OCR GCSE Art and Design: media, techniques and processes - drawing, painting, print, 3D, photography, textiles and digital

What this area covers

This area is the practical craft of OCR GCSE Art and Design: the media, techniques and processes you make work with. It covers drawing and painting, printmaking, three-dimensional work, photography, textiles, and digital and mixed media. The seven titles J170 to J176 emphasise different media, but the underlying skill is the same everywhere: choosing and refining appropriate media, which is exactly what AO2 rewards.

This guide ties together the six dot-point pages for the area.

Drawing and painting media

Each medium behaves differently. Charcoal is soft and tonal; pen makes sharp line; pencil is versatile. Watercolour is transparent and worked light to dark; acrylic is opaque and reworkable; gouache gives flat matt colour. Choose the medium whose behaviour suits the idea, with a reason, and refine your handling, the AO2 explore-and-select pattern.

Printmaking techniques

Relief (lino) prints from the raised surface for bold, repeatable images; monoprint prints a unique one-off; drypoint prints rich furry line from incised marks. Choose by visual quality and repeatability, then refine the inking, pressure and registration.

Working in three dimensions

3D work is additive (building up: clay, construction, casting) or subtractive (carving away, permanent, needing planning). It is read in the round and shapes the space around and within it, so form and space must both be considered. Maquettes are 3D sketches.

Photography and lens-based media

Photography is a deliberate process controlled by viewpoint, framing, light and focus. A snapshot leaves these to chance; a considered image chooses them. Your own photographs are first-hand recording (AO3); a considered image or series can be an outcome (AO4).

Textiles and surface techniques

Textiles are constructed (weaving, felting) or decorated (stitch, applique, dyeing, printing). Stitch is drawing in thread; resist methods (batik, tie-dye) make pattern in dye. Sample, choose and refine, often combining techniques so the formal elements work together in cloth.

Digital and mixed media

Digital tools add layering, repetition and adjustment; mixed media combines processes. The rule is deliberate combination: each medium adds what the others cannot, all serving one idea. Random combination reads as busy; deliberate combination reads as control.

How to revise this area

1. Learn how media behave. Know the qualities of each so you can choose appropriately (AO2).
2. Choose for the idea. Select the medium or process whose behaviour suits the intention, with a reason.
3. Sample, then refine. Test media and processes, select the strongest, and refine your handling.
4. Record first-hand. Use your own photography and observation, not found images, for AO3.
5. Combine deliberately. In mixed and digital media, every medium must earn its place and serve one idea.

The dot points in this area

Each links to a focused answer page: drawing and painting media, printmaking techniques, working in three dimensions, photography and lens-based media, textiles and surface techniques and digital and mixed media.