Royal Drawing School

Drawing like artists? 

This experiment follows a brilliant day of workshops at the Royal Drawing School for members of NSEAD. It was prompted by a brief conversation at the end of the day with RDS tutors. We talked about the value of the Royal Drawing School publication ‘Ways of Drawing’ and the potential for AI to utilise it as a source of ideas for modelling different curriculum practice.

This evolved into an experiment to see if AI programmes could be used to develop a drawing program that would help students (and some teachers) move beyond their traditional understanding of ‘realistic’ drawing and begin to draw as artists do. The results of this first experiment (below) provide examples of short drawing experiences that might be scattered or woven through the more conventional curriculum. These provide a sequence of drawing activities sitting alongside, and slightly apart, from the traditional pursuit of an ‘outcome’.  These could enhance confidence and curiosity and help sustain the experience of drawing as an intrinsic and regular aspect of art and design education – which it should be.

The text used in this initial prompt was from ‘Ways of Drawing’ (page 229). It is rather vague, but it does reflect some of the ideas Liza Dimbleby talks about in the above video. The next prompt might use a more explicit artist’s quote about their practice and the practice of looking.

The object of this research, is NOT to get the best answer, or to generate the best unit of work about drawing. But to use AI to generate a variety of models which will inform teachers’ own circumstances, debate and decision-making. We take view that the best teaching almost always emanates from a curriculum that the teacher fully owns.

The prompt and responses by Gemini and then ChatGPT are given in full below. (In total, twelve short units of work and 48 individual lessons were generated. These provide ideas to sprinkle through the curriculum and to ensure drawing and curiosity (drawing like artists) is a key experience in art and design education)

Prompt

ROLE:
You are an experienced artist and also teach in a leading English Art School.

CONTEXT:
I am the curriculum leader for art and design in a medium-sized urban school in central England, which has been judged to be good by Ofsted. Our current curriculum follows a typical fine art format. We get good GCSE and A-level results and follow the AQA syllabus.

There are three teachers in the art and design department. We are experienced and have different specialisms. Two have trained as designers, and I have a craft background. However, we do not have fine art backgrounds. There are three, typical and well-equipped studios in the department.

REASON:
My colleagues and I wish to rebalance our curriculum so that our students have further opportunities to behave as imaginative artists. In particular, we wish to extend their understanding of drawing as a creative and imaginative process. Currently, in our school, drawing tends to be an exercise in deploying skills to achieve a realistic, observed image. We wish to change this and create three new short sequences of four lessons to help students learn to behave like artists when they draw and to understand the different ways that artists employ drawing in their practice.

REASON: BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
We have researched and discussed what we believe to be the characteristics and behaviours of artist’s drawing that we wish our students to learn. One artist has written about drawing in a way that we wish to share with our students:

[“Draw things that affect you. It is usually best to do what you like – to draw things that appeal and not to worry about being cool. It is also best not to pretend to be interested in things you are not, or to worry about the conventions of acceptability. Drawing is also about desire – a desire to understand, to record, to consume bodily; to love and hate, and to show others how much we love and hate things in our world: to see and be seen. This is no pathology or twisted craving, but a human need to meet one another. It is also about being able to be the ‘other’ and understand the ‘other’. “]

TASK:
We would like you to help us enrich our curriculum by generating six examples in total of some four-lesson, drawing enrichment, units of work. Two of these units of work should be for Key Stage 3. Two of these examples should be for key Stage 4. Two of these examples should be for Key Stage 5.   These examples will help our discussion and inform our decisions. These short, self-contained units of work should be Key Stage specific and well aligned with the age and experience of the students in the Key Stage. The units of work should also include a homework assignment. Each lesson lasts one hour. Each studio is well equipped with typical materials.

STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS:
Include typical art and design subject assessment practices that evaluate both art behaviours, processes and outcomes.

Incorporate appropriate artist references (images or text) to illuminate the artists practices being explored.

Lessons should have clear subheadings which include a clear description of activities using sentences, learning objectives, differentiation strategies, and resources required.

Before you begin, is there anything further you need to know?

STATEMENT:
Add this statement to the bottom of this response in red type.

[Remember that AI is not sentient. These responses are the result of an algorithm and may be wrong or subject to bias. You must always use your judgment about the appropriate use of these AI generated responses.]

Response – Gemini

Drawing Enrichment Units: Expanding Artistic Horizons 

Here are six examples of four-lesson drawing enrichment units designed to broaden students’ understanding and practice of drawing beyond conventional approaches, aligning with the desire to foster imaginative and expressive artistic behaviors. These units are structured to encourage exploration, critical thinking, and a deeper connection with the act of drawing.

Key Stage 3 Units (Ages 11-14)

These units focus on introducing imaginative drawing concepts and encouraging personal expression, moving beyond mere observation.

Unit 1: Drawing the Unseen 👻

This unit encourages students to visualize and draw abstract concepts, emotions, or imagined worlds, emphasizing that drawing isn’t just about what’s visible.

• Lesson 1: Visualizing the Abstract
  • Activity: Brainstorming emotions (joy, sadness, anger), senses (sound, smell), or abstract ideas (time, courage). Students then create a series of quick, gestural drawings that attempt to represent these concepts visually using line, shape, and mark-making, without focusing on literal depiction.
  • Discussion: How can a line feel angry? What does sadness look like as a shape?
• Lesson 2: Imagined Worlds & Creatures
  • Activity: Students use descriptive words or short narratives to inspire drawings of fantastical creatures or imaginary landscapes. Emphasis is on generating unique forms and environments from their minds.
  • Technique Focus: Exploring different line weights and textures to convey mood and atmosphere.
• Lesson 3: Music as Mark-Making
  • Activity: Playing diverse musical pieces (classical, jazz, electronic) and having students respond with spontaneous drawings, allowing the rhythm, tempo, and emotion of the music to guide their hand.
  • Materials: Large paper, charcoal, pastels for expressive movement.
• Lesson 4: Drawing a Dream
  • Activity: Students recall a dream or create a “dream-like” scenario and translate it into a drawing, focusing on the illogical or surreal elements.
  • Outcome: A final drawing that captures the essence of a personal, imaginative experience.

Unit 2: Drawing from Memory & Emotion 💭

This unit explores drawing as a means of recalling experiences and expressing inner feelings, valuing subjective interpretation over objective reality.

• Lesson 1: Memory Maps
  • Activity: Students draw a “map” of a significant memory (e.g., a family holiday, a specific room). The focus isn’t on accurate architectural representation but on key objects, feelings, and the overall atmosphere of the memory.
  • Discussion: How do colors and lines help us remember?
• Lesson 2: Emotional Self-Portraits
  • Activity: Students create a self-portrait that expresses a particular emotion (e.g., excitement, boredom, curiosity) without necessarily showing a literal face. This could involve abstract shapes, colors, or symbolic elements.
  • Technique Focus: Experimenting with color palettes and abstract forms to convey emotion.
• Lesson 3: Sensory Drawing
  • Activity: Provide students with various objects (e.g., a rough stone, a smooth piece of fabric, a fragrant herb). Without looking, they touch and smell the objects, then draw their tactile and olfactory experiences.
  • Outcome: Drawings that translate non-visual senses into visual marks.
• Lesson 4: The Story of an Object
  • Activity: Students choose a personal object and draw it not as it appears, but as a representation of its story, its history, or its meaning to them.
  • Outcome: A drawing that imbues an everyday object with personal narrative and emotion.

Key Stage 4 Units (Ages 14-16)

These units delve deeper into conceptual drawing, encouraging students to experiment with process and challenge traditional notions of what drawing can be.

Unit 3: Drawing as Deconstruction 🛠️

This unit explores taking objects or images apart conceptually and visually, focusing on hidden structures, processes, or alternative perspectives.

• Lesson 1: X-Ray Vision Drawing
  • Activity: Students choose a simple object (e.g., a shoe, a piece of fruit) and draw its “inside” or “hidden mechanisms” without cutting it open. They imagine what’s beneath the surface, exploring internal structures or theoretical compositions.
  • Discussion: How can we draw something we can’t see?
• Lesson 2: Fragmented Narratives
  • Activity: Provide students with newspaper clippings, photographs, or existing artworks. They select small fragments and create new drawings that reinterpret or abstract these fragments, building new narratives or visual experiences.
  • Technique Focus: Collage, mixed media, and drawing elements on top of existing imagery.
• Lesson 3: The Drawing Machine
  • Activity: Students design and construct a simple “drawing machine” (e.g., a pendulum with a pencil, a string-and-weight system) that creates marks independently. They then analyze and develop drawings inspired by the machine’s output.
  • Concept: Exploring drawing as a process, where the artist is not always in direct control.
• Lesson 4: Drawing Time and Movement
  • Activity: Students draw a single subject (e.g., a plant growing, a person moving) over a period, documenting changes or sequences. This could involve multiple drawings on one page or a series of quick sketches.
  • Outcome: A drawing that captures the passage of time or the dynamics of movement, rather than a static image.

Unit 4: The Transformative Line ➰

This unit focuses on the expressive power of the line itself, exploring how lines can transform, connect, and create new realities.

• Lesson 1: Blind Contour & Continuous Line Drawing
  • Activity: Students practice blind contour drawing (drawing without looking at the paper) and continuous line drawing (drawing an entire image without lifting the pen). This forces them to focus on observation and the flow of the line.
  • Discussion: How does limiting our control change the drawing?
• Lesson 2: Line as Texture & Form
  • Activity: Provide various textured objects (e.g., bark, crumpled paper, fabric). Students use only lines to represent the textures, exploring hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and other linear techniques to convey form and surface quality.
  • Technique Focus: Mastery of different line weights and densities.
• Lesson 3: The Connected Drawing
  • Activity: Students work collaboratively on a large sheet of paper, each adding lines that respond to and connect with the lines drawn by others. This fosters spontaneity and an understanding of how individual marks contribute to a collective whole.
  • Materials: Large shared paper, charcoal or thick markers.
• Lesson 4: Narrative Through Line
  • Activity: Students create a drawing that tells a story using only lines. They explore how line direction, thickness, and repetition can convey narrative elements like tension, movement, or emotion.
  • Outcome: A drawing that communicates a clear narrative or feeling purely through linear expression.

Key Stage 5 Units (Ages 16-18)

These units encourage advanced conceptual exploration, critical thinking about drawing’s role, and independent artistic voice, drawing inspiration from contemporary and historical art practices.

Unit 5: Drawing as Philosophical Inquiry 🤔

This unit challenges students to use drawing to explore complex ideas, personal beliefs, or societal issues, positioning drawing as a tool for intellectual and emotional investigation.

• Lesson 1: Drawing the Idea
  • Activity: Students select a complex concept (e.g., freedom, justice, identity, conflict) and develop a series of drawings that visually interpret or question this idea. Research into philosophical texts or current events could inform their work.
  • Discussion: How can abstract concepts be made visible?
• Lesson 2: The Annotated Drawing
  • Activity: Students create drawings that are integrated with written text, symbols, or diagrams. This could involve creating visual essays, concept maps, or drawings that literally “think aloud” on the page.
  • Technique Focus: Combining drawing with typography and graphic design elements.
• Lesson 3: Drawing the Uncomfortable
  • Activity: Students explore subjects that challenge conventional beauty or evoke discomfort, using drawing to confront difficult emotions, social taboos, or personal anxieties. This could involve exploring grotesque, fragmented, or ambiguous imagery.
  • Artist Inspiration: Francis Bacon, Otto Dix, Frida Kahlo.
• Lesson 4: Drawing as Argument
  • Activity: Students develop a cohesive series of drawings that present a visual argument or take a stance on a chosen issue. This could be a personal statement or a commentary on a broader theme.
  • Outcome: A visually coherent “argument” articulated through drawing.

Unit 6: Drawing Beyond the Surface 🔬

This unit pushes students to investigate the underlying structures, processes, and unseen forces that shape the visible world, drawing inspiration from science, mathematics, and complex systems.

• Lesson 1: Micro/Macro Drawing
  • Activity: Students choose a subject (e.g., a human hand, a leaf, a piece of technology) and create two contrasting drawings: one at a microscopic level (imagined cellular structures, intricate details) and another at a macroscopic or cosmic level (how it connects to larger systems, its impact on the environment).
  • Artist Inspiration: Scientific illustrations, digital art exploring scale.
• Lesson 2: Drawing Data & Abstraction
  • Activity: Provide students with a set of data (e.g., weather patterns, population statistics, personal habits). They translate this quantitative information into abstract drawings, using visual elements like density, repetition, or color to represent numerical values.
  • Technique Focus: Information visualization, abstract mapping.
• Lesson 3: The Systems Drawing
  • Activity: Students select a complex system (e.g., a natural ecosystem, a transport network, a social structure) and create a drawing that maps its interconnected parts, flows, and relationships, emphasizing the invisible forces at play.
  • Concept: Drawing as a tool for understanding complex interdependencies.
• Lesson 4: Drawing the Process of Change
  • Activity: Students choose a subject that undergoes a transformation (e.g., melting ice, decaying organic matter, a changing cloud formation) and create a sequence of drawings that document this process, focusing on the transient nature of form.
  • Outcome: A series of drawings that explores the aesthetics of impermanence and transformation.

Response ChatGPT

Drawing Enrichment Units of Work

Key Stage 3 – Unit 1: “Emotional Maps”

Overview:
Students create expressive “maps” of their internal world using mixed media drawing, responding to music, memory, and emotion. Drawing becomes a tool for emotional navigation and self-expression.

Lesson 1: Drawing from Music

• Learning Objectives: Students explore mark-making as a response to sound and emotion.
• Activities: Listen to three contrasting musical pieces. Use graphite, charcoal, and ink to make expressive drawings in response. Discuss how line and tone can represent emotion.
• Differentiation: Scaffold responses with prompt words (e.g. “spiky”, “flowing”, “tense”). Stronger students challenged to draw contrasts within a single piece.
• Resources: Music player, drawing paper, graphite, charcoal, ink, brushes.
• Artist Reference: Wassily Kandinsky and Julie Mehretu.
• Homework: Find or create a playlist of songs that reflect different moods and annotate how they make you feel.

Lesson 2: Memory Drawings

• Learning Objectives: Use drawing to express a personal memory without relying on realism.
• Activities: Recall a strong memory and draw it using abstract shapes, lines, and textures. Emphasise mood, not accuracy.
• Differentiation: Offer memory prompts. More able students challenged to juxtapose multiple memories in one piece.
• Resources: Coloured pencils, pastel, collage materials.
• Artist Reference: Tracey Emin (especially her sketchbooks).

Lesson 3: Mapping Emotion

• Learning Objectives: Develop a visual map of emotional responses to a journey or day.
• Activities: Students design a map of their school day using colour, shape, and line to chart emotions. No words.
• Differentiation: Use emotion vocabulary cards. Higher-level students explore metaphors in their maps (e.g. “storm”, “fog”).
• Resources: A3 paper, mixed media, watercolour, marker.
• Artist Reference: Grayson Perry’s “Map of Nowhere”.

Lesson 4: Final Composition

• Learning Objectives: Synthesize previous work into a large expressive drawing.
• Activities: Create a large-scale final piece combining memory, music, and emotion. Gallery walk at end.
• Differentiation: Peer critique scaffolded with sentence starters. More able students refine symbolism.
• Resources: Any materials used so far.
• Assessment: Evaluate expressive intention, risk-taking, and reflection on the drawing process.

Key Stage 3 – Unit 2: “Drawing the Unseen”

Overview:
Students develop their imaginative thinking by drawing things that cannot be seen directly – sounds, smells, feelings, or imagined phenomena.

Lesson 1: Drawing Smells

• Learning Objectives: Interpret the sense of smell visually using abstract drawing.
• Activities: Smell a range of scents (lemon, coffee, cinnamon) and draw each using shapes, lines, and colours that capture their character.
• Differentiation: Offer descriptive vocabulary and image examples. Challenge able students to layer scents.
• Resources: Samples in jars, sensory prompt sheets, drawing materials.
• Artist Reference: Katie Paterson’s sensory work.
• Homework: Write or draw a response to your favourite scent at home.

Lesson 2: Drawing Soundscapes

• Learning Objectives: Respond imaginatively to ambient sound using visual rhythm.
• Activities: Go outside and listen. Record sounds and their visual equivalents through repeated marks or textures.
• Differentiation: Sentence starters: “This sound is sharp like…”
• Resources: Sound recording or environmental observation, graphite, ink.
• Artist Reference: Susan Hiller.

Lesson 3: Drawing Time

• Learning Objectives: Represent the passage of time in a single drawing.
• Activities: Students observe an object (e.g., melting ice) over time and create a drawing that evolves in response.
• Differentiation: Offer time-lapse images. Stronger students reflect on rhythm and structure.
• Resources: Object, timer, sketchbooks, layered paper.
• Artist Reference: William Kentridge.

Lesson 4: Invented Senses

• Learning Objectives: Create imaginative drawings based on invented or extra senses.
• Activities: Invent a new sense (e.g., sensing emotions through colour). Draw how this sense might work.
• Differentiation: Use prompts for invention. More able students conceptualise full sensory systems.
• Resources: Mixed media, overlays, digital collage optional.
• Assessment: Imagination, clarity of communication, experimentation.

Let me know if you’d like to see the Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 units now, or if you’d like to make any changes to the KS3 examples first.

<span style=”color:red”>Remember that AI is not sentient. These responses are the result of an algorithm and may be wrong or subject to bias. You must always use your judgment about the appropriate use of these AI generated responses.</span>

2/2

You said:

this is good but can you write the activities in a little more detail.

ChatGPT said:

Absolutely — I’ll revise the Key Stage 3 enrichment units now with more detailed descriptions for each lesson’s activities. I’ll keep the structure, artist references, and learning objectives, and expand the activities to support clearer teaching and planning.

Key Stage 3 – Unit 1: Emotional Maps

Overview:
Students explore drawing as a form of emotional expression, responding to music, memory, and personal experience. This unit focuses on non-representational, imaginative drawing and develops students’ confidence in expressive mark-making.

Lesson 1: Drawing from Music

• Learning Objectives:
  Students explore how music can influence mark-making and mood in drawing.
• Activities:
  Begin with a discussion: How can music influence how we draw?
  Play three contrasting musical pieces (e.g. slow classical, fast techno, ambient electronic). After each track, students use large paper to create an expressive response using graphite, charcoal, and ink. Focus on rhythm, pressure, line quality, and mark-making. Ask students to annotate their drawings with words about movement, emotion, and texture.
  End with a group discussion comparing visual outcomes and emotional responses to the music.
• Differentiation:
  • Scaffold with vocabulary lists (e.g. swirling, staccato, harsh, flowing).
  • Provide pre-drawn mark samples for inspiration.
  • Higher-attaining students experiment with mixing materials or responding to overlapping soundtracks.
• Resources:
  A3 cartridge paper, graphite sticks, compressed charcoal, ink and brushes, music player/speakers, three pre-selected tracks.
• Artist Reference:
  Wassily Kandinsky (music–colour theory); Julie Mehretu (layered abstraction inspired by systems and emotion).
• Homework:
  Create a “Mood Playlist” of at least five songs and write short notes on how each track might be visualised through line, colour, or shape.

Lesson 2: Memory Drawings

• Learning Objectives:
  Use drawing to express a memory in a non-literal, emotional way.
• Activities:
  Begin by asking students to close their eyes and recall a vivid memory involving a strong feeling (e.g. joy, fear, embarrassment, calm). They should note sights, sounds, and sensations in their sketchbooks.
  Students then make abstract or symbolic drawings that capture the mood of this memory, using colour, shape, layering, and line to express rather than describe. Collage can be used to build texture or suggest fragmented memory.
  Emphasise that realism is not the goal—focus on how it felt, not how it looked.
• Differentiation:
  • Provide sentence starters (e.g. “This memory feels like…”).
  • Use visual stimulus cards for students who struggle to recall a memory.
  • More able students develop compositional structure or combine multiple memories in one piece.
• Resources:
  Coloured chalks, oil pastels, ink washes, scissors, glue, A3 paper, sketchbooks for reflection.
• Artist Reference:
  Tracey Emin’s sketchbooks (emotional, autobiographical, raw mark-making).
• Homework:
  Interview someone at home about a powerful memory and create a one-page sketchbook response to it—through symbols, colours, or imagined visuals.

Lesson 3: Mapping Emotion

• Learning Objectives:
  Develop a visual map of emotional experiences across time and space.
• Activities:
  Begin with a short discussion: What is a map? What else could it show besides location?
  Students reflect on a recent school day or journey (e.g. from home to school) and sketch a timeline of how their emotions changed throughout.
  Using abstract shapes, colour zones, and symbolic imagery, they convert this into a visual “emotion map” on A3 paper.
  Encourage linking shapes with “paths” or “routes” to show emotional transitions. No words—just visual language.
• Differentiation:
  • Provide printed templates with route lines for students needing structure.
  • Challenge more confident students to overlay multiple emotional ‘routes’ or include imagined terrain (e.g. “zones of anxiety”, “islands of calm”).
• Resources:
  A3 drawing paper, watercolours, fine liners, collage elements, paint markers.
• Artist Reference:
  Grayson Perry – Map of Nowhere (personal experiences visualised through symbolic mapping).
• Homework:
  Redesign your bedroom or a familiar place as a symbolic map of your emotions. Use sketchbook or A4 sheet and visual metaphors.

Lesson 4: Final Composition – “My Emotional Landscape”

• Learning Objectives:
  Synthesise personal experiences and drawing techniques to produce a final expressive piece.
• Activities:
  Students choose one or more previous responses (from music, memory, or mapping) and develop a final piece that reflects their own emotional world.
  Begin with sketchbook planning: What do I want to say? What materials will help me say it? Then, move to large-scale paper (A2 if available).
  Emphasise that the drawing must communicate feeling—not just look “good”. Students encouraged to use layering, repetition, texture, colour, or even distortion to strengthen expression.
  Finish with a peer-led mini critique using guided prompts.
• Differentiation:
  • Model planning using sentence frames and examples.
  • Students requiring more guidance can select a successful prior piece and develop it further.
  • Higher-attaining students push scale, layering, or media boundaries.
• Resources:
  A2 or large drawing paper, full range of drawing media, collage, sketchbooks.
• Assessment:
  • Behaviours: Emotional risk-taking, openness, engagement.
  • Processes: Development of ideas, material choices, reflection.
  • Outcome: Visual communication, originality, composition.

Would you like me to revise the second KS3 unit (“Drawing the Unseen”) next with the same level of added activity detail?

Then I’ll move on to Key Stage 4 and 5.

You said:

please move on to Key Stage 4 and 5

ChatGPT said:

Updated saved memory

Here are the next four drawing enrichment units: two for Key Stage 4 and two for Key Stage 5, each with clear learning objectives, detailed activity descriptions, artist references, differentiation strategies, assessment guidance, and homework tasks.

Key Stage 4 – Unit 1: Drawing the Edge of Things

Overview:
Students explore drawing at the boundary between representation and abstraction, using unconventional tools and surfaces. The focus is on edge, surface, and transition—both physical and conceptual.

Lesson 1: Edges and Boundaries

• Learning Objectives:
  Investigate the concept of edges—between objects, forms, textures—and explore drawing as a way of sensing boundary.
• Activities:
  Begin with discussion and image analysis: Where do you find boundaries in drawing? Physical, visual, metaphorical?
  Students select natural or found objects (e.g. bark, feathers, fabric) and draw only the edge—avoiding the whole form.
  Use a limited material set (e.g. ink and stick, eraser on charcoal, water-soluble graphite) to explore physical resistance and flow.
  Compare interpretations and discuss how line can suggest texture or transition.
• Differentiation:
  • Students with less confidence work from high-contrast reference images.
  • Confident students experiment with blind contour or drawing with non-dominant hand.
• Resources:
  Found objects, various mark-making tools (twigs, old brushes, rags), ink, charcoal, water spray, A3 cartridge paper.
• Artist Reference:
  Richard Serra’s “Drawings” series; Susan Rothenberg’s fragment drawings.
• Homework:
  Photograph five “edges” from your environment and annotate them—what kind of boundary is this? Where could it lead in a drawing?

Lesson 2: Drawing into the Surface

• Learning Objectives:
  Understand drawing as a physical process involving layers, erosion, and the manipulation of surface.
• Activities:
  Provide prepared surfaces (textured gesso, layered paper, sandpaper, newspaper collage). Students experiment with subtractive drawing (scraping, erasing, cutting back) and additive layering (ink, graphite, wax).
  Prompt: What happens if you draw with friction or resistance?
  Encourage students to push into the materiality of drawing—cutting, scoring, or even folding the surface.
• Differentiation:
  • Support students with visual guides for experimental techniques.
  • Advanced students combine multiple surfaces or embed found text/images.
• Resources:
  Mixed textured surfaces, scalpels, erasers, graphite, white spirit (optional), masking tape.
• Artist Reference:
  Tacita Dean; Cy Twombly’s scratched, layered drawings.

Lesson 3: Disrupted Observations

• Learning Objectives:
  Use observation drawing as a starting point, then disrupt it through intervention, abstraction, and process.
• Activities:
  Begin with a 10-minute direct observational drawing (e.g. crumpled fabric or organic forms). Then rotate stations—each student draws on someone else’s image using a new media or erasure technique.
  Repeat across 3–4 rotations. Final round: students return to their original drawing and respond to all interventions with their own layered response.
• Differentiation:
  • Provide clear rules for each rotation (e.g. “use line only”, “subtract with eraser”).
  • More confident students develop semi-controlled improvisation.
• Resources:
  Drawing boards, rotation instructions, mixed drawing tools.
• Artist Reference:
  Julie Mehretu (collaborative, layered mark-making); William Kentridge.

Lesson 4: Final Drawing Outcome – “Between States”

• Learning Objectives:
  Synthesize ideas about edge, disruption, and process into a resolved drawing.
• Activities:
  Students select one of the surfaces or approaches explored and plan a large-scale drawing that focuses on transition or tension.
  Sketchbook planning first, then a 40–45 minute making session. Finish with small-group critique: What visual tension or threshold is explored?
  Encourage them to describe their process as well as the result.
• Differentiation:
  • Model how to select and adapt earlier experiments.
  • Extend more able students with a written reflective annotation.
• Assessment:
  • Behaviours: Confidence with experimentation and response to chance.
  • Process: Layered development, integration of disruption.
  • Outcome: Visual coherence, ambition, exploration of concept.
• Homework:
  Curate a spread of sketchbook pages showing your thinking from edge to surface to disruption. Use annotation and visual response.

Key Stage 4 – Unit 2: Drawing as Protest

Overview:
Students explore how drawing can be a political and expressive tool. They investigate the role of personal voice in visual communication, using drawing to protest, advocate, or represent injustice.

Lesson 1: What Makes a Protest Drawing?

• Learning Objectives:
  Understand how artists use drawing to communicate resistance or political ideas.
• Activities:
  Analyse a range of political drawings (e.g. satirical, agitprop, graffiti, zines). What’s being said? How is it said visually?
  Students brainstorm an issue they care about—personal or global.
  Begin by creating symbolic visual language: choose 3–4 symbols or visual metaphors for the issue and sketch them in their sketchbooks.
• Differentiation:
  • Prompt cards for students unsure of topics (e.g. climate, identity, school rules).
  • Higher-attaining students combine personal and political themes.
• Resources:
  Reference images, sketchbooks, black pens, mixed paper.
• Artist Reference:
  Käthe Kollwitz; Sue Coe; David Shrigley.
• Homework:
  Interview a friend or family member: What issue would you protest? Create a visual response in your sketchbook.

Lesson 2: Fast Protest Drawing Techniques

• Learning Objectives:
  Experiment with urgency and speed to create powerful, expressive drawings.
• Activities:
  Students complete a series of fast drawing tasks with time limits (1, 3, 5 mins). Tasks include: “draw rage”, “draw injustice”, “draw a voice shouting”.
  Emphasise bold, simple shapes and use of repetition.
  Encourage working on top of failed attempts or using large-scale gestures.
• Differentiation:
  • Allow slower students to extend one drawing into several stages.
  • Advanced students combine speed with collage or ink bleeding techniques.
• Resources:
  Newsprint, ink, brushes, chunky graphite, marker pens.
• Artist Reference:
  Guerrilla Girls; Ralph Steadman.

Lesson 3: The Protest Poster

• Learning Objectives:
  Design and compose a bold, communicative drawing with visual impact.
• Activities:
  Students plan and create an A3 protest poster using hand-drawn text and imagery. Emphasise contrast, clarity, and composition.
  Use sketchbooks to explore type styles, slogans, and image placement.
  Midway critique to peer-review: Is the message clear? Is it visual or verbal? How does it make you feel?
• Differentiation:
  • Support students with grid templates or slogan prompts.
  • Challenge able students to develop layered symbolism.
• Resources:
  A3 paper, markers, collage, stencils, pastels.
• Assessment:
  • Behaviours: Emotional investment, communication of opinion.
  • Process: Planning, visual decision-making.
  • Outcome: Clarity, impact, expressive power.
• Homework:
  Display your protest poster at home. Record how someone reacts and write a short reflection.

Key Stage 5 – Unit 1: Drawing as Thinking

Overview:
This unit introduces drawing as a form of inquiry rather than depiction. Students explore how drawing can be used to ask questions, test ideas, and track thought, moving beyond the finished image into process-based work.

Lesson 1: Drawing to Investigate

• Learning Objectives:
  Understand drawing as a method of inquiry and investigation.
• Activities:
  Begin with an open prompt: What interests or confuses you right now?
  Students generate a page of questions or ideas related to their current work, the world around them, or their emotions. From these, they choose one to explore through iterative drawing (e.g., “What does stillness feel like?”, “How does anxiety move?”).
  Students create a sequence of 5–10 small drawings in sketchbooks, each one asking a new question or testing a new approach related to their chosen idea.
• Differentiation:
  • Provide visual examples of inquiry-led drawing.
  • Stronger students asked to reflect in writing after each image: What did this drawing reveal?
• Resources:
  A4 sketchbooks, fineliners, ink, pencil, text prompt sheets, experimental tools (twigs, tape, masking fluid).
• Artist Reference:
  Michael Landy’s Breakdown, Emma McNally’s graphite installations, Dryden Goodwin’s drawing series.
• Homework:
  Make a visual journal page tracking how you’ve visually explored one idea across a day.

Lesson 2: Drawing Systems

• Learning Objectives:
  Develop an original system or set of rules for generating a series of drawings.
• Activities:
  Introduce artists who use systems in drawing (e.g. Sol LeWitt, Tom Phillips).
  Students design a simple, rule-based drawing system (e.g. draw a shape for every breath, rotate paper each time the pen lifts, use a single stroke for each word heard).
  Execute the system over a 30–40 minute period. Focus on process and consistency—not aesthetics.
  End with short reflective discussion: What did the system reveal?
• Differentiation:
  • Offer system suggestions for students who struggle to invent one.
  • Challenge advanced students to modify or break the system partway through and document the result.
• Resources:
  A4/A3 paper, timer, basic media, system prompt cards.
• Artist Reference:
  Sol LeWitt (instruction-based art), Channa Horwitz (visual systems), Tom Phillips (A Humument).

Lesson 3: Thinking Through Material

• Learning Objectives:
  Use material manipulation as a mode of visual thought.
• Activities:
  Students experiment with layering, folding, tearing, burning, staining or distorting drawing surfaces to explore how physical transformation affects meaning.
  Begin with 15 mins free drawing on cartridge paper, then apply a material transformation, and re-draw/react on the surface again. Repeat this cycle three times.
  Encourage reflection after each round: What changed? What does the material now suggest?
• Differentiation:
  • Scaffold with transformation prompts.
  • More able students encouraged to create conceptual links between transformation and theme.
• Resources:
  Cartridge paper, wax, glue, scissors, tea/coffee, sandpaper, needles, thread.
• Artist Reference:
  Doris Salcedo (surface and memory); Karla Black (material abstraction); El Anatsui.

Lesson 4: “Thinking Drawing” Outcome

• Learning Objectives:
  Synthesize inquiry-led drawing processes into a reflective final outcome.
• Activities:
  Students select one idea, system, or material approach from the previous three sessions and develop a drawing-based response on a larger scale.
  Final outcomes may include multi-part drawings, layered sketchbooks, video-recorded drawing actions, or annotated visual essays.
  15 minutes is set aside at the end for verbal or written reflection on how their thinking evolved through the process.
• Assessment:
  • Behaviours: Intellectual risk-taking, ability to question and reflect.
  • Process: Clarity of inquiry, experimentation.
  • Outcome: Visual thinking, originality, conceptual depth.
• Homework:
  Write an illustrated reflection on how drawing has helped you think differently in this unit. Include photos of works in progress.

Key Stage 5 – Unit 2: Drawing and the Body

Overview:
This unit uses the human body as subject, tool, and context. Students explore how drawing can record bodily experience, gesture, performance, and identity.

Lesson 1: The Body as Tool

• Learning Objectives:
  Use the body directly to create drawings and explore the physical act of drawing.
• Activities:
  Begin with discussion: Can drawing be made without a pencil?
  Students create drawings using bodily gestures—elbow, feet, shoulder—or by attaching tools to the body (e.g. charcoal taped to a stick or hand).
  Use large-scale paper on the floor or walls. Music may be used to drive tempo.
  Reflect on how gesture and movement influence line and mark.
• Differentiation:
  • Offer structured tasks for those less confident (e.g. trace your own movement).
  • Advanced students experiment with choreography or performative drawings.
• Resources:
  A2/A1 paper, charcoal, ink, tape, music, floor space.
• Artist Reference:
  Heather Hansen (kinetic charcoal drawing); Tony Orrico; Yves Klein.
• Homework:
  Record 5 minutes of movement (e.g. dancing, walking, hand gestures) and make a drawing to represent that movement.

Lesson 2: Drawing the Internal Body

• Learning Objectives:
  Use drawing to visualise bodily states and internal sensations.
• Activities:
  Students do a 2-minute body scan meditation (teacher-led). Then create a drawing of how their body feels—not what it looks like. Focus on pressure, pain, warmth, restlessness.
  Encourage them to invent textures, colours, and forms to represent their inner state. Use tracing paper layers to separate parts of the body (e.g. surface vs. core).
  Discuss: How do you visualise something invisible?
• Differentiation:
  • Provide visual stimulus (e.g. anatomical abstraction).
  • Challenge able students to integrate symbolic or narrative layers.
• Resources:
  Tracing paper, coloured pencil, graphite, ink, layered sketchbooks.
• Artist Reference:
  Louise Bourgeois’ drawings; Wangechi Mutu; Egon Schiele.

Lesson 3: Drawing Identity Through the Body

• Learning Objectives:
  Explore how the body can communicate identity, experience, and memory in drawing.
• Activities:
  Students reflect on how their body (appearance, posture, scars, movement) represents aspects of identity.
  They create a self-portrait (not literal) focusing on hands, posture, or gesture.
  Materials can include mirrors, phones (for photography), thread, or collage. Encourage the drawing to “grow” out of the body—not simply depict it.
• Differentiation:
  • Use guided prompts (e.g. “draw your hand as a symbol of your experience”).
  • Higher-level students reflect on gender, race, illness, or other themes.
• Resources:
  Sketchbooks, mirrors, thread, collage materials, fine pens, digital printouts.
• Artist Reference:
  Ana Mendieta; Jenny Saville; Käthe Kollwitz.

Lesson 4: Drawing as Performance / Final Outcome

• Learning Objectives:
  Produce a drawing outcome that integrates physical gesture, personal experience, or body-based process.
• Activities:
  Students plan and execute a drawing that reflects their experience of drawing with, from, or through the body.
  Outcomes may be performative (e.g. time-lapse), documentative (e.g. photo-sequence), or material-based (e.g. layered surface with embedded gestures).
  Students present and annotate their work, focusing on process, body, and meaning.
• Assessment:
  • Behaviours: Openness, emotional risk-taking.
  • Process: Embodiment of drawing; sustained exploration.
  • Outcome: Depth of meaning, sophistication of execution.
• Homework:
  Create a short artist statement (150–200 words) that explains your relationship to the body and drawing in this project.

Remember that AI is not sentient. These responses are the result of an algorithm and may be wrong or subject to bias. You must always use your judgment about the appropriate use of these AI generated responses.