IGCSE, A-Level & AP IGCSE, A-Level & AP Sheet preview
Subjects

AP Drawing

Tips

AP Drawing is a portfolio course, not an exam course. You submit fifteen Selected Works demonstrating drawing skills — mark-making, line quality, composition, surface and light — and a Sustained Investigation of fifteen images with written evidence of how one inquiry question developed.

Drawing here is broader than pencil on paper. Painting, printmaking and digital work all qualify, provided the drawing decisions are what the work is built on.

The Sustained Investigation rewards visible development. Keep the experiments and the failures, photograph and date every stage, and write the inquiry question specifically enough that evidence of progress is possible.

A portfolio course rather than an exam: the notes cover what the Sustained Investigation and Selected Works sections ask for, including how the written responses are marked. The library carries the published scoring guidelines rather than past papers.

Train all vocabulary
  • 1

    Line and Mark-Making

    Watch lesson
    Open this topic on its own page
    • 1.1 Line Quality
    • 1.2 Contour Drawing
    • 1.3 Gesture Drawing
    • 1.4 Hatching and Cross-Hatching
    • 1.5 Stippling, Scribbling, and Alternative Marks
    • 1.6 Texture and Surface
    • 1.7 Expressive Mark-Making
    • 1.7 Exam tips
  • 2

    Value, Light, and Form

    Watch lesson
    Open this topic on its own page
    • 2.1 The Value Scale
    • 2.2 Light Logic: How Light Describes Form
    • 2.3 Rendering Form
    • 2.4 Chiaroscuro and High-Contrast Drawing
    • 2.5 Tonal Composition and Notan
    • 2.6 Toned Grounds and Subtractive Drawing
    • 2.6 Exam tips
  • 3

    Space, Depth, and Proportion

    Watch lesson
    Open this topic on its own page
    • 3.1 Measuring and Sighting
    • 3.2 One-Point Perspective
    • 3.3 Two-Point and Three-Point Perspective
    • 3.4 Foreshortening
    • 3.5 Atmospheric Perspective
    • 3.6 Composition and the Picture Plane
    • 3.7 Drawing the Figure and Portrait
    • 3.7 Exam tips
  • 4

    Drawing Media and Processes

    Watch lesson
    Open this topic on its own page
    • 4.1 Graphite
    • 4.2 Charcoal and Conté
    • 4.3 Ink: Pen, Brush, and Wash
    • 4.4 Colored Pencil and Pastel
    • 4.5 Paint and Printmaking as Drawing
    • 4.6 Mixed Media and Experimental Surfaces
    • 4.7 Sketchbooks and Daily Practice
    • 4.7 Exam tips
  • 5

    Investigate: Inquiry and the Artistic Process

    Watch lesson
    Open this topic on its own page
    • 5.1 Inquiry and Asking Questions
    • 5.2 Sources of Ideas and Experiences
    • 5.3 Materials, Processes, and Ideas
    • 5.4 Drawing in Context
    • 5.5 Evaluating Drawings
    • 5.6 Documentation and the Process Journal
    • 5.6 Exam tips
  • 6

    Make: Practice, Experimentation, and Revision

    Watch lesson
    Open this topic on its own page
    • 6.1 The Sustained Investigation
    • 6.2 Practice, Experimentation, and Revision
    • 6.3 Synthesis of Materials, Processes, and Ideas
    • 6.4 Demonstrating Drawing Skills
    • 6.5 Composition and Craft in Making
    • 6.6 Developing Ideas Over Time
    • 6.6 Exam tips
  • 7

    Present: Communication and the AP Drawing Portfolio

    Watch lesson
    Open this topic on its own page
    • 7.1 The AP Drawing Portfolio
    • 7.2 Sustained Investigation: Images and Written Evidence
    • 7.3 Selected Works: Demonstrating Skills
    • 7.4 Writing About Your Work
    • 7.5 Presentation and Image Quality
    • 7.6 Understanding the Scoring Guidelines
    • 7.7 Academic Integrity and Citing Sources
    • 7.7 Exam tips

Log in or create account

IGCSE, A-Level & AP