VCE Visual Arts
Creating Futures Together
ART CREATIVE PRACTICE
Units 1, 2, 3 & 4
Course Description:
VCE Art: Creative Practice invites students into the world of contemporary and historical artmaking. Through hands-on creative work, investigation of artists and art movements, and reflection on personal ideas and processes, students become thoughtful, skilled, and reflective practitioners. This study encourages exploration, risk-taking, and curiosity while building technical skills and conceptual understanding.
Whether you’re passionate about painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, digital art, installation or new media, Art: Creative Practice provides the space to develop your voice as an artist.
Unit 1: Explore, Imagine and Create
In this introductory unit, students explore creative practice by experimenting with materials, techniques and artmaking processes. They learn how artists from different times and cultures use visual language to express ideas and beliefs. Students create a body of experimental work and begin developing their own artistic voice through imaginative and reflective processes.
Unit 2: Develop, Expand and Investigate
Building on Unit 1, students deepen their understanding of how artists develop and refine their creative ideas. They investigate historical and contemporary art practices and apply this knowledge in the creation of resolved artworks. Students continue to explore techniques and concepts in their visual art journal and studio practice.
Unit 3: Collect, Extend and Connect
In this unit, students begin a major creative project by identifying a personal theme or idea to investigate. They examine the work of artists across time to inform and inspire their own practice. Students establish a creative practice framework, including research, exploration and planning, as they prepare for the sustained making process in Unit 4.
Unit 4: Resolve, Present and Reflect
Students finalise their creative body of work based on the proposal developed in Unit 3. They reflect on their processes, decisions, challenges and breakthroughs. Students evaluate the success of their final artworks and present them for an audience, considering display, context and intention.
Assessment:
Assessment includes written analyses, visual art journals, progressive artworks, a written exploration proposal, resolved artworks and a final external assessment in Unit 4.
Pathway:
VCE Art: Creative Practice supports future study in fine art, design, fashion, architecture, illustration, digital media, arts education, community arts, arts therapy, curation and more.
Prerequisites:
It is recommended that students have successfully completed at least one of the following subjects: Year 9/10 Art, Year 9/10 Visual Communication and Design, Ceramics, Photography or Media.
The students must be able to demonstrate and ability to use art media and techniques, research skills and the ability to interpret and compare artworks. This includes:
understand how the practices of artists and artworks reflect the values, beliefs and traditions of their own and other cultures
analyse, interpret and respond to artworks and ideas, both in their own work and in the work of others, using the support of the Interpretive Lenses
critically evaluate ideas and issues explored by historical and contemporary artists from different cultures and societies
develop personal ideas and expression through Making and Responding in art practice
employ practical skills in art making and develop conceptual understanding to inform aesthetic awareness and art practice
develop creative and critical thinking skills in individual responses to artworks and art practices
Special Requirements:
Art gallery excursions and extra-curricular folio classes.
Additional Financial Contribution:
Unit 1&2 - $160
Unit 3&4 - $160
Equipment and materials including quality paint mediums, surfaces, pencils/charcoal/pastels/crayons/markers, cameras, brushes, clay and modelling tools.
View VCAA VCE Art Creative Practice Study Design here:
MEDIA
Course Description:
VCE Media explores the dynamic world of media and how it shapes the way we see ourselves, others, and the world around us. From streaming services and cinema to social media, journalism, and advertising, students engage with a wide range of media forms, technologies, and narratives. Through analysis and production, students gain the knowledge and creative skills to become informed media creators and consumers.
VCE Media is ideal for students interested in storytelling, creative production, media criticism, film studies, communications, or digital content creation. The subject fosters critical thinking, teamwork, creativity and technical proficiency—skills that are highly transferable across careers in design, communication, journalism, film, advertising, and beyond.
Unit 1: Media Forms, Representations and Australian Stories Students explore how media narratives are constructed and how they represent people, places, ideas and events. They analyse film, television, photography, and digital media, and examine the use of codes and conventions. Students investigate Australian stories and the ways they reflect and shape national culture and identity. They also begin to plan and develop their own media productions.
Unit 2: Narrative Across Media Forms In Unit 2, students further explore the concept of narrative in media, examining how stories are told across different platforms including film, television, podcasts, video games and online spaces. They study how audiences interpret media texts and develop their own media production using selected equipment and technologies, applying their understanding of audience, genre, and style.
Unit 3: Media Narratives and Pre-production Students delve into media storytelling in context, analysing the influence of media creators, technologies, institutions and audiences. They explore the creative and ethical choices involved in the production of media narratives. Students undertake a major media production design process, developing a production proposal, visual and written documentation, and plans for creating their own media product in Unit 4.
Unit 4: Media Production and Issues in the Media In the final unit, students bring their media project to life, using the pre-production documentation developed in Unit 3. They produce, refine and evaluate their media product. Students also explore media issues and debates, such as fake news, digital surveillance, or the influence of algorithms, and consider how media content affects society and individual worldviews.
Assessment:
Assessment includes analytical essays, media production projects, short-answer tasks, planning folios, and an external examination in Unit 4.
Pathways:
This subject provides excellent preparation for tertiary studies in media, film, communication, creative industries, journalism, screen production, marketing, and multimedia.
Additional Financial Contribution:
Unit 1&2 - No financial contribution
Unit 3&4 - No financial contribution
View VCAA VCE Media Design Study Design here:
VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN
Units 1, 2, 3 & 4
Course Description:
This study enables students to develop and apply drawing skills using a range of techniques to make their design thinking visible. Students develop a wide range of skills in selecting and applying media, materials, and manual and digital methods to suit design purposes, whilst following a design process to create visual communications. Students will complete a series of theoretical components to develop their understanding of how key visual communication design elements, design principles, media, materials, and manual and digital methods contribute to the creation of their own and existing designers' visual language. They will develop a capacity to undertake ongoing design thinking while conceiving, communicating and presenting ideas. These ideas will be supported through an understanding of how historical, social, cultural, environmental, legal, ethical and contemporary factors influence visual communications.
Assessment:
The course uses the following assessment methods:
Design Briefs
Folios of drawings, ideas and concepts using manual and/or digital methods
Written and/or annotated visual reports.
Oral and visual presentations
Exams
Prerequisites:
The student must be able to:
Draw accurately from observation, develop rendering skills and use a variety of media effectively.
Use instrumental drawing to produce orthogonal, paraline and perspective views of objects.
Analyse and research skills developed as part of essay writing.
Explain the design thinking behind each of the visual communication presentations.
Use appropriate terminology.
Devise and deliver a pitch that supports the presentation of final visual communications.
Successful completion of Year 9/10 Visual Communication Design elective is recommended.
Special Requirements:
Folio work will require preparatory work outside of the classroom. External excursions are also required to obtain observations of industry practices.
Additional Financial Contribution:
Unit 1&2 - $140
Unit 3&4 - $140
Equipment and materials including specialist drawing tools, drawing templates, paper, boards, pencils/pens/markers and printing.
View VCAA VCE Visual Communication Design Study Design here: