A. Creating and Presenting · Creating Art: The Creative Process, Design and Studio Techniques

The Creative Process and Your Art Portfolio

A1.2 A1.3 C1.3About 65 minutes

Learning goals

I can name and explain the eight stages of the creative process.
I can explain why artists loop back to earlier stages instead of working in a straight line.
I can set up a sketchbook and a portfolio that document my creative process.
I can use feedback from others to revise my work.

Words to know

creative process
The set of stages artists move through to turn a challenge into a finished art work: from getting inspired, through planning, experimenting and revising, to presenting and reflecting.

creative challenge
The problem or prompt an art work responds to, for example "show a place where you feel you belong".

sketchbook
A book of plain paper where an artist collects ideas, quick drawings, tests, notes and reflections. It is a working tool, not a showcase.

portfolio
An organized collection of an artist's work. A process portfolio shows planning, experiments and reflections; a presentation portfolio shows finished pieces.

thumbnail sketch
A small, quick drawing (often a few centimetres wide) used to try out an idea or a layout.

preliminary work
Early versions, studies and drafts made before the final art work.

feedback
Specific comments from others (or yourself) about what is working and what could be improved.

reflection
Thinking, speaking or writing about your choices, what you learned and what you would change.

Remember from Grade 8

In Grade 8 visual arts you planned art works around criteria, used thumbnail sketches, studied movement, value and colour contrast, and wrote an artist's statement. You were already using parts of the creative process. In Grade 9 you will use the whole process on purpose, and you will keep a record of it.

Where do art works really come from?

When you look at a finished painting in a gallery, it can seem as if the artist simply sat down and made it. That is almost never true. Behind most art works are pages of sketches, failed tests, changed plans and second (or tenth) tries.

The Ontario arts curriculum calls this the creative process. It is the backbone of this whole course. Every project you do, from a pencil study to a sculpture, will move through it.

The eight stages

Challenging and inspiring. You meet a challenge or prompt. You get curious. You look at art, nature, your community and your own life for a starting spark.
Imagining and generating. You produce many ideas, fast, without judging them yet. Quantity first.
Planning and focusing. You pick the most promising idea, decide what you want the viewer to feel or understand, and choose materials, size and format.
Exploring and experimenting. You test media and techniques. Will the watercolour bleed? Does the composition work better as a tall or a wide rectangle?
Producing preliminary work. You make a draft or study of the real thing.
Revising and refining. You ask for feedback, compare the draft to your goal and make changes.
Presenting and sharing (the curriculum's full name is presenting, performing and sharing). You finish the work and show it: on a wall, in a portfolio, online, or in a class exhibition.
Reflecting and evaluating. You think about what worked, what you learned and what you would try next time.

The eight stages of the creative process used in Ontario arts courses. The arrows show the usual order, but real artists loop back often: a failed experiment in stage 4 can send you back to stage 2 for a new idea.

It is a loop, not a ladder

The numbers give a typical order, but the process is not a straight line. Artists jump back all the time:

An experiment (stage 4) shows that your idea does not work in clay, so you go back to planning (stage 3).
Feedback on a draft (stage 6) gives you a better idea, so you return to generating (stage 2).
Reflecting on one finished work (stage 8) becomes the inspiration (stage 1) for the next one.

Reflection is not only at the end. Good artists ask "Is this working? Why?" at every stage. Teachers in Grade 9 often assess this thinking, not only the final product.

Stage	What you might do	What goes in your sketchbook
Challenging and inspiring	Read the prompt, look at artists' work, take reference photos	The prompt, notes on artists, photos or quick sketches of inspiration
Imagining and generating	Brainstorm, mind map, make many thumbnails	Lists, webs, 6 to 12 thumbnails
Planning and focusing	Choose one idea and set your goal	A sentence: "I want viewers to feel..."; materials list
Exploring and experimenting	Test media, colours, techniques	Swatches, value scales, small trial pieces
Producing preliminary work	Make a draft or study	The draft, or a photo of it
Revising and refining	Get feedback, make changes	Feedback notes and what you changed
Presenting and sharing	Finish, title, display	A photo of the final work and its title
Reflecting and evaluating	Judge the work against your goal	A short written reflection

What each stage can look like in practice. Your sketchbook becomes the evidence of your process.

Sketchbook and portfolio

In this course you will keep two kinds of record:

A sketchbook (also called a visual journal) is your working space. It is allowed to be messy. Date every page. Keep failed experiments: they show learning.
A portfolio is an organized collection. A process portfolio gathers your plans, tests, drafts and reflections for each project. A presentation portfolio shows only your best finished work, chosen and arranged with care (you will build one in the last lesson of this unit).

At home, a sketchbook can be any notebook with plain paper. A portfolio can be a large folder made from two pieces of bristol board taped along one edge, or a digital folder of photos.

One way to set up a sketchbook spread. The left page holds many quick ideas, tests and notes; the right page develops one idea and ends with a short written reflection. Every page is dated, so your portfolio shows how your thinking grew.

Worked example

Let's follow one project through the process

Challenge: "Create an art work about a place where you feel you belong." Watch how Amira, a Grade 9 student in Sudbury, moves through the stages.

Challenging and inspiring: Amira lists places: her grandmother's kitchen, the hockey arena, the trail by the lake. She looks at landscape paintings of northern Ontario for ideas.
Imagining and generating: she draws 9 thumbnails in 15 minutes: the kitchen table from above, skates by the bench, the trail at sunset, and others.
Planning and focusing: she chooses the kitchen table seen from above, because the hands, cups and bowls tell a story about family. Goal: "I want viewers to feel warm and welcome." Materials: coloured pencils on cartridge paper, 23 cm × 30 cm.
Exploring and experimenting: she tests warm and cool colour swatches and decides on warm yellows and oranges with a few cool shadows.
Producing preliminary work: she draws a light pencil draft.
Revising and refining: a classmate says the table looks empty in one corner. Amira adds her little brother's hand reaching for a bun, which also adds emphasis and a story.
Presenting and sharing: she titles it Sunday at Teta's and displays it with a short statement.
Reflecting and evaluating: she writes that the warm colours worked, but next time she wants to try a stronger light source. That note becomes the starting point for her next project.

Every stage left evidence in her sketchbook: the list, 9 thumbnails, the goal sentence, colour swatches, the draft, the feedback note and the reflection. That record is her process portfolio for this project.

Feedback that helps

When you give feedback, use the "I notice, I wonder, I suggest" pattern: I notice the eye goes straight to the red cup. I wonder if the corner feels empty on purpose. I suggest adding something small there. Specific comments help; "It's nice" does not.

Hands-on activity

Set up your sketchbook and portfolio

You need: a notebook with plain pages (or 20 sheets of printer paper folded and stapled into a booklet), a pencil, a ruler, two pieces of bristol board or a large cardboard folder, masking tape, a marker.

On the first page of your sketchbook, write your name and "Grade 9 Visual Arts". Design the cover page with your name in letters of your own style.
On page 2, make a table of contents with space for 16 entries. You will fill it in as you go.
Make your portfolio: lay two sheets of bristol board on top of each other and tape them together along the bottom and one side so they form a large folder. Label it with your name.
Mini creative process (20 minutes): Challenge: "Draw an object that says something about you." Do 6 thumbnails (stage 2), circle one (stage 3), test two pencils or pens on a corner (stage 4), draw it about the size of your hand (stage 5), ask someone at home for one "I notice, I wonder, I suggest" comment (stage 6), make one change, then write 3 sentences of reflection (stage 8).
Label each step on the page with its stage name.

Safety: if you cut the bristol board, use scissors, or have a grown-up use a craft knife on a cutting mat.

Just for fun

Leonardo da Vinci left thousands of pages of notebooks full of sketches, inventions and notes, often written in mirror writing. If he had kept only his finished paintings, we would have only about 15 to 20 works that experts agree are his. Keep your messy pages!

Your turn

Put these stages in their usual order: revising and refining; imagining and generating; presenting and sharing; planning and focusing.

What is the difference between a sketchbook and a presentation portfolio?

Give two reasons an artist might go back to an earlier stage.

Why should you keep failed experiments in your sketchbook?

Rewrite this feedback to make it useful: "It's good."

At which stage do you write a goal like "I want viewers to feel calm"?

Which stage is it: you paint five small swatches to see which blue looks best for a winter sky?

More practice: warm-up

How many stages are in the creative process?

Name the first stage.

What is a thumbnail sketch?

True or false: you only reflect at the very end.

What should you write on every sketchbook page?

More practice: on your own

Lucas skips stages 2 to 4 and starts his final painting with his first idea. Predict one problem.

Name the stage and explain: Priya asks her aunt which of two drafts tells the story better, then adds more contrast to the one she picks.

Why might a teacher assess your sketchbook as well as your final work?

Write a one-sentence goal for a drawing of your street in winter.

Explain how stage 8 can connect to stage 1.

Challenge

Design a 4-week schedule for a large project (a 45 cm × 60 cm painting) that shows when each stage happens and where you would expect to loop back.

A friend says, "The creative process kills creativity; real artists just follow inspiration." Write a reasoned response.

Choose an art work you made in the past (any grade). Describe what each stage looked like, and which stage you rushed or skipped. What would you change?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which stage of the creative process comes right after imagining and generating?

Which statement about the creative process is true?

A process portfolio mainly shows...

Testing three kinds of paper with the same watercolour is part of which stage?

Which piece of feedback is the most useful?

Why date every page in your sketchbook?

For parents and teachers

This first lesson sets the habits for the whole course. Help your teen set up a sketchbook (any plain-paper notebook works) and a large folder for finished work. The biggest difficulty for Grade 9 students is skipping straight to the final piece: encourage at least 6 thumbnails before committing to any idea, and praise experiments even when they "fail". When you give feedback, try the "I notice, I wonder, I suggest" pattern so comments are specific and kind. Supervise any cutting with a craft knife. The stage names are the official Ontario arts curriculum terms and will appear on assignments and rubrics in high school.