Creative 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.
The sketchbook as evidence
- Thumbnails of about 5 x 8 cm, six to ten per problem. Each answers one question: format, focal point, viewpoint, value key, palette.
- Annotate: date, medium, intention, what failed, what to try next. A short numbered decision log is stronger evidence than a beautiful but silent page.
- Work in series and change one variable at a time (scale, support, viewpoint, palette), so comparisons mean something.
From prompt to resolved drawing
- Diverge, then converge: generate more options than needed, shortlist two, test each with a small value or colour study, then commit. Cheap decisions are made small and early.
- Controlled accident: frottage, monotype, washes, collage, mirror or photocopy reversal, digital collage. Keep whatever serves the idea and discard the rest; the accident is a proposal, not a result.
- Reference discipline: photographs supply information, not outlines. Combine several references with direct observation so the drawing is not a traced flat image.
Presentation
- A coherent dossier: thumbnails, studies, final work, brief reflection. Sequence should be legible without your verbal explanation.
Worked example
Three-hour brief, "the corner of a room". Ten minutes, eight thumbnails at 5 x 8 cm, two viewpoints chosen. Test each with a 10 x 15 cm value study, one high-key, one low-key. Choose low key because the brief mentions shadow. Construct the final drawing from measured boxes, not by tracing the study. Keep all thumbnails on the sheet so the selection is visible.
Traps that cost marks
- Committing to the first idea within the first five minutes.
- A sketchbook used only as a gallery of finished drawings, with no failed attempts or notes.
- Tracing a photograph, which flattens value and imports its perspective errors.
- Changing the concept late, leaving studies and final work unrelated.
- An incoherent hand-in: loose sheets, no order, no reflection.