Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Art & Design
Art & DesignDesign and making25 min★★ difficulty

Taking creative risks

The safe version of a piece is usually the forgettable one.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Developing ideas: Take creative risks, experiment with process and review the effect of changes on the finished piece

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Take creative risks, experiment with process and review the effect of changes on the finished piece

Key learning points

  • • Deliberate experiments
  • • Working through a failure
  • • Reviewing honestly

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 13 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

creativeexperimentprocessrevieweffect

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 13 · Discover8%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 13

Watch first

Taking creative risks

An English teaching video on this topic from ArtJohn. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Take creative risks, experiment with process and review the effect of changes on the finished piece

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 13

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Deliberate experiments

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 13

Learn

Deliberate experiments

Change one variable at a time: the tool, the surface, the scale or the palette. Photograph each stage so you can judge what the change actually did.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 13

Learn

Working through a failure

A piece that goes wrong is information. Note what happened, keep it in the sketchbook, and use it rather than hiding it.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 13

Quick check

Why change one variable at a time?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 13

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 13

Quick check

What should you do with a piece that fails?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 13

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Reviewing honestly

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 13

Learn

Reviewing honestly

Pin work up, stand back and compare. Ask which version communicates the idea most clearly — not which took longest.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 13

Quick check

What is the best test when reviewing work?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 13

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

12

Mastery quiz

Part 12 of 13

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Taking creative risks

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Why change one variable at a time?

  2. 2. What should you do with a piece that fails?

  3. 3. What is the best test when reviewing work?

13

Lesson round-up

Part 13 of 13

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Article

Reading a portrait

Artists make choices before they make marks. A sitter placed high in the frame looks powerful; the same sitter low in the frame looks small. Light falling from one side sculpts a face into shadow and bone; flat light makes it open and plain.

Objects do work too. A book says learning, a dog says loyalty, a wilting flower says time passing. Viewers in the past read these signs as easily as we read a logo.

When you look at a portrait, ask three questions: where is the light coming from, what has the artist put in the sitter's hands, and where am I standing — above, below, or level with them?

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Choose a portrait and answer the article's three questions about it.
  2. Explain how you would light a portrait to make someone look kind.
  3. Plan your own portrait, listing two objects you would include and what each one says.

  • Sketchbook page

    Diagram

    Make your own piece, then photograph it for your sketchbook page.

    1 finished piece

  • Annotation

    Writing

    Write around your work: what you tried, what worked, what you would change.

    6 sentences

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 13 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Take creative risks, experiment with process and review the effect of changes on the finished piece

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