Clarification details
Updated December 2016. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
Types of conventions
Technical conventions include the processes, procedures, materials and techniques, selected with reference to physical strategies appropriate to the field.
Compositional conventions include the composition principles that underpin the work such as balance, harmony, rhythm, tension, repetition, etc. Additional pictorial considerations include colour, tone, contrast, light source, fragmentation, distortion, stylisation, etc.
Conceptual and/or communicative conventions include the treatment of subject matter, juxtaposition of imagery, symbolism, metaphor, narrative, etc.
Understanding drawing conventions means the consistent and intentional management of technical and pictorial skills appropriate to realise an intended outcome.
Specific and in-depth understanding of conventions means increasingly sophisticated use of particular conventions to successfully realise an intended purpose. Outcomes show a consistently high level of technical facility with a wide range of generic drawing and field specific conventions. Outcomes typically show a strongly developed personal style.
Appropriate evidence
Students should select and apply field-specific drawing conventions from established practice with their own subject matter.
A copy of an art work provides limited opportunity for students to demonstrate independent knowledge of conventions. Greater understanding is demonstrated through the implicit use of selected technical, pictorial or conceptual conventions in the students’ own work.
Annotations clarify students’ understanding of particular conventions and show that outcomes are informed and deliberate. Annotations support rather than replace the required visual evidence.
At higher levels of achievement, students will typically integrate a range of different artists’ conventions in innovative ways to enhance the effectiveness of their own work.
Contemporary artist models, and those relevant to the cultural milieu of students, are recommended. New Zealand models may be particularly relevant.
This standard may be combined with the following developing ideas standard.