A* A Level Graphic Art Sketchbook Tour! (full marks)

Hello and welcome to my tour of my A Level Graphic Communication sketchbooks!

I was given full marks for my AS and A2 work. Please note I haven't included every single page from my sketchbooks in this video. I have an FAQ below if you have any questions!

*** FAQ ***
What year did you do your A2 and AS levels?
2013 - 2015

What exam board were you with?
I think it was AQA.

What sketchbook did you use?
The school provided us with A3 sized cartridge paper sketchbooks by Seawhite. I think the paper weight was around 140gsm. I usually worked on separate pieces of paper and then stuck these into my book as I was worried the materials I used would bleed through the sketchbook paper.

What materials did you use?
I used big range of materials and techniques - from acrylic paint to watercolours, fineliners to mixed media collaging, paper cut outs to photocopying experiments. The materials I used were usually informed by the materials the artists used in my research.

What do you do in Graphic Communication A Level?
We had two projects a year and had to show all of our research and progress in a sketchbook. The general format was to research a artist, copy a piece of the artist's work to gain insight into their style and then create your own piece in the style of this artist. After doing this again and again, you would then combine all styles and techniques learnt and eventually create a final piece. We also had to write an evaluation for each project and, in the third self-titled project, a short essay about why we had chosen this subject matter.

How is Graphics different to Fine Art?
The main difference is the expected final pieces of the projects - often we were expected to create commercial piece at the end, for example a poster or another type of advertisement. In the projects set by the exam board this was more clearly requested - in my Video Games project, I had to create box art for a new video game. Apart from that, graphic communication feels a lot like a mix between classic illustration and graphic design work!

Did you chose your own projects? How did you decide?
The first project "Joker, Jack, Queen, King" was chosen by our teachers. The second project "Video Games" was from the exam board, who gave us a list of titles to choose from. The third project "Zine Culture" was self-titled and the fourth and final project "A Journey" was again from the exam board. For the exam board projects, I usually did some research into artists styles that I liked and then tried to see which title best fit into these styles. For the self-titled project, I was interested in creating my own zine and chose "Zine Culture" so I could explore lots of different styles.

Any advice for writing annotations?
Think about every tiny detail and decision you made! Think about what specific details you liked about the artists work, why you think the artist will work well with your project and what materials you used and why. Remember to write about things you dislike as well as things you like and what you think you can do to improve!

What is the background music in this video?
Eastminister by Kevin Macleod

Thank you for watching :~)