the table top brown or the sheet white, he gave them a host of colours to make them more alive.

Cézanne, Pot of Flowers and Fruit (1888-1890) Note the different colours in the table top and the wall behind.

Cézanne, Still Life with Ginger Jar and Eggplants (1890-1894)

Detail of pear - see the range of intense colours and the broad brushstrokes

Cézanne, Still Life with Plate of Cherries (1885-1887)

Teacup: detail from Cézanne, Woman with a Coffee Pot (1890-1895)

Look at the colours used - violets with complementary yellows amid the blue shadows, non-realistic but highly effective. And the ellipses are not in perspective! Cézanne often broke the rules of perspective to make a picture look better. Often his ellipses are too wide, because a very thin ellipse looks less interesting. So we have gone back to the Egyptians again!

The Cubists

Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso claimed the Cézanne was 'the father of them all'. These two invented a style of painting called 'Cubism'. They took Cézanne's idea from of not painting things in perspective - from one point of view - but from several points of view, in order to create something more original and effective. Both Braque and Picasso painted numerous still lifes, as we see here. In some cases it's difficult to see what the objects were that they were depicting. We are getting close to abstract painting now, in which the artist isn't painting anything real at all, but just creating attractive images with paint.

Picasso, Still Life with Basket of Fruit (c.1910-1912)

We're a long way from Pieter Claesz here!

20th Century

Of course artists have continued to paint still life pictures. There have been many styles since the Cubists. I hope you have realised by now that there is no one correct way to do art. The important thing is to learn a range of skills, then develop your own style. All the great artists first learned how to draw and paint in perspective, to create accurate shapes, tone, and colour. But once they had mastered this they spent years working out their own way of doing things, which is what they are remembered for. So it's worth learning the basic skills, but in the end all that matters is, 'does it look good?'

Enjoy painting!

Picasso, Still Life with Fruit Dish on a Table (1914-1915)

Can you recognise any of these objects? Does it matter? Do you like the way this looks?

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A Still Life is a work of art, a drawing or painting (usually) of a group of objects. Objects do not move, hence the word 'still'. In the past these objects tended to be flowers, fruit, and other kinds of food or dead animals - hence 'life'.

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Proportion

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I'm continuing with my Elements and Principles of art series on the blog today focusing on scale and one of the principles of design proportion. Scale and proportion in art are closely related and both deal with the size and the relationship of things to other things.

Here are some artworks you can use to teach scale and proportion in art for your elements and principles of art lessons. I will add to this list when I find more, so this is a good one to pin or bookmark! The horizontal images do not contain all of the examples.

Download the Free Elements and Principles Printable Pack

This pack of printables was designed to work in a variety of ways in your classroom when teaching the elements and principles of art. You can print and hang in your classroom as posters/anchor charts or you can cut each element and principle of art in its own individual card to use as a lesson manipulative.

Proportion in Art Examples

Proportion in Art: Good Proportion

Proportion in Art: Emphasizing Space with Proportion

Out of Proportion Art

Sir John Everett Millais, The Blind Girl, 1854-56

André Derain, Portrait of a Man with a Newspaper, 1911-1914

Songye people, Democratic Republic of Congo, Female Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s

Fernando Botero, Dancing in Colombia, 1980

Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1943

Saul Steinberg, The Fisherman

Giacometti, Man Pointing, 1947

Prehistoric, Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf), c. 28,000-25,000 B.C.E (On ACFK, 5 Artworks to Promote Introspection)

Parmigianino, Madonna with the Long Neck, 1535-4

Proportion in Art: Manipulating Proportion of Figures for Meaning

Artworks with Things Out of Proportion with Other Things

Jeff Jordan, , 2009

Francisco Goya, The Colossus, c. 1808

René Magritte, Les valeurs personnelles (Personal Values), 1952

Hans Eworth, Allegorical Portrait of Sir John Luttrell, 1550

Hierarchical Scale in Art

Ancient Egypt, Nebamun Hunting in the Marshes, ca. 1350 B.C.E.

Tanjore style painting from the late 19th century showing the ten Sikh, Gururs, Bhai Bala, and Bhai Mardana

Sumer, the Standard of Ur, about 2600-2400 B.C.E.

Palette of King Narmer, from Hierakonpolis, Egypt, Predynastic, c. 3000-2920 B.C.E

Benin Plaques, 16th-17th century

Big Scale in Art

Ron Mueck, A Boy, 2005

Ron Mueck, A Girl, 2006

Georgia O'Keeffe, Oriental Poppies, 1928

The Colossus of Constantine, c. 312-15

Nazca Earth Drawings

Chuck Close, Mark, 1978-79

Henry Beacon and Daniel Chester French, Lincoln Memorial, 1914-22

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Spoonbridge and Cherry, 1985-88

Small Scale in Art

Scale in Art: Artworks that Show the Scale of Nature in Relationship to Humans
There you have it! The best scale and proportion in art examples for your elements and principles of art lessons. Want more elements and principles of art teacher resources? Check out the below posts.

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Proportion in Art: The Ultimate List of Proportion and Scale in Art Examples

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From hierarchical scale to exaggerated proportions, this collection has the best scale and proportion in art examples for your principles of art lessons.

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Composition

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Artists often plan their work carefully. The planning of their work is called composition. To compose a picture, the artist has to first decide what the focal point, or the centre of the attention will be. This can be anywhere, but is often in the centre.

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There are several different contemporary terms used to describe pads of paper on which to draw, paint, write, or collect mementos. Some examples include visual journals, art journals, artist's journals, art diary, painting creativity journal, and sketchbooks. They have many similarities, the main one being that artists use them daily to record ideas, images, events, places, and emotions.

These journals can include both words and images, sketches and photos, magazine and newspaper pictures, collages and mixed-media compositions, or whatever piques the interest of the artist. They often include studies for more finished pieces or can be the source for developing a series of works.

Individual Approach

When it comes to a sketchbook practice, each artist needs to find what works best for them in terms of their approach to art and the creative process. There's no right or wrong way to fill your pages. The important thing is to experiment and create in the book continuously, every day, if possible.

Some artists may choose to keep a sketchbook just for drawing or painting and have what they call a visual journal for everything else-mixed media, collage, photographs, newspaper articles, and ticket stubs. In contrast, others may decide to keep everything into a single book.

Sketchbook Sizes and Tool Essentials

One organization method is to keep three sketchbooks of different sizes-one to always carry around easily in a pocket or purse, one that's notebook-sized for general use, and a larger one for more complex art exercises.

As for drawing/painting tools, at least always have a pencil or pen. Beyond that, it is useful to carry a couple of pens, pencils, an eraser, and a small watercolor set. That way, you have a basic portable studio and are always ready to draw or paint.

Benefits of a Sketchbook or Visual Journal Practice

Keeping a daily sketchbook helps you to see and be present in the world. This artistic practice can also help you:

Grow and develop new ideas

Make connections and foster creativity

Improve your drawing ability and observational skills

Maintain and ignite inspiration

Experiment with new techniques and materials

Encourage happy accidents or those unforeseen and unplanned creative discoveries

Tips for Keeping a Sketchbook or Visual Journal

Don't worry about making perfect picturesin your sketchbook-focus on practicing your skills, recording fleeting thoughts, and capturing moments of life. It's more about the process than the product. If you happen to create an exceptional composition, that's great, but that is not the goal. Keep your visual journal projects fun and fresh with the following ideas.

Mark up your pages ahead of time, so that you're not facing completely blank white pages. Paint layers of color, draw lines, use a hole punch-anything to make them less precious, and enable you to be free with what you draw and create.

Notice everything around you. Nothing is too mundane to draw-your cup of coffee, the materials you're using to draw with, squirrels at the park, a bike in a rack, or even a trash can.This is how you make your observational skills stronger.

Don't edit yourself. Spend no more than 10 minutes on a drawing and don't go back and erase. Instead, restate any lines that you'd like to change.

Try new materials. Don't be stuck using the same old pencil. By all means, use it if that is all you have, but don't be limited by it. Try different supplies, including forgotten markers and pens you may have lying around the house.

Try using an iPad, iPhone, or tablet. This is an interesting way of testing your sketching abilities in a fresh format. See David Hockney's iPad Paintings. See how Jorge Colombo drew a New Yorker cover using the Brushes app in Cover Story: Finger Painting.

Use color. Don't just stick to black and white. Alternatively, it can sometimes be helpful to give yourself specific parameters, like only using brown, red, and gold, to see what you can do within those limits.

Draw abstractly as well as representationally. Draw the same thing multiple times, becoming increasingly abstract with each drawing. Draw things up close so that they appear abstract, or draw small objects at a large-scale so that they go off the page and lose their context.

Take a line for a walk. Do one continuous line drawing of ten different objects. Keep your pencil on the paper as you draw and connect one item to the next.

Try a blind contour drawing. Look only at the subject and not down at your paper. It doesn't matter if the result looks like chicken scratch-this exercise will help you sharpen your observational skills.

Keep your sketchbooks and date your drawings to record your progress and artistic development.

Further Reading

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Tips for Keeping a Sketchbook or Visual Journal

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Keeping a daily sketchbook or visual journal will help you keep your eyes open and become a better artist!

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Welcome to the fourth piece in our Seven Elements of Art series, in which Kristin Farr of KQED Art School helps students make connections between formal art instruction and our daily visual culture. So far we have published pieces on shape, form and line. Still to come: posts on space, value and texture. How Does Color Affect Our Perceptions?
Color is intrinsic to art and is employed in countless ways by visual artists and designers.

Color can attract or repel, be quiet or loud, and convey a multitude of moods. The infinite color spectrum has been celebrated in modern art movements such as Color Field painting, with many artists focusing on color itself as their main subject.

How can color - or lack of it - affect our perception of an artwork and our desire to investigate it further?

Do certain color combinations evoke personal memories or associations?
Color Field Painting
What colors draw us into an artwork?

Color Field painting brought the idea of color as a subject into the world of modern art. As a painting movement, Color Field overlapped with Abstract Expressionism, favoring painterly gestures and a strong focus on the effects of combined or isolated colors.

In the slide show for this 2008 article, " Color as Field: American Painting," the artist Helen Frankenthaler's painting " Flood " is described as exuberant, exemplifying how artists use color to convey expression:

Ms. Frankenthaler keeps us conscious of her high-wire act in the jaggedly stepped colors of the aptly titled "Flood" and "Interior landscape," which centers on a single, exuberant splash.

View the slide show and spend time looking at each piece, paying special attention to your immediate reactions:

Which pieces feel calm? Which feel more lively?

Which colors contribute to those feelings?

Consider what might have been each artist's inspiration. Do the color combinations remind you of anything specific?

Are the colorful areas delineated or blended?

Do the artists use primary or secondary colors, or both?

For more examples, browse the slide show, " A Color Field Artist," featuring work by the painter Kenneth Noland.

In Roberta Smith's review " Flora Crockett, a Forgotten Abstract Painter," she tells the story of an artist whose works remained hidden in storage for years after last being shown in 1965, but they had recently been unearthed and exhibited in New York.

Despite being underappreciated, these works were part of the new conversation about color in modern art, Ms. Smith explained:

Ms. Crockett's paintings are in step with their time, a moment after Pop Art and Color Field painting had given color new heat.

The Color Field pioneers of the 1940s and '50s continue to inspire artists, like Liza Lou, who creates medium- and large-scale works (like the one below) that concentrate on color.

Made from thousands of strands of glass beads strung by South African craftswomen, the project, Ms. Lou says in this article, is "about color and labor." Helaine Posner, the curator of the exhibition, notes the artist's relationship to art history:

The very title of "Color Field," she said, evokes the work of color field painters like Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler, while the canvases allude to monochromatic minimalist paintings by artists such as Agnes Martin and Anne Truitt.

Minimalism and modernism also have a relationship to Color Field painting, as the artists focus on distilling the elements of art down to simple but influential investigations.

Hard-Edge Color Investigation

Ellsworth Kelly was an artist who contributed to the Color Field movement, as well as to Minimalism, and to a style known as Hard-Edge painting. Mr. Kelly liked pure colors, ones that were easy to describe, and he was inspired by nature, having been a bird-watcher in his youth. He also liked to investigate the dynamic space between two colors.

Hard-edge painting has sharp, strong dividing lines between colors. Where do these colorful shapes lead your eye? What kind of sensations do they produce? Do primary colors have a stronger impact than secondary colors? Which colors do you notice most prominently in Mr. Kelly's work?

View the recent slide show tribute, " Ellsworth Kelly, Mixing Abstraction with Simplicity " to see more examples of his work.

Then, compare and contrast Mr. Kelly's work with work in a slide show called " Dance The Line: Paintings by Karl Benjamin."
Colors of the Year

What kind of optical reaction do Mr. Benjamin's paintings evoke?

What do you notice about the space where two colors meet in his paintings?

Which color combinations attract you most and why? Is it a personal connection or preference, or something else?

How would you describe Mr. Benjamin's use of color in combination with shape in comparison with Mr. Kelly's?

Color influences us more than we know. It can tell us when to go and when to beware. It has special associations with holidays, pop culture and sports events. Some studies even suggest it can affect our productivity and our creativity.

Color can even help us form our identities. Just ask The Green Lady of Brooklyn, an artist who saturates her life in a summery green.

Pantone sets the color standard for the printing industry and their Pantone Matching System is also used in fashion, art and design. Many anticipate the announcement of their "color of the year," which was, for the first time, a combination of two colors for 2016: pale blue and pink hues called Serenity and Rose Quartz. In " Pantone's Color(s) of the Year Have a Political Edge," Vanessa Friedman quotes Pantone's statement on the choice:

"Explaining the choice, the company cited 'societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity, the consumer's increased comfort with using color as a form of expression, a generation that has less concern about being typecast or judged and an open exchange of digital information that has opened our eyes to different approaches to color usage.'"

Besides noting the connection with outdated gender-specific norms when it comes to color, Ms. Friedman also quoted the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, who described how the color combination might be perceived and why it's relevant today:

Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, said the joining of the two colors reflected "a soothing sense of order and peace" - presumably an attractive thing to incorporate into a product at a time of insecurity and global turbulence. It also implies that there is no line between "us" and "them."

Ms. Friedman goes on to speculate about how these pale cousins of red and blue might come into play in this year's upcoming presidential election, another example of an American cultural event where color plays a strong role.

Which color would you choose to represent 2016? What colors reflect current events or significant movements of our time?

To further investigate the visual impact of color, explore ColorSearch, a website founded by Alexandra Chemla, who wanted to make artworks searchable by shade.

In Laura Van Straaten's article, " New Digital Art Service that Puts Color First," Ms. Chemla describes how the search function works:

ColorSearch lets users select a specific color, or combination of colors, from among 200 hues. "It prioritizes based on proximity to the actual shade of that color you've chosen and the percentage of the piece that's made up of that color," Chemla says. You can highlight as many colors as you want, and then ColorSearch prioritizes those that have, say, four of the four, three of the four and so on.

Play with ColorSearch by selecting one or more colors and browsing the results.
A Times Scavenger Hunt for Color

What do you notice about artworks that are matched up with different colors?

Do some colors result in more cheerful artworks, while other colors convey different feelings?

Can you predict what kinds of artworks will result when you select specific color chips like black or white?

Since ColorSearch uses technology to "read" the colors of artworks, do you notice any nuances or flaws in the system?

How does lighting affect the overall color of an image?

Now that you've explored color as a subject for artwork and have an understanding of primary and secondary colors, browse through features in The New York Times Art & Design section - or elsewhere on NYTimes.com - and challenge yourself to a scavenger hunt. See if you can find images of contrasting artworks with the following characteristics:
Your Turn: Two Colors, Three Ideas

An artwork that uses only primary colors, and one that uses only secondary colors.

An artwork with a minimal use of color, and one that uses multiple colors.

A painting with Hard-edge color shapes, and one where colors are blended.

An artwork with calming colors, and one with energetic colors.

A color combination that attracts you, and one that repels you.

Choose a combination of two colors to focus on for one day. Gather found objects - toys, detritus, scraps of paper, or anything else that's portable - that match your chosen color combination. At the end of the week, arrange your items in a creative way and photograph them. Consider what these two colors mean to you and why you chose them. Notice any commonalities among the objects you collected. Does your color combination convey any feelings or emotions? How do your colors behave differently when they are separate instead of together?

After investigating objects related to your color combination, create your own artwork, either a drawing, painting, sculpture or digital work, that uses only these two colors. You may create one monochromatic artwork for each of your chosen colors, using different shades and hues of one color, or make a piece that combines both colors.

Draw inspiration from the Color Field and Hard-edge painters, and the results you found on ColorSearch. Your artwork should be simple and focus on color as a subject. Don't worry about representation; just play with the colors. Try concentrating on the space between your two colors and how it will affect your audience's perception.

Finally, create a campaign poster for your own color of the year, explaining why your color (or color combination) should represent 2016, and why it is influential and relevant to contemporary life.

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Analyzing the Elements of Art | Five Ways to Think About Color

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Welcome to the fourth piece in our Seven Elements of Art series, in which Kristin Farr of KQED Art School helps students make connections between formal art instruction and our daily visual culture. So far we have published pieces on shape, form and line. Still to come: posts on space, value and texture.

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Art Videos, articles.

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Art cyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine

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The Artcyclopedia is an index of online museums and image archives: find where the works of over 8,000 different fine artists can be viewed online.

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Great VAJ examples!

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The Student Art Guide is constantly on the lookout for great art teacher blogs and websites for high school Art students (including those studying IGCSE, GCSE, A Level Art, NCEA, IB and AP Studio Art). The majority of Art teacher blogs, however, contain poor quality photographs or have an emphasis on the pedagogy of art education, rather than upon sharing practical advice for students and art teachers. High school art education blogs or websites with a focus on quality artwork seem to be few and far between. Thus, for the benefit of our readers, we have begun to compile a list of the gems we have found. You may also be interested in reading how to create your own website.

Lectures on Digital Photography by Marc Levoy

Marc Levoy, who taught digital photography at Stanford for many years and now leads a team at Google, has uploaded every lecture and made this freely available. The 18 lecture course is targeted at beginners (those with no prior photography knowledge) and covers: lenses, optics, light, sensors, natural optical effects, perspective, depth of field, sampling, noise, image processing, editing, computational photography, history, famous photographers and composition. There is hours of footage, which includes include assignments for students. Videos are also available on Marc's YouTube channel, with a full playlist of the lectures available here.

Developing Nicely

Developing Nicely is a stunning blog by Chris Francis, UK Art teacher and Senior Leader at St Peter's Catholic School, Bournemouth, England. The blog contains thought-provoking articles that are illustrated with creative, contemporary student artwork, such as the examples shown below by Beth. The site is a rich resource for GCSE and A Level Photography students in particular (these are qualifications studied by high school students in the UK) and is guaranteed to keep you engaged for hours. Highly recommended.

www.juliastubbs.co.uk

Julia Stubbs is an Advanced Skills Teacher in Art and Design at William de Ferrers School, Essex, England. Her website features high quality GCSE and A Level Art artwork, photographed comprehensively and listed with results. Exemplar material is available, as are teaching resources. A brilliant site.

Ms. King's AP Studio Art class

The website by AP Studio teacher Carrie King contains a superb collection of teaching activities for the Art students at Mt. Eden High school, Hayward, California, USA. The activities cover perspective, line drawing, the depiction of glass and metal objects, working in monochrome, figure drawing and still life arrangements; providing structured activities to help students complete the 12 AP Breadth pieces. Each assignment is accompanied by artwork from Carrie's own students, such as the two examples below by Tiernan Kang (left) and Sikai Song.

InThinking Visual Arts

InThinking Visual Arts is a website for International Baccalaureate Art teachers. It is written by Heather McReynolds, who has over 20 years of teaching and examining experience. Heather was previously Head of Art at the International School of Florence and now offers training and workshops for IB Art teachers, writes textbooks and shares knowledge via the InThinking Visual Arts website. Although this site is subscription based, there is enough free content to keep you busy for hours. Much of the material is relevant for teachers of any high school Art qualification.

Bartelart.com

Bartelart.com is the home of Dr. Marvin Bartel, who has many decades of teaching experience, including over 30 years teaching in the Art Department at Goshen College, Indiana, United States. Marvin has Master and Doctor degrees in art education and is a consultant, lecturer and writer. His website contains superb essays about drawing, creativity and teaching art: many interconnected pages that will engage you for hours. The images below are from an invisible figure drawing lesson that introduces students to cross-contour.

Ferhan Khan's Flickr photostream

Ferhan Khan is an experienced high school Photography teacher from Doha College, Qatar. He has uploaded many outstanding A Level Photography and Art portfolios. These are shared in their entirety, with legible annotation and process documented, making these excellent learning tools. Students investigate exciting subject matter, explore contemporary editing techniques and stage innovative compositions, as shown in the work below by Beth Miseroy below. Some of the work by Ferhan's has been featured on the Student Art Guide, such as Kareem Al Saady's 100% AS Photography Coursework project.

Dan China's Flickr photostream

Dan China is a secondary school Art Adviser with a wealth of experience. His past roles include Ofsted Inspector and Chief Moderator / Examiner. He has worked on curriculum and assessment developments as well as revisions to examinations and assessment strategy. He has published a fantastic collection of student artwork Flickr, depicting some of the best A Level student work from Buckinghamshire schools (2007 - 2011).

Monks' Dyke Technology College's Flickr photostream

The Monks' Dyke Technology College in Lincolnshire, England, has published a range of beautiful GCSE and A Level Art sketchbooks and final pieces from their Art Department (such as the AS Fine Art sketchbook page by Calum Forsyth below) on Flickr, with some exceptional Graphic Design, Fine Art and Photography submissions. A photostream that can keep you engaged for hours!

Fortismere Art Department

Fortismere, a secondary school based in Haringey, North London, has a thriving Art Department. Their website links to Flickr, in which they have categorised an extensive collection of images: A Level Photography, A Level Fine Art etc. While there are a huge number of photographs to go through, there are some really fantastic pieces of work.

AP Central Collegeboard website

Advanced Placement (AP) is a rigorous high school qualification offered to students in Canada and The United States. The College Board AP Central website has three great Art sections: Drawing, 2D Design and 3D Design, which each include a link called 'Drawing Portfolio with Student Samples and Scoring Guidelines'. These provide access to an excellent collection of student work (such as the beautiful fruit drawings pictured below by Sucha Chantaprasopsuk from Reavis High School), each accompanied by clear explanations for the marks they have received.

Top Art exhibition

The Top Art exhibition features some of the best NCEA Level 3 Photography, Design, Printmaking, Sculpture and Painting (this is the New Zealand equivalent of A2 Art & Design) produced by Year 13 New Zealand high school art students. An excellent source of inspiration for students and teachers.

Some Top Art students have been featured on the Student Art Guide, including work by Bronte Heron and Grace Pickford.

NZQA website

The New Zealand Qualification Authority (NZQA) publish fantastic resources to help high school art teachers and students. Of particular note are the exemplar material that is provided for NCEA Level 1, 2 & 3 Painting, Photography, Design, Sculpture or Printmaking. This student work is very similar to that which is required for CIE Art & Design and is a fantastic resource for high school Art students studying any qualification. Work of a range of ability levels is shown, along with superb annotation from the examiners. There is also a separate section of Scholarship exemplars (such as the superb example below) - the very best work from Year 13 (A2) students.

The Saatchi Gallery art prizes for schools

The Saatchi Gallery (London) runs major art competitions for high school students, as part of its education programme. The winning and short-listed entries are available for viewing on their website. Although only single artworks are exhibited from each student (as opposed to the complete bodies of work that are available on other websites) the range and quality of work is excellent, making this website a great place for those seeking inspiration. The image below shows Julia Whiting, winner of the 2011 Saatchi Gallery/Sunday Telegraph Art Prize for Schools.

You may also be interested in reading our guide: why you should create your own website (and how to make one).

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The Best Art Teacher Blogs: Inspiration for High School Students

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The Student Art Guide is constantly on the lookout for great art teacher blogs and websites for high school Art students (including those studying IGCSE, GCSE, A Level Art, NCEA, IB and AP Studio Art).

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Art History Timeline

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The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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Works of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Met's Timeline of Art History pairs essays and works of art with chronologies and tells the story of art and global culture through the collection.

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Each winter in Ely, Minnesota, a crew treks out onto a frozen lake to cut hefty blocks of ice from its surface. They haul the thick chunks to storage, where they're stacked, covered in sawdust, and preserved for use the rest of the year, a once-necessary method of refrigeration rarely applied today. Consisting of dozens of people, some who have been dedicated to the cause for decades and others who joined in the last year or two, the team engages in the age-old practice of harvesting the frozen blocks at the property of legendary explorer and preservationist Will Steger.

Produced by Gravity Films and directed by Nathaniel Schmidt, "Ice Ball" follows the crew throughout two seasons as they endure below freezing temperatures, a typical condition for Minnesota winters that made filming extra challenging, at the explorer's sustainable enclave in the North Woods. The short documentary spotlights the community that's gathered around Steger since his Arctic expeditions and chronicles their devotion to more sustainable ways of living.

As the disastrous effects of the climate crisis accelerate, historic methods like the ice harvest reduce the reliance on carbon-based energy sources and offer an urgent alternative. "All of the ice shelves that I've traveled on in the polar regions, north and south, they're not there anymore. We're at this crisis now, the human race and the planet. We're going to have to innovate out of it, and this is what it's about," Steger says.

According to Short of the Week, Schmidt is currently working on a feature-length documentary about the life of a Wiradjuri woman. It's slated for release next August, and in the meantime, you can find more of his work on Vimeo.

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Each winter in Ely, Minnesota, a crew treks out onto a frozen lake to cut hefty blocks of ice from its surface. They haul the thick chunks to storage, where they're stacked, covered in sawdust, and preserved for use the rest of the year, a once-necessary method of refrigeration rarely applied today.

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HOW TO CITE?

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Last Updated on April 2, 2023

High school Art students are often required to produce still life drawings or paintings within the confines of a busy classroom. Most Art Departments have cupboards crammed full of visually interesting objects that can be used to create still life arrangements. This article lists still life ideas for teachers or students who are stuck or in need of inspiration. The collection includes tried and true favourites that have been used by Art teachers for generations, as well as more unusual and contemporary still life topics.

What is a still life? Here is a definition provided by Wikipedia:

A work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made

While senior Art students are usually free to come up with their own topic or theme (read our article how to come up with great subject matter for your Art project) many middle school or junior high school students are required to work with objects and scenes that meet the following criteria:

Viewable first-hand

Visually interesting, with a range of different textures, reflections, surfaces and forms

Small enough to set up and arrange in the classroom (light, easily moveable)

Able to arranged in different ways, creating original compositions so that multiple exciting works can be created

Durable enough to be handled safely by enthusiastic teenagers (without sharp or dangerous parts, for example)

Able to stored from lesson to lesson without eroding, decaying or breaking (this is not necessary if the still life can be drawn within a single lesson or photographed for completion at a later date)

Appropriate for younger students to view (i.e. not offensive)

This articles includes great work by students as well as famous still life artists. It is a work in progress, with many more ideas to be added over time!

50+ Still Life Drawing Ideas

Crumpled paper bags, such as this work by 18 year old artist Raegan Koepsel:

Styrofoam cups, as inspired by this activity by the DC Sketchers:

For more about drawing ellipses, please read 11 tips for improving your observational drawing.

Machinery and mechanical parts, such as old sewing machines, disassembled clocks, cogs/wheels and typewriters, inspired by this drawing from Parkway North High School, United States, taught by Art teacher and artist Grant Kniffen:

Driftwood, rope and fishing accessories, as inspired by these Roy Lichtenstein still life compositions (images © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein):

Fish, crustaceans and other seafood, such as these high school still life paintings from an IGCSE Art Exam by Nikau Hindin, ACG Parnell College:

Science equipment, inspired by this pencil still life from a student of Grant Kniffen at Parkway North High School, United States:

Wooden mannequins, as in these black and white still life drawings by Grade 10 and Grade 11 students from Conway High School, United States, taught by Carla Owen. Jeff (left), Dylan (centre) and Nathan (right):

For more line drawing examples, please read our comprehensive Line Drawing Guide for Art Students.

Armchairs, chairs or stools, as in this example by Daniel E. Munoz-Vidal:

Empty boxes, inspired by a drawing exercise completed by a student of Nicole Havekost:

Jewellery and treasure boxes, as in these still life paintings by IGCSE Art and Design student, Nikau Hindin, ACG Parnell College:

Preserved animals and other specimens in jars, such as these modern still life artworks by Cindy Wright:

Fruit and vegetables, inspired by Paul Cezanne 's still life with apples:

Vintage cameras, as in these collection of observational drawings by Year 9 student Dougal Burden from Takapuna Grammar School:

A glass of water, such as this example by Hanna Asfour:

A jug and cup of tea, with inspiration from cubist still life paintings by Juan Gris:

To see other background ideas, please read Painting on grounds: creative use of media for Painting students.

Hands, as inspired by this observational drawing by Cath Riley:

Marbles, spheres and balls, inspired by Pedro Campos paintings:

Potted plants, succulents and cacti, inspired by Laura Garcia Serventi's illustrations on Etsy:

Metal taps, silverware and other highly reflective objects, as is illustrated in this video of how to draw a spoon by VamosART.

Many resources that demonstrate 'how to draw step-by-step' encourage students to draw by formula, rather than learning to see and record what is in front of them. This time lapse video is very helpful, however, as it provides good insight into how tone can be built up using light and dark pencils on mid-tone paper.

Origami or folded paper, inspired by this observational drawings by Sean Dooley, a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design:

Please view our list of substitute Art lessons for more one-off drawing lessons.

Bones and skeletons, as in this example by Year 11 student Manisha Mistry, from ACG Strathallan College (please view her full IGCSE Art and Design Coursework project):

Complex interiors and window panes, as in this Henri Matisse still life:

Old shoes and sandals, as in these examples by Vincent van Gogh:

There are also great ideas for tools in this great Highcrest Art Department Pinterest board.

Weaving, as in this example by Year 11 IGCSE Art student Manisha Mistry, from ACG Strathallan College:

Musical instruments, as in this detail from a Pieter Claesz vanitas still life:

You may also be interested in viewing this 100% AS Coursework project based upon an abstraction of instrument still life by Year 12 AS Art and Design student Nikau Hindin, ACG Parnell College.

Old books, such as this example of a Dutch still life with books completed in 1628 (artist unknown):

String, sticks and stones, inspired by a teaching exercise designed by Andrew Strachan (now teaching at ACG Senior College).

In this activity, students are presented with a collection of sticks, string and stones, and asked to create a sculpture by tying together the sticks and hanging a stone from this using the string. Observational drawings are then created of this, with the tension of the thin, taut string contrasting the textured wood and stone.

Still life with flowers, inspired by these Vincent van Gogh sunflowers:

Lamps, lanterns and light bulbs, as in this charcoal drawing by Akrawczyk:

Contemporary food and packages, as in this still life painting by Tom Wesselmann (Art © Estate of Tom Wesselmann / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY):

A cluttered desk, inspired by this Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin still life:

A busy pinboard, as in this still life painting by Jean-François de Le Motte:

Eggs, as in this AP Studio Art summer assignment set by teacher Billy Hicks:

Rubbish / litter / discarded remains, as in this drawing by Brittany Lee, Year 10 Art student at ACG Parnell College:

This drawing lesson also featured in our list of ideas for substitute Art teachers.

Shirts, dresses and drapery, as in these examples by the students of Kristy Patterson, Guymon High School:

You may also wish to view this high school art project by Nikau Hindin, which contains images derived from decaying fruit and vegetables hanging on string.

Cutlery and kitchen utensils, as in this warm-up drawing exercise by the students of artist and teacher Julie Douglas:

This work was earlier featured in How to Create an excellent Observational Drawing: 11 Tips for High School Art Students.

Did you enjoy this list? Please share it with other Art teachers and students that you know!

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50+ Still life drawing ideas for Art students

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A list of still life ideas for teachers and students, including tried and true favourites, as well as more unusual still life drawing topics.

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Comparative Study

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The use of design principles applied to the visual elements is like visual grammar. When children learn art, it is like learning to read and write the language of vision. When they develop a style of expressing visual ideas, it helps them become visual poets.

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Page history last edited by Frank Curkovic 11 years, 6 months ago

Gadgets

Gardens

Graphic Novels

Great Outdoors

Growing Up

Glassy and Glossy

Head in the Clouds

Heroes

Humour

Identity (race )

Integrating Images

International Origins

Inside Out

Journals

Kinetic Sculpture

Landscapes of the Mind

Loneliness

Loss

Manhood (Wrestling With Manhood: Boys, Bullying & Battering)

Medicine and/or Anatomy

Memory

Messy & Sloppy (examples)

Minimalism

Mirrors

Monsters

Movie Posters ( 1 , Movie Posters for Minimalists )

Music ( Drawing to Music )

New Landscapes

No Logo (as in the Naomi Klein book)

Nostalgia

Opposites Attract

Ordinary to Extraordinary

Out of Place

Paradise

Paradox

Pattern

People Power

Personality Through Sculpture

Performance

Perspectives

Picture books (info)

Play

Politics (50 Stunning Political Artworks )

Power

Protest

Recycling

Reflections ( water , metal, mirror, glass , photography examples 1 )

Rock Posters

Romance

Seeing Things in a New Light

Shattered Images

Structures

Stories

Spirituality

Superheroes

Symbolism

Systems

Tactile Landscapes

Through a Window

Time and Space

Transformation

Urban Art

Urban vs. Rural

V iral marketing (SamsungTV example here )

Visual Connections

Visually Inviting vs. Repelling Environments

World Within a World

Zen

Zoom In

Art Through Time: A Global View
Art Through Time: A Global View examines themes connecting works of art created around the world in different eras. The thirteen-part series explores diverse cultural perspectives on shared human experiences.

Visitors:

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Page history last edited by Frank Curkovic 11 years, 6 months ago Gadgets Gardens Graphic Novels Great Outdoors Growing Up Glassy and Glossy Head in the Clouds Heroes Humour Identity (race ) Integrating Images International Origins Inside Out Journals Kinetic Sculpture Landscapes of the Mind Loneliness Loss Manhood (Wrestling With

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The National Gallery, London, London, United Kingdom - Google Arts & Culture

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The National Gallery Collection contains over 2,300 works, including many famous works, such as van Eyck’s ‘Arnolfini Portrait’, Velázquez’s ‘Rokeby Venus’…