Basque PAU Artistic Drawing II study guide
Basque PAU Artistic Drawing II · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Dibujo Artístico II is the second-year artistic drawing subject within the Basque university-access framework (PAU/EBAU), taken by students aiming at Fine Arts, design, architecture and other visual-creation degrees. It assesses whether a candidate can analyse form, organise a composition, model with line and value, reason about colour, handle materials, construct perspective, draw from observation and place their own work in a wider artistic context. The Basque PAU Artistic Drawing II study guide has 9 sections and about 3,842 words.
01Form analysis, structure and spatial representation
The EbAU paper for Dibujo Artístico II rarely rewards a faithful copy of a silhouette. This block tests whether you can take a given motif - still life, object set, reference photograph - and break it into volumes, axes and planes, then place those volumes in a credible space that has a ground plane, a light source and an implied viewer.
443 words, about 2 min02Proportion, canon and compositional organization
This block examines two linked skills: measuring ratios reliably, and arranging those ratios inside a frame so the result reads as deliberate. Questions typically ask you to place given objects or a figure in a stated format, or to explain why a composition works; markers look for comparative measurement and a stated compositional idea rather than a lucky arrangement.
438 words, about 2 min03Line, value, chiaroscuro and tonal modelling
Here the exam tests whether you can control the graphic means themselves: what a line is doing, and whether a value structure explains a light source. A technically tidy drawing with a collapsed value range loses marks against a rougher one with clear light logic, a full scale and controlled edges.
430 words, about 2 min04Colour theory and chromatic expression
This block tests the vocabulary of colour and the reasoning behind mixing decisions. In a coloured-pencil, pastel or gouache answer the marker reads whether shadows are chromatic or merely darkened, whether a palette has a hierarchy, and whether you can explain temperature and harmony in words.
392 words, about 2 min05Drawing techniques, materials and supports
This block asks whether you understand your materials well enough to choose them deliberately and control them under time pressure. The call for the exam states the permitted media and supplies the paper; markers judge whether the technique chosen actually delivers the tonal and linear range the motif requires.
406 words, about 2 min06Perspective systems and geometric construction
Perspective questions check whether space is constructed or guessed. Even in a free observational drawing, examiners look for a consistent horizon, converging edges and correctly oriented ellipses; in explicit construction questions they look for measuring method, not just a plausible-looking box.
442 words, about 2 min07Figure and natural-form drawing from observation
Life and nature drawing is assessed on sequence and on whether the observed form survived. A twenty-minute pose, a plant study or an animal skeleton rewards a disciplined order: gesture and structure first, contour next, value last.
450 words, about 2 min08Creative process, sketchbook and graphic experimentation
This block assesses the process behind the finished sheet: how an idea was generated, tested and revised. Many EbAU options include an expressive or creative exercise from a written prompt, and the sketchbook or dossier is where divergent thinking, material experiment and reflection become visible to a marker who sees only what you hand in.
416 words, about 2 min09Artistic drawing in historical and contemporary contexts
The paper expects you to place drawing in a history and to reuse that vocabulary when justifying your own work. Questions ask you to identify medium, function and spatial construction in an image, to compare two works, or to argue why drawing mattered at a given moment.
425 words, about 2 min