artist research page a level

Teaching Resource

Research skills and exam support

Designed to inspire ideas for research in the gallery, classroom and everyday life

About How to Research

Research brief, how do artists research, example discussion points and activities.

This resource was developed to offer creative research strategies to support a broad range of Art & Design curriculums for GCSE, BTech, and A-Level students.

How to Research models how artists can carry out research, with a specific focus on writing, drawing and looking. We invited three artists to respond to a project brief, providing prompts that encouraged them to draw connections between their particular thinking and approach to research, and their art-making practice.

The contents page of each booklet details this brief, encompassing methods of writing personal responses and collecting images and inspirations to compile research files; your students can discover new ways of approaching these tasks through the artists’ responses. We have also included discussion points and activities throughout the booklets, prompting students to further their research in their own ways.

Donald Rodney's sketchbook (Tate Archive ref: TGA 200321)

Used with permission

This activity invites your class to build research files of their own, gathering and developing their ideas to support their ongoing coursework. The prompts provide a framework that you can adapt in numerous ways, acknowledging your expertise in best supporting your pupils’ needs.

Ask your students to each find the following:

• An image of something they already have, that they currently use to made art
• An image of their own artwork
• An image of an artwork from the Tate collection that inspires them
• A quote or textual reference that inspires them

Then, challenge them to respond to the following questions, through writing, annotation, drawing, making, or more.

• What connections can they find between the images and texts they’ve chosen?
• Explain a process they use to help them process ideas and inspirations.
• What question would they ask an artist about their research? Which artist(s) would they ask it to?

Encourage your students to collect all the work they produce through this project in a sketchbook or folder. Where could they go next? How might this research influence their own artmaking?

Image from Drawing as Research  

© Sovay Berriman

Drawing As Research

Go for a walk. As you are walking, think of a question or a problem you are trying to resolve in your art and see if you can generate any new answers. Does the physical process of walking stimulate your thought process in the same way it does Berriman’s?

Make a drawing that explores your original question or problem, and any new ideas generated. Think about how you might relate this drawing to any other drawing, or artwork, you have made previously. Use this connection to make a new work, and so on. Record the connection between the works as you go.

By walking to produce ideas, Berriman might be considered to be engaging with a ‘non-art’ process to generate art. Are there any non-art processes that help you think through ideas, and if a non-art process generates ideas for artworks, is it still a non-art process?

Looking As Research

Take a photograph of a photograph, either on a screen or a printed picture. What do you see now that you couldn’t see in the original image? What happens if you repeat this process – how does the actual photograph itself (not what it is picturing) start to become visible, and is this interesting to you? How do you identify what is of interest to you?

How quickly do your interests change? Can you map out your changing interests through artworks/artists you have been drawn do? What can you learn from your map about the way that you are currently looking at art and what questions does the map raise for you?

Writing As Research

Get a pile of Post-It notes, record cards or just small scraps of paper. On each separate Post-It, card or piece of paper write down one of the ideas that you are currently working with in an essay, an artwork you are making, or just things you are thinking about. These can be quotations, single words that come to mind, questions, names and anything else you can think of. Stick them up on the wall in a way that makes sense to you. What new relations have formed? Leave them up overnight, or for a longer period of time, and then come back and rearrange them. How does this reordering change the meaning of the words? What new relations have formed? Write down new words or ideas that come to mind and add them to the wall.

This can be repeated for a week, a month, a year…

Use your Post-It wall as a starting point for other forms of writing; poems, lists, stories, scripts, descriptions… Now use someone else’s Post-It wall to do the same.

How to Research booklets are also available to pick up at the Schools Desk at Tate Britain and Tate Modern.

To further support your students at exam time see our Exam Help pages for more ideas and inspiration.

Bring Your Class to Tate

School visits to tate britain, school visits to tate modern.

How to develop your ideas in an Art project

Last Updated on September 1, 2023

Many high school Art students (such as those studying AS or A2 Level Art & Design) must present a Coursework or Exam portfolio that shows development . Students are sometimes confused about what the term ‘development’ means in this context, and are uncertain about how they should go about achieving this. This article endeavours to answer these questions and provides a process by which students can ensure their work develops sufficiently. This is intended as a broad guide only, and should be used only in conjunction with advice from your teacher.

If you are told that your work must show development, your teacher is telling you that your work must change a little (both in use of media and composition) from one piece to the next. In other words, an A Level Art Coursework portfolio must tell a visual story : with a starting point, a conclusion, and a journey in between. It is not acceptable, for example, to show the same things drawn or painted from different angles over and over again, or to execute the same composition first in pastel, then in paint, then in charcoal and so on…or to submit paintings of many different items that have no visual or thematic connection to each other.

‘Development’ means systematically working towards better artwork: trialing, refining and exploring compositional devices and technique, demonstrating to the examiners that you have gone through a learning process and arrived at a successful final piece.

As an example, the following process was undertaken by my A Level Painting students (this process could be easily modified for Graphic Design, Photography or Sculpture) during the course of the year:

1. Select an original, personally relevant, visually complex, readily-available A Level subject or theme that can sustain your interest for a year (see the accompanying guide:  how to select a good A Level Art theme );

2. Complete 4-10 drawings of your chosen topic in your A Level Art Sketchbook , using a range of black and white and coloured mediums such as graphite pencil, Indian ink, acrylic, coloured pencil, watercolours, oil. The level of realism achieved in these drawings will be dependent on your own drawing style and preferences. Mix and layer mediums as appropriate.  Include photographs if desired. The drawings may be semi-incomplete and can merge into each other. At this point, do not worry so much about what you are achieving in terms of composition. You are merely conducting visual research and exploring your topic.

3. Fill gaps around the drawings with notes discussing your theme / issue / message …why this is personally relevant to you; what appeals to you visually about the subject; how the subject matter might be composed in order to support or convey your ideas. Look carefully at what you have drawn and make notes about how the visual elements (line, tone, texture, space, colour etc) interact… For example, are there strong contrasts between highly detailed areas and sparse areas? Are the negative spaces as interesting as the objects themselves? Are there repetitions of certain shapes and colours? Are you exploring frames within frames? …In essence, establish what you are dealing with visually .

4. Select an artist model whose work relates to your subject matter and inspires you . Research this artist. Complete several pages in your A Level Art Sketchbook, including composition studies, imitations and pastiches of their artwork, using a range of mediums.  Fill spaces around the illustrations with notes explaining/discussing their technique/s (mark-making methods); use of media / materials; style; composition (i.e. the relationship between the visual elements: line, shape, colour, tone, texture and space. Discuss how these elements form ‘visual devices’ that ‘draw attention’, ‘emphasise’, ‘balance’, ‘link’ or ‘direct the viewer through the artwork’ and so on). Write notes about the ideas, moods and subjects explored within the drawings and how all of the above relates to your topic or theme. Your comments should show evidence that you have researched your artist (using proper terminology) and should also contain your own thoughts and responses. Under no circumstances should it appear as if you are just regurgitating information from a textbook. Learn from this artist and establish how this artist is relevant / useful for your own project.

5. Complete 10 – 15 drawings and paintings that show a smooth transition from your original artworks to images that are influenced by your first artist model .

Do not leap in and copy everything the artist does. It may be, for example, that you simply copy the way a particular artist uses foreground, mid-ground and background, or the way in which they apply paint onto a scratched, irregular surface. The purpose of this exercise is to learn particular techniques or compositional strategies – not to copy their work in its entirety. The result should be a series of paintings which show gradual changes and exploration. After each one you should have a discussion with your teacher about what you can do next to help convey your ideas more successfully.

6. When you have learned all that you need to from the first artist, select another artist and repeat the process . Once you have learned from this artist, repeat again. The intention is that by the time you get to your final piece, your work is a beautiful combination of your own ideas and the influence of several others. Your work should look absolutely original – a beautiful mixture of wisdom gained from a multitude of sources. It can be good practice to choose a range of artist models – ie. national / international, contemporary / historical etc…but this is not always necessary. The best outcomes occur when students choose artists whose work really moves them. It can be typical for an AS student to have 2-4 artist models and A2 students to have 3-10 artist models.

Here is a well-developed A Level (A2) Painting portfolio by  Nikau Hindin , a talented A Level Art student from ACG Parnell College . Her A2 Coursework portfolio achieved 98%.

Still unsure? Viewing our Featured Art Projects  will also help you understand how to develop your ideas within your work.

Amiria has been an Art & Design teacher and a Curriculum Co-ordinator for seven years, responsible for the course design and assessment of student work in two high-achieving Auckland schools. She has a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, Bachelor of Architecture (First Class Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching. Amiria is a CIE Accredited Art & Design Coursework Assessor.

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The Art Teacher

Art Lesson Ideas, Plans, Free Resources, Project Plans, and Schemes of Work. An 'outstanding' art teacher in Greater Manchester. Teaching KS3 and KS4 art and design.

Artist Ian Murphy creates drawings, paintings, prints and mixed-media pieces inspired by architecture and different textures. As well as using his sketchbook to draw and think about his ideas, he makes large-scale work and uses lots of materials to create distressed surfaces that he paints and draws over the top of.

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Ian Murphy is a British artist who travels the world to capture exquisite vistas and explore different architectural styles. After studying Fine Art and Art & Design at A-Level, Ian Murphy studied at university in Sheffield and gained his degree in Fine Art, Painting and Printmaking.

Ian Murphy often uses different types of papers to create layers in his backgrounds. What papers can you see in the pieces above? Why do you think this is? What effect do the layers of paper in the background have on the work?

If you look very carefully at Ian Murphy’s paintings, you will notice a lot of subtle, pastel colours on top of rich layers of textures. The use of a rough surface adds to the ‘aged’ effect, and gives us an impression of the location that inspired the artwork. It is very clear what the subject is, but sometimes Ian Murphy’s use of colour could be described as abstract. Although the colours have been exaggerated, the paintings still look realistic because of the artist’s use of tone. The very dark shadows next to the very light areas help to make the paintings look 3D.

What do you think Ian Murphy has used in the background of his paintings above? What materials, apart from the paint, have created the textures?

I have shared lessons and plans for a GCSE Art Landscape Project here – enjoy!

In his drawings, artist Ian Murphy is trying to capture a mood or atmosphere with his use of dark tones and gestural mark-making techniques. The soft, light grey tones in the water above have been created by rubbing into the graphite and removing it from the paper. This ‘fading’ reflects the title of the work. What other mark-making techniques can you see in his drawings?

What materials will you need to make artwork like Ian Murphy?

Here are the materials I recommend to make artwork like Ian Murphy. I generally suggest paying for quality products which will last longer and give you a better finish. Particularly with oil paints and brushes.

Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Paint Set

Hog Bristles Professional Paint Brush Set

Soft Chalk Pastel Set

Click here if you would like to see different landscape artists !

Ian Murphy has recently started to put excellent tutorial videos on his YouTube channel , I’ve found them really useful in lessons.

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What do you think of Ian Murphy’s artwork? How could you describe it? Let me know in the comments! If you have found any of these resources useful please share this site on your networks / socials – thanks! 🙂

DOWNLOAD this page below, for free, as an Artist Research handout to use in your lesson. It includes all of the facts and images, and has questions for students to answer.

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5 thoughts on “ ian murphy ”.

His pieces “Three Kings In The Chasm” and “Heading East” are powerful!!! Great use of atmospheric perspective and strong focal point! Powerful!!!

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They are! I love the use of colour and how atmospheric his work is too.

Incredible! We’re blessed to have the gift to create! Couldn’t have asked for anything else…

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Hi, I loved this post. Can you do on just like this on frida kahlo

Hi, thanks 🙂 I have done a Frida Kahlo profile here: https://theartteacher.net/2019/02/27/frida-kahlo-artist-research-lesson

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Published by art_teacher_mcr

Making and teaching art. Based in Manchester. View all posts by art_teacher_mcr

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