Open College of the Arts

Student Support Keep

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This booklet is one of a series of guides for students studying with the OCA.

Others in the series are:

• Study skills

• Assessment and how to get qualified

• Looking at other artists

You can either download a pdf copy from our website www.oca-uk.com or ring the

office on 0800 731 2116 for a paper copy.

Cover illustration Caroline Firenza. Other images courtesy OCA students except where indicated

This guide is essential reading for all OCA students, though you could skip the

section on sketchbooks if it is not relevant to your studies.

You may hear some tutors refer to learning logs as learning journals,

logbooks, notebooks or something similar. They all have the same

function and here they are referred to as learning logs. All OCA students

must keep learning logs and those on visual arts courses must keep

sketchbooks too. The two books have different functions. This will become

clear as you study this guide.

Sketchbook and learning log work constitute 20% of your marks for assessed work

so it is critical that you keep these elements of your study going, as well as the

main body of work coming out of your course. Even if you don’t want to be

assessed formally, your tutor will want to see how you are developing and what

your thought process is by looking at the reflections you have logged and at your

sketchbook work.

Consider using OCA’s website to keep your learning log as a ‘blog’ – the name for

an online diary. You can then create links to websites, show images as well as

writing your reflections as you study. Blogs have the advantage that your tutor can

then easily review your progress.

If you prefer to amalgamate sketchbook and learning reflections into one notebook

that’s fine, as long as you do both elements of work required.

Keeping sketchbooks andlearning logs

Sketchbooks

Keeping sketchbooks It is impossible to over-emphasise the importance of using sketchbooks as part of

your OCA learning experience. Sketchbooks will help develop your drawing skill,

and are crucial to your development as an artist. Sketchbooks are for recording

objects, places, events and everyday life and, in addition to developing your

drawing skill, working in them will develop your visual awareness and imagination.

Sketchbooks can play a variety of different roles: they can be visual diaries,

reference points, used to record travel, or be used for imaginative drawing and

doodles, or all of the above.

Types of sketchbooksYou should have some small sketchbooks, A6 or A5 or little square books. This is so

that you can always have one in your pocket or your bag. A smaller book filled

with ideas and observations is more interesting than a larger one with blank spaces.

But do have some bigger sketchbooks: A4 sketchbooks and larger. You’ll find you

use these in a different way to the smaller ones. Hardback books are strong enough

to take every day use and help contain all the bits and pieces you may put into

them. Use a rubber band to keep it together as your sketchbook begins to expand.

Make a visual diaryThink of your sketchbooks as ‘visual diaries’ and as part of a wider activity of

collecting and exploration. Try to fill at least a page a day, or at least get into the

habit of regular drawing, and always carry a sketchbook with you. Sketchbooks

should show what you have seen that has interested and intrigued you – this could

include photographs, textiles, and magazine and newspaper articles. Some

sketchbook studies will be the starting points for your work, and resources for

future reference. Make written notes in sketchbooks, perhaps, for example, a note

about texture, scale, colour, method or technique.

Don’t be preciousSketchbooks should be essentially true visual records made up as you go along, not

compiled by sticking ‘good’ drawings in them in an effort to create a good

impression. A sketchbook will inevitably have poor drawings and paintings as well

as good ones because not everything you decide to draw will turn out to be as

good an idea as you first thought. Don’t tear out pages if something goes wrong.

You should feel unencumbered by the need to be accurate. When you are faced

with a brand new sketchbook, don’t freeze on the first page. It doesn’t have to be

clean, neat and tidy.

Work fastSome studies in your sketchbook may have taken you several hours but others

perhaps only a few seconds. Make quick drawings and colour studies because

working at speed compels you to decide, in an instant, what is important about the

subject. Your individuality will sometimes be revealed more clearly when you are

working spontaneously in this way.

ExperimentSketchbooks also provide an opportunity to experiment with different methods of

working. Don’t only use pencils and paints but also other drawing materials you

have. Try different colour combinations, and the effect of overlays and collage.

Using a different medium makes you look at a subject in a new way. Stick in a

photograph or photocopy or just a fragment of another image that is directly

related to research you are doing. This can trigger new ideas.

Friday, a page from the artist's sketchbook John Stanton Ward, courtesy the Bridgeman Art Library

Draw, draw, drawDraw or paint anything you see: trees, flowers, a bicycle, a sheep, a dustbin, a cupand saucer, the texture of old stonework, a group of figures at a bus stop, wavesbreaking on a beach, shadow patterns in a sun-lit room.

• Draw something for a second or third time, perhaps in a different medium.

• Draw the same objects or figure from a different viewpoint. Draw unusual views.

• Draw the mundane: your favourite drink, your bed, your toothbrush.

• Draw people. Anyone is fair game. Draw your friends, your family, your pets.Don’t worry if they move, you’ll get better at drawing them the more youpractice.

• Vary the size of your sketchbook work, do magnified views of things.

• Sketch details that catch your eye.

• Draw other people’s work. Go to an art gallery and sketch a picture you findinteresting. Note the colours, the composition, the style and the techniques.

• Draw a day in your life, turn it into a cartoon in windows.

• Planning the design and composition for a project in your sketchbook.

• Draw your sense of excitement, your sad feelings.

• Draw your dreams, your nightmares.

• Capture a thought or an image from your memory before it is lost.

• Make a doodle of a flower, a heart, or a squiggle.

• Use watercolours to add some colour to the stark white pages for variety. Addcolour to some drawings later on.

• Drag a light layer of acrylic paint across the page before or after drawing on it.

• Glue a background of sheet music, wrapping paper, tissue paper, sweet wrapperor text to the page.

• Look up, look round, stay where you are, just draw!

Draw anything and everything. The more you draw the better you will be.

Make thumbnail sketches Thumbnail sketches are quick, abbreviated drawings in any medium. It’s helpful to

draw up some boxes in your sketchbook to prepare for thumbnail work, just a few

centimetres square. Thumbnails are good memory aids and planning tools too,

excellent for gallery visits to remember key aspects of an artwork. You can also plan

compositions by trying out different versions in quick thumbnails. Use thumbnails

to plan colour schemes, just mark different combinations in each box. Don’t forget

that it is often useful to make notes alongside thumbnail sketches to help

illuminate them, especially when you look back at the work a few months later.

PracticeUse your sketchbook to try out different drawing techniques. Do negative space

exercises in your sketchbook, do a ‘blind’ contour drawing (drawing your hand (for

example) from memory without lifting your pencil from the paper). Do some 30-

second rapid sketches.

Collect and glueCollect pictures and drawings from magazines and marketing materials that inspire

you. Photocopy photographs and drawings in library books or periodicals. Paste

these into your sketchbook. Keep things that remind you of places, people,

atmospheres and feelings: a piece of fabric, a leaf, a bus ticket, a bill. Secure them

in your sketchbook along with small sketches and notes.

Sketch and goCreate a bag full of sketching gear that is always ready for you to take out, on the

spur of the moment. Keep it small, with just the essentials in it, but make sure you

include: a sketchbook, a rubber, a drawing pen, a couple of soft pencils and a

sharpener. Add a few colouring tools if you like.

Be tidy, be messySome people keep very organised sketchbooks, documenting their ideas and

sketches neatly. Others are just a jumble of ideas and notes. No approach is right or

wrong, it’s just personal.

MuseYou should carry your sketchbook around with you all the time, it is your home for

personal musings. It is a refuge to draw meditatively with or without particular

purpose. It is a place for spontaneity as well as for thoughts and work that take

some considerable time.

Save old sketchbooksSketchbooks can jog your creativity years later and provide a record of your artistic

development. Record your thoughts about art, your work and the work of others.

Look back at old sketchbooks to spark memories, new ways of working and to see

how you have developed. Set aside time each week to examine your sketchbook.

Play with variations of things you’ve drawn or pictures you’ve pasted in from other

sources.

Look at other sketchbooksGet glimpses of other artists’ sketchbooks to get an idea of their private thoughts,

their working methods and creative processes. Get inspired by other sketchbooks.

Leonardo da Vinci’s famous sketchbooks are filled with drawings, diagrams and

written notes of things he saw and ideas he had.

Picasso produced 178 sketchbooks in his lifetime. He used his sketchbooks to

explore themes and make compositional studies.

Henry Moore filled one of his sketchbooks with drawings of sheep that wandered

in the field just outside his studio.

A person’s first sketch or drawing often outshines attempts to refine it.

Some of your best work will be in your sketchbook.

Your learning log is the tool you use to help you reflect on your learning and help

your tutor see how you have learned.

If you are planning to get your work assessed, it is vital that you keep a

good, thorough and comprehensive learning log. It forms 20% of your

marks and you could fail if you do not show how you arrived at your final

pieces of work by documenting the route you took to get there in your

learning log.

What is a learning log?A learning log is a record of your own learning. It is not a formal academic piece of

work but a document that is unique to you and cannot be right or wrong. The log

helps you to record, structure, reflect upon, plan, develop and evidence your own

learning and skills development. It is not just a diary or record of ‘what you have

done’, but a record of what you have learned, tried and critically reflected upon. Its

content may be very loosely structured and only of relevance to you and your tutor.

What it looks likeThe log could take a variety of forms and be any size. Bear in mind that if you

submit your work for assessment your learning log must be sent by post or courier

with your other work. An A3 or A4 sized hardbacked book is probably best.

Is there a correct way of producing a learning log?Your learning log should be relevant to you and your studies.

Three helpful questions when you write in your log are:

• am I being honest with myself?

• is this a useful process for me?

• is this helping my own process of learning?

If the answers are ‘yes’ then your learning log is correct and right for you. If the

answers are ‘no’ then perhaps you need help, advice or guidance about your

learning log. Discuss it with your tutor.

Keeping a learning log

Added extrasYour learning log can contain drawings, photocopies, postcards, press cuttings,

musical scores, and notes on visits to museums and exhibitions, readings or literary

festivals if you are studying writing, or concerts if you are studying music. It might

include your current thoughts on your subject or your enthusiasm for a particular

artist, writer or musician that you have just discovered. Just sticking a reproduction

in isn’t enough – you also need to say why it intrigues you.

Keep information from your tutorKeep any written information you receive from your tutor in your learning log.

Students must file all their tutor reports, copies of questions they send to their

tutor and answers to these questions. That way you have a record of the dialogue

between you and your tutor. Students attending tutorials do not normally receive a

written report from their tutor until they are well into the course but OCA strongly

recommends that you make notes of comments made at tutorials.

Include details of things you have done to aid your learning.

Ask yourself questions such as:

• did it go well? Why? What did you learn?

• did it go badly? Why? What did you learn?

• how can you improve for next time?

Beginnings and endingsAt the beginning of the course write in your learning log what your hopes, plans

and expectations are; when the course is completed write a brief note on what you

have achieved and how you feel your attitudes have changed.

Write about your progress tooYour learning log must contain your responses to the What have you achieved?

and check and log sections that appear at the end of every project or sets of

exercises in your course materials.

Reflect and write up your conclusions about how what you have learned is relevant

to you and how you will use the new information, knowledge, skill, or technique in

the future. This is one of the most important things to document in your learning

log. Your learning log should be a history of your progress through the course.

Show how your understanding of the subject has developedYour learning log should show that you have an increasing grasp on the

background and history of the subject you are studying. It should show that you

have seen various artists’ works, listened to various pieces of music or read certain

writers’ work. You should be able to relate their work to your own and

demonstrate that you understand the context of their work in the history of the

subject.

Record thingsRecord your experiences, thoughts, feelings and reflections in your learning log:

courses you went on, exhibitions you visited, books you have read, discussions you

have had, internet sites you have looked at, television programmes you have

watched.

Don’t just record though, add your personal comments on all of these things.

Record details of problems you have encountered and solved, or not solved and

what you have learned from this.

Reflect after every learning experience• what did I do?

• how do I think/feel about this?

• how well (or badly) did it go?

• what did I learn?

• what will I do differently next time?

• how will I do it differently next time?

• what have I achieved?

• how have I put any theory into practice?

• how does what I have been doing lead to me becoming better at a skill?

• how can I use this to plan for the future?

• how can I use this to plan new learning experiences?

Reflect now, reflect laterPersonal reflection is an important part of the learning process so it is vital that you

make a habit of analysing your work and evaluating decisions every week. It is also

important for your tutor to be able to understand the processes you have been

through as you are learning. In addition to weekly reflection, ask yourself these

questions the next day or within 24-48 hours of learning something new. How you

view your learning changes over time. After a bad learning experience you may

have negative thoughts. 3-5 weeks later on you may find that you have now

overcome the negative experience and have used the learning to develop further.

Skills rarely suddenly develop or improve ‘overnight’. Gaining new knowledge and

applying it within a skills context usually takes time, effort and perseverance. A

Learning log will help you to become more aware of how you learn, what learning

tasks you enjoy and of how you think.

At first it may seem difficult to start to critically reflect upon your own

learning but over time you will find that it becomes easier. The more often

you practice the skill of self-reflection the easier it will become.

Learning how to be reflective is a useful skillSome people will get more out of engaging in the process of producing a learning

log than other people. Research has identified that reflection can help people

change.

Changes associated with reflection

From To

Accepting Questioning

Intolerant Tolerant

Doing Thinking

Descriptive Analytical

Impulsive Diplomatic

Reserved Being more open

Unassertive Assertive

Unskilled communicators Skilled communicators

Reactive Reflective

Concrete thinking Abstract thinking

Lacking self awareness Self aware

(Adapted from C Miller, A Tomlinson, M Jones, Researching Professional Education 1994, University Of Sussex).

Open College of the Arts

Michael Young Arts Centre

Redbrook Business Park

Wilthorpe Road

Barnsley S75 1JN

enquiries@oca-uk.com

0800 731 2116

www.oca-uk.com

OCA's website www.oca-uk.com is your first stop for information about

courses, plus access to help, support, advice and tips from tutors and

other learners.

Register on the website, upload a picture if you like, and get chatting to

other students via the forum.

Find out about exhibitions and books recommended by fellow students,

discuss the state of contemporary art or the music industry, share tips on

techniques and processes, and share your thoughts on studying from

home.