Gcse art - how to incorporate random portraits

[Gasandpair]

Ds is in yr 11 and putting together his final portfolio. He has the planned artists/experiments/responses pretty much sorted but in his sketchbooks are a huge number of random sketches of real people and also distorted/grotesque people.
It seems a shame not to include this volume of work but he’s not sure how to justify it as they don’t really lead anywhere or specifically link to the other work he’s done. Any ideas?

Could he make them into a little extra sketchbook? Mini book?
They will definitely contribute to his mark- especially if he has been looking at other portrait artists?

Perhaps he can get advice from his teacher? It's HIS portfolio- surely part of the point of the course is the portfolio prep?

His teacher is nice enough but really doesn’t seem to inspire- she and ds are just not on the same wavelength unfortunately. I’ve talked to her myself and just come away more confused. I will try again though cos I think it would be a massive shame not to include them. It is a huge part of what he is just driven to create for his own pleasure like daydreaming which is why it hasn’t featured as part of his main work.

Have a look on Pinterest for sketchbook presentation ideas- there are lots of examples that might help.

I know nothing about art GCSE but including work not on the syllabus / not requested strikes me as somewhat strange? A bit like writing an extra creative writing piece in your English Lang GCSE or something?

Art gcse should go off on a tangent- that's a good thing!
So long as it fits the whole theme of the topic- it's encouraged.
The coursework should be like a story- a theme running through investigations into other artists, materials/ methods, working towards a final piece.

Everything he has done has been about the human head (although not exactly portraits) so it does fit. He started with heads exactly because it’s what he’s drawn to do.

I used to be an art teacher -Don't put them in with a project they really don't fit with (for example landscapes) as it will be looked on unfavourably when they are marked. As pp said a project should wind in different directions but it should also keep within the theme. When GCSE and A-level art projects are marked refinement and consistency are important. Random drawings that don't connect to the project would indicate that the student doesn't understand their project and would result in lower marks. If part of his projects have something about portraiture in them then great, include them. Otherwise make them into a separate sketchbook and add it as an additional extra which shows some more drawing skills.

DD is taking art GCSE and is collecting bits she's doing outside of school that are of a good standard to put in a separate sketch book. Her teacher seemed to think that would be fine but it's not part of her school portfolio.

Just read your last post. It's hard to know without seeing the project but I would still be tempted to make them into their own sketchbook (as you say they haven't been developed further in the project) and have it as an additional sketchbook that can be put with the project.

Agree with others, pop them into a separate sketchbook. Not his teachers fault but art marking is prescriptive which is the only way to try and ensure fairness but also tricky at times in a creative subject. Kind of like an exam in humanities where you'd only answer questions and 99% of your knowledge wouldn't be showcased, same with art- the portfolio should 'answer' the brief and unfortunately this won't be showcased in terms of the qualification. Doesn't mean the knowledge, skills and work aren't important overall though, so yes encourage him to start a separate portfolio to explore his creativity and hone his skills, see if that can be submitted as extra but it's still not a waste if not. Depending on his exact project he could perhaps include a few in the research part but only if it relates.

He has a few ideas for working them up into something specific but not sure if he has the time and he already has a lot of work to include (and extra bits he’d like to add too- that’s the trouble with art, there’s always more ideas!)
I guess it’s all about how selective should he be. I looked at the exam board specifications and they said to be ‘judicious’ and to include drawing in its widest sense inc sketches, plans, doodles, diagrams.
I guess everything in the portfolio has to have a purpose so maybe he can create a reasoning for them somehow… Separate sketchbook is probably a good idea, off on a little tangent but finding a way to still show a related purpose.

DD has been predicted a grade 9, she keeps tightly to the brief but uses each topic to show a range of techniques, media and imagination. Her teacher has shown them example sketchbooks and the idea of unity and themes is strong. I think DD puts a lot of quiet thought into her work and makes sure things like colour theory are implicitly shown, the way the pages are filled is carefully done. She's had good feedback from her teachers at parents evening but finds the teacher doesn't give much away during lessons and doesn't actually teach much in terms of techniques.

Similar experience re good feedback but not much technique taught (little access to materials at school too) and not much guidance on putting portfolio together. In fact some of the things she’s said seem to be contradictory.
She gave them a print out a few weeks back from a random website about the order in which to do things but it doesn’t fit with the info she gave out earlier in the course.
He got a 7 in his mock before Xmas and I can see he has jumped a mile in quality of work since then so I hope he will do well. He is absolutely not a conventional artist who paints pretty pictures but his work is “striking” in a lot of ways! 😁 he’s currently covering a 3D head with fabric strips and they’ll be textile viscera spilling out of where the face should be 😂

I too have little relevant experience but I would think there's at least part of a story there from portraits to distorted portrait to distort the whole idea of a portrait. Referencing them in a separate sketchbook sounds good.

There is an amazing artist near me who runs a business called portfolio oomph. Maybe one word actually, portfoliooomph? Anyway, she helps students nail their portfolios and has had amazing success in getting students into their art degrees of choice.

What's the stimulus?

If it's a theme like Love and Hate, it could be linked into their expressions or the style (gentle colours and brushstrokes or harsh black charcoal and hard edges), or how the artist showed these concepts and picking up similarities.