be creative!

Writing and talking about art + design are a crucial part to becoming a successful artist or designer.

Try and link the critical work you will do as part of your course with the practical activities. Both will improve as a result.

Looking at the work of artists and designers from the past or from the present day will give you ideas for your work and help you solve problems you have along the way. It will also help you if you are stuck and need starting points for your work.

The trick to succeeding in your critical essays and exams is to write down your opinions about works of art, backed up by evidence from the works themselves and from your knowledge of art and design history. You should analyse the artworks and design objects using the questions in the guides below as starting points. You should also write about the styles or movements these artists and designers belonged to and include relevant information about the history of the period.