RBSE SS Drawing common mistakes
RBSE SS Drawing · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When shading a still-life object, the candidate rubs graphite with a finger or stump until the entire form is a uniform grey, leaving no visible light source, no core shadow and no reflected light.
Smudging feels fast and gives an instant 'finished' look, and candidates fear that visible pencil strokes look unprofessional; they also copy the mid-tone they see in the middle of an object instead of building the full value range.
What to do instead
Before shading, mark the light direction with a small arrow on the sheet margin and commit to it. Build tone in three deliberate stages: light hatch layers at low pressure, one darker cross-hatch layer only in the core shadow and cast shadow, and a clean paper or eraser-lifted highlight. Keep the transition zone soft by lightening pressure, not by rubbing. Practise a five-value strip (highlight, light, mid, core shadow, reflected light) on scrap paper each session and check the drawing against it.
In perspective questions, the candidate draws all receding parallel edges converging to different points, or places the horizon line at the same height as the top of the object, so buildings and boxes look tilted or collapse.
Candidates memorise the words 'vanishing point' but never physically construct a horizon line and a station point first; they also draw objects from imagination without deciding eye level, so each edge is judged separately by eye.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed construction order for every perspective answer: draw the horizon line and label it, mark one or two vanishing points on it, then draw all receding edges as straight lines that actually pass through those points, checking with a ruler. For one-point views keep the front face parallel to the picture plane; for two-point views keep all verticals truly vertical. Do ten quick box exercises per week at three eye levels (above, at, below the object) until the construction becomes automatic.
In figure and memory drawing, the candidate draws the head first in detail, then adds a body that is too short, with arms ending at the hip and feet too small, because proportions were never blocked in.
The face is the most familiar and emotionally engaging part, so attention goes there first; memory drawing is done under time pressure and candidates start rendering instead of measuring, and they rarely check the figure against the classic head-unit canon.
What to do instead
Force a blocking stage: spend the first third of the time on a light stick figure or gesture line, marking the head unit, shoulder line, waist, hip line, knee and ankle before any detail. Use the standard canon as a check (adult figure roughly seven to eight head heights, elbow at waist, wrist at crotch level, foot about one head long). Compare the drawing to the model or memory by holding the pencil at arm's length to measure head units, and correct the skeleton before adding clothing or features.
In colour questions, the candidate mixes complementary or three or more pigments to darken a colour, producing muddy grey-brown passages, and labels a tint or shade as a 'tone' without distinguishing hue, value and saturation.
Beginners treat black and brown as the only darkening agents and stir wet colour on paper until it dulls; colour vocabulary is learned as definitions without practical mixing, so terms like tint, shade, tone, warm and cool are used loosely.
What to do instead
Darken by shifting within the same hue family first (add a deeper version of the hue, or a small amount of its neighbour on the wheel), and reserve black for deliberate neutralisation. Mix on a palette with a clean brush, adding the darker pigment in tiny increments. Keep a labelled swatch chart showing one hue at five values and at three saturation levels, and use the correct words in written answers: tint = hue plus white, shade = hue plus black or dark, tone = hue plus grey or its complement.
When a question asks about a traditional or art-historical work, the candidate writes a generic paragraph about 'rich Indian culture' or 'the artist's deep feelings' instead of naming the school, period, medium, subject and specific stylistic features.
History is revised as a list of names and dates without visual analysis, so candidates have nothing concrete to say about how a work looks; they also pad answers to fill space, and exam pressure pushes them toward safe-sounding generalities.
What to do instead
Prepare a one-page profile for each major tradition and movement studied, with fixed headings: period and region, patrons or context, medium and support, subject matter, colour palette, treatment of space and figure, and two or three signature visual markers. In the exam, answer under those headings in short labelled points, and always link a claim to a visible feature, for example the flat profile figures and dense ornamental patterning of a particular manuscript style. Never write a sentence that could apply to any artwork.
In landscape and outdoor sketching, the candidate copies every leaf, brick and cloud with equal detail, so the sketch has no focal point, no foreground-middle ground-background separation, and runs out of time half-finished.
Outdoors there is far more information than can be drawn, and without a selection plan the eye is pulled to the nearest detail; candidates also start at the top of the sheet and work downward instead of establishing the big shapes first.
What to do instead
Begin with a thumbnail notan or value sketch (three or four tones) to choose one focal area and simplify everything else. Block the whole composition in large shapes with a light line, place the horizon and main masses, then add detail only in and near the focal point, letting distant forms stay soft and low-contrast. Work general-to-specific and set a time budget: roughly a quarter for blocking, half for main masses, a quarter for accents. Use a viewfinder frame to crop and to test the composition before drawing.
In composition questions or drawings, the candidate centres the subject exactly, places the horizon dead centre, and lets a strong line or object edge run out of a corner or cut through the middle, without any preliminary thumbnail.
Centring feels safe and symmetrical, and candidates equate balance with symmetry; they start the final sheet immediately because they think thumbnails waste exam time, so placement is never tested.
What to do instead
Always make two or three small thumbnails first, deliberately trying off-centre placement, a raised or lowered horizon, and overlapping shapes to create depth. Apply concrete checks on the chosen layout: avoid tangent edges where two shapes just touch, avoid lines leading out of corners, keep the main mass away from the exact centre unless symmetry is intended, and ensure the eye has a path to the focal point. State the compositional device used (rule of thirds, diagonal, framing, repetition) in any written answer.
In memory drawing, the candidate invents a scene with no coherent light direction, inconsistent scale between figures and objects, and objects floating with no ground contact or cast shadow, because nothing was observed or rehearsed beforehand.
Memory drawing is treated as pure imagination rather than recall of observed structure; candidates have not built a mental library of poses, gestures and everyday objects, so they improvise and lose consistency.
What to do instead
Build a rehearsal habit: make quick two-to-five-minute sketches of people in action and common objects from life, and keep them as a personal reference bank to review before the exam. In the answer, first write a tiny plan (light direction, eye level, main figure scale, ground line), then draw the setting and ground plane before the figures, and check that every object sits on a surface with a cast shadow consistent with the single light source. Verify scale by comparing a figure's head unit against nearby objects such as chairs or doors.
In portfolio and viva preparation, the candidate submits loose sheets with no dates, no stated medium, no preparatory studies and no written reflection, and cannot explain the process or choices behind any work when questioned.
Candidates treat the portfolio as a pile of best final pieces and see annotation as extra work; they never practise speaking about their own work, so the viva becomes guesswork.
What to do instead
Structure the portfolio as evidence of process: for each work include the brief or subject, two or three thumbnails or studies, the final piece, and a short note on medium, size, date, time taken, problem encountered and how it was solved. Sequence works to show range across still life, landscape, figure and colour studies. Rehearse a two-minute explanation per piece covering intention, method and what you would change, and be ready to name the medium and the specific technique used.
In studio practice, the candidate works on a tilted or unstable board with poor light, rests the hand on the drawing so it smudges, keeps the pencil sharpened to a long soft point, and never cleans up or organises materials, so finished sheets are dirty and torn at the edges.
Habits are formed casually at home and never corrected, and under exam time pressure candidates skip setup to start drawing sooner, not realising that poor setup causes rework and damage.
What to do instead
Standardise a setup routine: tape the sheet to a rigid board at a comfortable angle, place the light to one side and slightly above, keep a scrap sheet under the drawing hand, and sharpen pencils to a medium point with a craft knife and sandpaper block. Keep materials grouped and within reach, clean the eraser on scrap paper, and protect finished work in a folder. Practise the full routine in timed mock sessions so it costs no drawing time on the day.