Practical Vs Theory
Course overview
This course will provide you with the opportunity to develop your drawing and creative media skills while exploring a range of projects.
You will explore the fundamentals of drawing, painting, and mixed media work as well as 3 dimensional design. The projects will be further developed through the use of Creative Media. You will be able to explore using your digital skills to extend your projects.
Specific projects will include Still Life, Landscape and Portrait Drawing and Painting, print making techniques including Lino cutting and stencil printing. Creative media projects will include typography, working within a defined grid, time based mediums including animation or film.
See a showcase of student work from 2021/2022 by following this link!
Entry Requirements
3 GCSEs at grades 2/E including English or maths or equivalent of Functional Skills Level 1 pass.
This course requires an interview/informal chat before a place can be offered, and before your interview you will need to submit a portfolio of artwork to demonstrate your artistic strengths. However, if you do not have a portfolio of work or examples of your own personal creativity, you will receive a summer assignment to be completed between June and the start of the course in September which you will need to complete.
We will review each application on a case-by-case basis to ensure you get a place on the course most suitable for you. One of the ways we do this is through a very effective ‘6 weeks to success’ programme that operates from the first day you start your course. This includes support such as (but not limited to):
- Allowing you to change courses if you change your mind in the first 6 weeks — subject to course availability
- Moving you between course levels if you are finding your current level too easy / too hard — subject to course availability
- One-to-one reviews with your academic tutor to ensure you are progressing and achieving well
Our course enquiries and admissions team can be contacted at enquiries@?stamford.?ac.?uk should you have any further questions.
Potential Future Career
Potential career progression after the course.
- Animator
- Photographer
- 3D artist
- Concept artist
- Printmaker
- Illustrator
- Videographer
- UX/UI designer
- Website designer
- Visual artist
Course Content
You will study a range of units including:
Units 1 – 2 (1st project):
Developing Drawing Skills: Fundamentals of Drawing
Elements and Principles of Art: Abstract design based on sound/music. Infinity Records Album cover design.
Linking the portraiture from Art & Design into this assignment requires learners to use the grid method to draw a portrait for the EP cover exploring mixed media and different techniques, then move it to the graphic design grid system to apply the typography for the EP name.
Link units 1 – 2 with EP cover assignment — developing EP cover comps to scale using a selected grid system to develop an idea for the EP cover. Using the grid method of drawing to develop a piece of artwork or illustration for the EP cover and then applying it to a graphic design grid to layout the EP cover.
Unit 3: Evaluations, analysis, Peer feedback.
Unit: 4 (second project): Graphic design and Typography ( Contextual research into graphic designers and visual artists) David Carson and Neville Brody for graphic design influences. Visual artists Wassily Kandinsky, Melissa McCracken
Pencil sketch composition of an idea. Grid system in graphics and in art. Creating an album cover design for Infinity Records EP using a combination of type and imagery/drawing. This will include experience within creating a logo design covering combination marks, wordmarks, lettermarks etc. to establish a visual identity for the album cover.
Unit: 5 (fourth project): Paper cutting, Lino print, Tunnel book, relief building. Devise a story based on a theme.
Unit: 6 (third project): Stop motion animation either clay or paper-based on a story produced in Unit 5. Using Adobe Photoshop or Première for animation.
Drawn stop motion animation session. The session will start with learners developing an idea for an animation involving a single object or character using mixed mediums to explore tone and colour. Two simple principles of animation will be taught to the learners. Then the learners will storyboard the object or character using these principles of animation. Once the principles have been covered and the storyboard drawn out learners will spend time drawing the objects using mixed mediums to be scanned onto the computer. Then using Photoshop animation techniques will be taught to the group to make an animation.
Unit: 7 (fifth project): FMP based on 3 themes mind maps by students. In this FMP you can either choose a Creative Media (digital) pathway, or an Art & Design (mixed medium) pathway.



