Nature, Landscape and Outdoor Sketching
What the exam tests
This domain tests rapid observation outdoors: trees, foliage, sky, water, landforms and rural or urban scenery. The paper may ask for a quick sketch or a finished landscape. Marks go to convincing depth, simplified masses and a clear light-and-weather mood.
Core rules
- Establish the horizon and main masses before detail.
- Divide the scene into foreground, middle ground and background.
- Use aerial perspective: distant forms are lighter, cooler, softer and less detailed.
- Draw trees as trunk, branch structure and foliage masses, not as symbols.
- Keep sky and water values related but not identical; reflections are darker and broken.
- Simplify foliage into clusters and leave gaps for sky.
Worked example
For a tree beside a field, place the horizon one-third up the sheet. Block the trunk, main branches and three foliage clusters; shade the underside of each cluster. The distant field is lighter and cooler than the foreground grass. Reasoning: the tree's structure explains growth, while value separation pushes the field back.
Traps
Lollipop trees, a horizon placed too high, uniform green everywhere, over-detailed foreground and empty background, and water painted as a mirror. Avoid drawing every leaf; select clusters that describe the species.