Investigation Workbook Guidelines

(IWB)

(aka: sketchbook or journal) An A4/ 8"x11" spiral-bound hard covered book is best. Every Monday listed on your calendar you must turn in your sketchbook with 5 sides completed.

These are some examples of successful pages. They may not all be perfect pages but they are good and they strive to meet the IB Markbands.

Follow the IB markbands

Cite ALL sources properly, including EVERY image

Your workbook should be a comprehensive document that illustrates your artistic development and research. The purpose of the workbook is to encourage and record personally driven research and discovery that function interactively with independent art work. It should include a combination of writing and drawing.

• incorporate analytical research (critical and historical examination of art works and their contexts, sketches, technological experiments, etc.)
• writing about artwork that you have seen (galleries, museums…)
• art images that relate to written critiques or artwork you are creating
• discovery, interpretation, media experiments, and the development of mature artistic expression. It should contain both visual and verbal information and have the appearance of a working journal.
• reflection of a theme or prime area of interest
• drawings from observation
• thumbnail sketches for future projects.
• drawings of artwork or sculptures
  
• studio and workbook interaction: drawings that may relate to your concentration (or what you think your concentration maybe for studio)
• written critiques of your work and art historical work
• discussions of the artist's role in society, cross-cultural variants, social and religious functions of art.

• Working in my IWB every day?
• Dating all of my pages on the day that I work on them?
• Completing 5 quality pages per week?
• Writing in black/dark blue pen?  Remember, this is going to be photocopied and you do not want to make it hard for the examiner to read.
• Remembering to never ever cut or tear pages from my IWB?
• Numbering the pages?
• When drawing something from observation, am I writing down where I am and why I’m choosing to draw it?
• If I have used a book or the internet to find an image or info, am I citing it?
• Am I writing comments on every page of the IWB?  Even if it is just the date?
• Am I making connections to things that I am learning in my other classes?  IE. TOK,
• Am I reflecting on the qualities of the materials I’m using to make marks? Or writing about  my reflections/observations with different media?
• Am I attempting to expand my art vocabulary?
• Do I remember that the IWB is a public document and that slang and informal language are taboo inclusions?  It’s being read by the IB examiner, after all!
• Does the work in my IWB connect with my studio work?
• Am I making notes on why I’m looking at specific artists?
• Am I finding 1-2 good artworks to copy and cite where I found them from?  IE.  To practice brush technique, composition, color mixing, etc..
• Am I including the artist’s name, title of the artwork, medium and where I found it (web address, book title and page, etc.)
• Am I thinking about my research in a visual way?  Using color, headings, and images to complement my notes…and composing pages so that they look interesting and varied?
• Am I including one or two relevant quotations about the artist I’m researching, including quotation marks, and recording who I’ve quoted and from what source?