Lesson 01: Introduction, the Sketchbook and First Marks
Pre A Level Art & Design · Unit 1 · U1·L1 · L02 →
At a glance
| Session | Week 1, one Wednesday double (~90 min) |
| Date | Wed 2026-09-02 |
| Focus | Course opening; the sketchbook contract; the visual elements; line and mark |
| Deliverable | Introduction Survey completed (incl. the garlic drawing); sketchbook set up; first line studies |
| Homework | Finish the Drawing Exercises 1 mark sheets; decorate your sketchbook cover; post the session’s pages on MB (the weekly Learning Behaviour posting) |
Goal
By the end of this double you will know what the course is and how it is graded, you will have a working sketchbook and know the contract attached to it, and you will have started drawing — the session ends with marks on paper. The garlic drawing on the survey is your day-one baseline, made before any teaching.
How it runs
First half — the opening (~45 min):
- Welcome and the course (10 min) — what the four units make (drawing → photography → collage → poster), and how the grade is built (Attainment 50 / Course Skills 20 / Learning Behaviour 10 / End of Term 20).
- Introduction Survey (15 min) — a two-page survey: favorites, preferred area of study, the 1–10 skill self-ratings, two open questions, then the garlic-bulb drawing (“draw this any way you like”). This is not a test; nobody fails a survey.
- The sketchbook (15 min) — receive or check your sketchbook. The contract, also posted on MB: 2–3 pages every week, checked twice for a Course Skills mark (SB1 Wed 10-21, SB2 Wed 12-02), submitted whole at the end as A5 (Wed 2027-01-06); plus a photo of the week’s pages posted on MB after every session. Start your cover decoration now and finish it at home.
- Questions (5 min).
Second half — U1·L1: the visual elements, starting with line (~45 min):
- The elements (10 min) — the classroom element chart: line, shape, color, value, texture, space, form. One sentence each; this unit works through them from observation.
- Blind contour (10 min) — two 3-minute blind-contour drawings of a partner’s hand or your own shoe: eyes on the subject, pen never lifts, no looking at the page. The point is looking, not likeness.
- Continuous line (10 min) — same subject, now looking allowed, still one unbroken line. Compare the pair: which one looked harder?
- The mark grids (10 min) — start Drawing Exercises 1: copy the hard-pencil (6H–2H) and soft-pencil (2B–6B) mark grids into your sketchbook. Started in class, finished at home.
- Close (5 min) — sketchbooks open on tables, one-minute walk-through; homework stated and posted on MB.
Assessment
Nothing is graded this session. The survey is a baseline, not a mark. The sketchbook regime announced today is the standing notice for A5 — the whole semester’s book, submitted Wed 2027-01-06. Full register: PAL S1 Assessments.