To describe how an idea developed, show how your thinking moved from a first thought to a final choice, with a reason at each step. A diary tells what you did. A development account tells what you decided.
This lesson is part of SPM subjects and learning resources. It follows comparing two sketches and justifying changes, and leads into reviewing your own process with a critique checklist.
Five stages to write about
You can describe an art process in five stages. Each stage answers one question.
- Start: what sparked the idea?
- Options: what other directions did you consider?
- Choice: which one did you choose, and why?
- Test: what did you try, and what did you notice?
- Refine: what did you change in the final version?
Two or three sentences for each stage make a complete account, and the stage names remind you to give the reasons.
Worked example: a rubber-tapping idea
Imagine a student whose family lives near a rubber estate and who wants to make an artwork about early-morning rubber tapping.
Start. The idea began with a memory of the quiet hour before sunrise, when tappers work by headlamp. The student wanted to show the stillness and the effort.
Options. The student thought of a wide view of the estate, a close view of the tapper’s hands and a view from behind the tapper with the lamp lighting the bark.
Choice. The student chose the view from behind, because the lamp circle creates a bright centre in a dark scene and suits the feeling of quiet work.
Test. A small thumbnail showed that the tapper was too small and the trees all looked the same. The student noticed that the eye had nowhere to rest.
Refine. In the final work the student enlarged the tapper, varied the tree trunks and kept the brightest colour only in the lamp circle, so the focus stays on the lit bark.
Read together, the stages show a decision and a reason each time. That is what makes it a development account and not a list of actions.
The mistake that costs marks
A weak version is: “First I drew the trees. Then I drew the man. Then I coloured it. Then I finished.” Each sentence is true, but none shows a reason or a decision.
To fix it, add “because” or “so that” to each sentence, and add one option you rejected. “I rejected the wide view because the tapper would be too small to show the effort” turns an action into a decision.
Check yourself
Imagine an original idea for an artwork about a school canteen at recess. Write a three-sentence development account that includes a start, one rejected option and a choice with a reason.
Answer
A sample answer: “My idea started from the noisy crowd at the canteen counter during recess. I first thought of drawing the whole canteen from above, but the people looked like dots and the noise was lost. I chose a low close view of hands reaching over the counter, because the overlapping arms show the crowd and the rush.”
It has a start, a rejected option with a reason, and a choice with a reason. If your answer only listed steps, add a “because” to each one.
What to study next
Use the checklist in reviewing your own art process to test your account. The original practice set has process-writing questions too.
If you want a teacher to question your development account and help you add the reasons, see online one-to-one Visual Arts tuition.