Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Art & Design
Art & DesignMedia, materials and research25 min★★ difficulty

Researching and gathering source material

Great art rarely appears from nowhere. Artists collect photographs, sketches, objects and ideas long before the final piece takes shape.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Developing ideas: Research and gather visual and other source material to inform and develop a personal creative response

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Research and gather visual and other source material to inform and develop a personal creative response

Key learning points

  • • Primary and secondary sources
  • • Building a sketchbook of research
  • • From research to personal response

This lesson at a glance

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

Words to know

researchgathervisualsourcematerial

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 14 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 14

Watch first

Researching and gathering source material

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

In a nutshell

Research and gather visual and other source material to inform and develop a personal creative response

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 14

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Primary and secondary sources

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

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 14

Learn

Primary and secondary sources

Primary sources are things you observe or record yourself — a sketch from life, your own photograph, a collected object. Secondary sources are other people's images or texts, such as a book or website. Strong projects mix both.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 14

Learn

Building a sketchbook of research

A sketchbook is a working record, not a finished gallery. Fill it with quick drawings, colour tests, torn images, written notes and questions. Annotate why something interests you — that reasoning becomes the backbone of your final idea.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 14

Quick check

Which is an example of a primary source?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 14

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 14

Quick check

What is the main purpose of a sketchbook?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 14

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · From research to personal response

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

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 14

Learn

From research to personal response

Look for patterns across your research: a recurring colour, shape or theme. Select and combine the most useful findings rather than using everything, and let your own viewpoint — not just your sources — shape the final response.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 14

Quick check

How should research inform a final personal response?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 14

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

Challenge round

Part 12 of 14

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Look for patterns across your ____: a recurring colour, shape or theme.

13

Mastery quiz

Part 13 of 14

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Researching and gathering source material

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

  1. 1. Which is an example of a primary source?

  2. 2. What is the main purpose of a sketchbook?

  3. 3. How should research inform a final personal response?

14

Lesson round-up

Part 14 of 14

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 14 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Research and gather visual and other source material to inform and develop a personal creative response

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