Andalusia PAU Artistic Drawing II common mistakes
Andalusia PAU Artistic Drawing II · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Starting the figure or still life directly with contour lines in the final position, without first blocking the whole composition with light construction lines (envelope, axes, proportion checks) before committing to any edge.
Candidates treat the exam as a speed test and want to 'get drawing' immediately; the fear of the blank sheet and time pressure pushes them to render a single detail (an eye, a bottle neck) before the overall proportion is settled, so errors are locked in and cannot be corrected without erasing.
What to do instead
Spend the first 10–15 minutes on a light structural lay-in: bounding envelope, central axis, comparative widths/heights measured with the pencil at arm's length, and a quick thumbnail. Only darken lines once the global proportion reads correctly from a distance of two metres.
Drawing what the candidate knows is there rather than what is observed - e.g. rendering both eyes the same size in a three-quarter portrait, or drawing a cylinder's top ellipse as a full circle, ignoring foreshortening and the eye-level line.
The brain substitutes a stored symbol for the retinal image; this is reinforced by practising from imagination rather than from life, so the candidate never trains the habit of checking against the model.
What to do instead
Use constant sighting: hold the pencil vertically and horizontally to compare landmarks, check ellipse openness against the actual eye level, and periodically turn the sheet or step back. Do blind-contour warm-ups and negative-shape checks (draw the space around the form) to break symbol drawing.
Building value with uniform, timid grey throughout, with no clear light direction, no distinct core shadow, and no separation between the light and shadow families - the drawing reads flat and mid-toned.
Candidates confuse 'shading' with 'blending' and are afraid of dark darks; they also fail to decide the light source before starting, so shadows fall in inconsistent directions.
What to do instead
Fix the light direction in the first minute and state it explicitly. Establish a 5-step value scale on a scrap corner, then mass the shadow family first (including cast shadow and occlusion), keep the light family clean, and reserve the darkest accent for the occlusion/core shadow junction. Squint at the model to verify the two-family reading.
Mixing colour by eye without a disciplined approach - adding black to darken, over-blending complementaries into mud, or failing to control saturation so the palette becomes uniformly chalky or uniformly acid.
Colour theory is known verbally but not practised; candidates lack a mixing routine and panic when a hue drifts, adding more pigment instead of resetting the mixture.
What to do instead
Work from a limited palette and mix systematically: identify hue, then value, then chroma. Darken with complementaries or a dark earth rather than black; test mixes on a scrap strip against the model; keep separate brushes/water for clean and muddy mixes. Build the colour block-in with broad flat shapes before any modulation.
Composing with the subject dead-centre and at the same scale in every drawing, with no consideration of the picture plane, negative space, or the format's proportions - heads cropped at the top or feet touching the bottom edge.
Candidates focus entirely on the object and treat the sheet as an empty container rather than an active frame; they rarely make preliminary thumbnails, so placement is decided by where the pencil first lands.
What to do instead
Make two or three small thumbnail compositions (30 seconds each) testing placement, scale and cropping before starting. Deliberately place the main mass off-centre, plan the negative shapes, and leave breathing room at the edges. Check the final composition by viewing the sheet from a distance and through a reducing frame.
Using one medium as if it were another - treating charcoal like a pencil (thin, wiry lines and no tonal mass), or using graphite for a dense black that it cannot deliver, or flooding ink without planning the white of the paper.
Candidates default to the technique they practised most and ignore the specific expressive logic and limits of the required medium; they also under-use the support (smooth paper for charcoal, unsuitable paper for wet media).
What to do instead
Match the mark to the medium: charcoal for mass, edge variety, lifting and erasing; graphite for precise linear and tonal gradation; ink for decisive, irreversible marks and hatching/cross-hatching with planned reserves of white; pastel for layered chroma. Practise a short medium-specific test on the actual paper before the exam piece.
Producing a stiff, over-outlined drawing with uniform line weight and no gesture - every contour the same thickness and pressure, no variation between structural, contour and accent lines, and no sense of movement or weight in the figure.
Candidates equate 'good drawing' with clean, closed outlines and erase any exploratory line; they never practise rapid gesture studies, so they lack the vocabulary of expressive line.
What to do instead
Do 30-second and 2-minute gesture drawings regularly to capture action and weight before contour. In the final piece, vary line deliberately: light construction lines, firmer contour where forms overlap or turn, heaviest accents at contact points and occlusion. Keep some exploratory line visible where it aids reading rather than erasing everything.
Drawing the figure as an isolated cut-out with no ground plane, no cast shadow, and no relationship to the surrounding space, so the figure appears to float or the environment is filled with arbitrary background instead of spatial cues.
Candidates concentrate on anatomy and treat the environment as decoration; they do not think about the floor plane, the figure's weight-bearing contact, or overlapping and scale change as depth cues.
What to do instead
Establish the ground plane and the figure's footprint early, check the weight-bearing leg and the contact points, and anchor the figure with a cast shadow. Use overlap, relative scale, and convergence toward a stated eye level to build space, and keep background marks subordinate to the figure.
Producing a descriptive commentary that lists what is depicted ('there is a woman, she is sad, the colours are warm') instead of analysing how the drawing constructs meaning through formal decisions, and using no specific visual evidence.
Candidates lack a critical vocabulary and a comparison structure, so they narrate content and guess at the artist's biography rather than reading the image; they also run out of time and write a rushed paragraph.
What to do instead
Structure the commentary: identify the work and its likely context briefly, then analyse composition, proportion system, light/value structure, colour strategy, mark and medium, and figure–space relation, each tied to a specific observed detail. Use comparative language (contrast with another work or with the candidate's own drawing) and reserve 10 minutes at the end for it.
Mismanaging time and the sheet: spending most of the session on one area of high finish, leaving the rest unresolved, or scattering several half-finished attempts across the paper instead of one resolved response.
Perfectionism at the start plus no explicit plan; candidates also misread how many options must be answered or how the sheet should be laid out, and only realise near the end.
What to do instead
Read the paper fully first and allocate minutes explicitly (e.g. lay-in, block-in, development, accents, commentary). Work the whole surface to a consistent level of finish before refining any part, and commit to one resolved response. Keep a watch visible and check progress at the halfway mark.