Arrival · retrieve

Start with something you have made

Examine your own drawing, paper form or other artwork. If none is available, make a short sample and label it as today’s starting work.

Point to a choice and its effect. What strength does the work show? Which skill is not secure yet?

A weakness describes a skill, not your worth. Another person’s different style is not evidence of your weakness.

Choose a direction from what you want your art to do next.

Starter · create the need

An interest needs a practical direction

You may know the kind of art you enjoy, yet still be unsure what to develop.

Saying that you like drawing does not identify a skill. Look more closely: are you interested in the weight of a line, a change of tone or the way shapes fill a space?

Paper work gives different questions. Do folds hold their shape? Does a join stay secure? How does the form change from another viewpoint?

Choose questions that matter to your own work. A bold, rough surface may be intentional; making everything neat is not the only useful direction.

Today you will test possibilities before choosing your challenge.

I Do · model

Adult model: use a trial to discover a need

Watch the adult make a small tone study on scrap paper. This is their own demonstration, not a challenge you must copy.

They shade a light patch with the side of the pencil. They keep the hand relaxed and use overlapping strokes.

Next they build a darker patch with another light layer. They compare the two patches before pressing harder.

A sudden dark stripe appears where they stopped and restarted. The adult points to it and explains why it interrupts the gradual change they wanted.

They try overlapping the restart on a fresh patch. Now they can see whether that method better suits their intention.

The adult has evidence for a strength and a need: they can make different tones, while the transition needs more control.

Their next question comes from the work. They still have to decide whether this is the direction they want to pursue.

Your trial may reveal a different need. Perhaps a fold holds well but the join twists, or a repeated shape loses its rhythm.

Keep what the sample actually shows. Do not borrow the adult's judgement as your own.

We Do · everyone commits

I Do 2 · connect

Choose a challenge with room to learn

Choose an arts skill that gives you room to learn, with a reason connected to your intended effect.

Check the available time, tools and support. A small technique study can test an ambitious idea before a larger piece.

Compare the adult’s trial with their baseline. What changed? What remains difficult? Would that skill help your own artwork?

Keep an honest starting point and alternatives worth exploring. A friend’s preference may help you think; the challenge remains your choice.

We Do 2 · lab

Try an option before you commit

Choose a suitable technique and make a small trial. You may compare another option if that will help your decision.

For tone, keep the first patch and try a different overlap beside it. For paper form, try a folded foot on scrap before joining a larger piece.

For a paper foot, fold a narrow strip at the base towards you. Press the crease, open the foot to a right angle and rest it on the table. Test whether the form stands before adding more weight.

For a repeated-mark trial, use one simple shape. Keep its size similar and change the spaces between marks across a short strip. Look at where the pattern feels steady and where it speeds up or pauses. Decide whether that rhythm suits the effect you want.

Look at the effect from the viewpoint that matters. A form should be checked from the side as well as from above.

Note what helped and what still needs work. A sketch, a spoken note or an arrow to the sample can record the finding.

Ask a partner or adult what they notice. Use their observation as another view, then make your own decision.

Independent · evidence

Choose your own challenge

Return to the baseline and the trial. Identify a strength and a skill you want to develop.

Now describe your chosen challenge in your own words. Explain what you want to explore or achieve in your art, and why this matters to you as a maker.

Use a detail from the work to support your reason. Avoid a target that just copies the adult model or a friend's idea.

Check that the materials and support are realistic. If they are not, adjust the scale or discuss another method while keeping your artistic intention.

Keep the baseline, trial and choice together under Unit 1, Part 1A. Add the actual filename and page, slide or timecode.

• Core · use prompts to point, speak or write about your actual work. Identify your own strength and a skill to develop, try a suitable technique, then choose your challenge and reason. Keep the baseline and choice with an exact evidence location.
• Extend · compare suitable techniques and choose the challenge in your own words. Explain how your trials and baseline support the choice. Keep the same strength, development need, reason and evidence.
• Challenge · keep the same evidence and own choice. Compare the likely effect of two feasible directions, then explain which is more worthwhile for your arts practice and why.

Exit · Audience and Influence

Explain why this direction is yours

Show your chosen direction to someone who can see the work. Point to the detail that helped you decide.

Say what remains uncertain. You may need to test a material or find a manageable way to practise.

Keep that question with the challenge. Next time you will use it to build your own action plan.

The decision belongs to you. The work beside it helps another person understand how you reached it.