10 Things To Do In Your Blogs First Year

I've been blogging for well over a year now, and while that hardly makes me a veteran, I've learnt a lot about what it takes to get your blog off the ground through my own trial and error. Starting with zero views and zero followers is still relatively fresh in my memory so I know how daunting it can feel. There seems to be so many tips and advice posts going around saying what you should and shouldn't do and it can all get a bit overwhelming, so today I've compiled a list of 10 simple and easy to achieve things that I think will get to off to a great start in the blogging world.

3 Tips On Learning A New Adobe Program From Scratch

For some it's the best thing since sliced bread and for others it's a necessary evil, either way there's no getting around the fact that the Adobe Suite isn't going anywhere in the creative industry. For those of us just starting out as students, it can seem an impossible task to get to grips with programs as complex as Photoshop and with the vast capabilities of After Effects.

To give you a bit of background about my own personal experience, before I started my degree last September, I only had experience with two Adobe programs, Photoshop and Lightroom. My mum is into photography so we have the photographic package at home. I had a decent knowledge of Photoshop but I'd never even laid eyes on programs such as Illustrator, InDesign and After Effects. So far, first year has been a crash course on all of the above and more. There's still programs in the Suite which I have never opened, but with each project that goes by, I learn a little more. Today I'm going to talk about a few things which have helped me when faced with the daunting task of learning a whole new program from scratch.

Nipple Piercing Experience & 1 Week Update

First off, I'm just going to go ahead and apologise for the image on this blog post! Nothing really seemed appropriate so I thought I'd just go with something from my Instagram so yeah, soz about that one. Anyway, onto the point of this post! It's been a long time in the making, but after several months of researching, dithering, mind changing and more researching, I finally had my nipple pierced. It's been over a week now so I thought I'd talk a little bit about my experience and how the early stages of healing are coming along, in case anyone is thinking of getting it done too. Please remember that I am not qualified as a piercer so always follow your piercers advice as they are the experts, not me!

How To Deal With The Death Of A Pet

Last October, our family dog passed away. Losing a pet is always hard, particularly when you've grown up with that animal (I was 7 when we got Tara and almost 20 when she died). It was incredibly upsetting and every pet owner will understand how tough it can be. Since it's been about 6 months now, today I thought I'd write a little post about 'pet grief' and how to deal with it.

PCOS and Me

So this is a bit different, and easily the most personal post I have ever written. If you follow Nicole's blog Thrifty Vintage Fashion you may have seen last month that she launched a new project called Speak Up (if not, you can read what it's all about here). This week I am guest posting on her blog about my experience being diagnosed with PCOS (or polycystic ovary syndrome), which happened to me late last year.

Top Tips For A Medium Distance Romance

So, you're medium distance. You and your significant other don't live in the same city. You may have to travel a couple of hours to see each other, but there isn't seas and deserts between you. In some ways you feel lucky - it could be worse right? At least you're in the same country and all. But it's still difficult. There are times when you just want a cuddle and you know you have to wait, or times when you need someone to rant to and things just aren't the same over the phone or a pixilated phone screen.

So, You Want To Do An Art Foundation?

Here is an outline of my situation this time last year - Fresh out of a-levels, still as passionate about art and design as I had always been but with no idea of how, or even if, I was going to turn this love into a career. No direction in terms of what degree I wanted to pursue (a business degree was still a strong possibility) but a place on the Manchester School of Art Foundation Diploma in hand.

5 Tips Every Nervous Flyer Should Try

Flying can be a scary experience for some. I’m certainly not the most nervous flyer in the world, but about 24 hours before I fly anywhere, I start to feel anxious and my mind begins to tick over thinking about my oncoming journey. There are certain worries that begin to set in and ‘what ifs’ that enter my mind. But as I write this post, 35,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, I feel completely safe and at ease. Since there's no internet access to be had from up here, the tips I’m about to give are purely off the top of my head, taken only from personal experience. What works for some may not work for others, but these are the things that I’d at least recommend giving a go if you tend to be an uneasy flyer. 

Top 10 Tips For First Time Glastonbury Goers

So you've done it. It's taken blood, sweat, tears and probably every electronic device in your household, but you've managed to bag yourself tickets to the best festival on earth - congratulations! You're in for one hell of a weekend and a festival experience like no other. Inside those perimeter walls, Glastonbury is a whole new culture, so prepare for the party of a lifetime with my top ten tips for first time Glastonbury goers.

30 Post Ideas For Creative Bloggers

Like me, I'm sure that a lot of my fellow creative bloggers occasionally run a bit low on ideas about what to post. Even with the best will in the world, sometimes it all just seems to dry up. The good news though is that often, all it takes is a little nudge in the right direction to get the blogging juices flowing again, so I wanted to share a few 30 post ideas in the hopes of getting you going again if you’re feeling a bit uninspired lately. 

5 Tips For Visually Interesting Sketchbooks

What is it about sketchbooks that make them so intriguing to touch and feel? Is it the fact that they're the most raw insight into a persons creative process? It's no secret that I take great pride in my sketchbooks. Throughout my foundation course it's the thing that I have really consistently enjoyed creating and I actively look forward to updating mine on a daily basis. While a sketchbook is the least judgmental and most forgiving of any artwork, for some it can almost feel too free, and blank pages can be very intimidating! Recently I have shared some snapshots into my own sketchbooks (here and here if you're interested) and today I want to share some ideas and suggestions on how you could go about making your own sketchbook more visually intriguing.  

1. Keep Everything 
For me, displaying bits and pieces from my creative process is a big part of creating an interesting sketchbook. It can be hard to remember to do this to begin with but soon enough it'll become second nature. Everything from paper offcuts to material samples and receipts, anything that tells the story of your working process will make a great addition to a page. Your sketchbook will soon become something of a record of how your work was created which can be so fun to look back on.

2. Methods Of Attachment 
Something that I have found to be useful when I feel like a page is looking a bit dull is using a variety of methods for attaching page elements. For example, if you have a photograph, you might just glue it down with a regular glue stick, or you could use a ripped bit of making tape, a staple, a safety pin, sticky tape around the edge, use string, split pins etc etc. It's surprising how effective this can be at changing the whole look and feel of a page.

3. Variety Is Key
If you want to keep your sketchbook visually interesting throughout for either yourself or the viewer, having a variety of page styles is a great way to achieve this. One page might be full of drawing while the next is a written brainstorm, and the next might be photographs of your process or a mixture of techniques. Try to switch it up every now and again if you tend to stick to one style.

4. Bulk
"Bulk? What the heck is bulk?" I hear you ask. Well my friends, 'bulk' is what me and all of my friends at art school strive for in our sketchbooks. Have you ever seen a sketchbook that is so full to the brim that it will barely close? Yep - that's what we're all after! There's something so beautiful about a book that's so teeming with life, ideas and creativity. Of course, that's not to say that this suits everybody's style and taste, but for me, there's no greater feeling than literally seeing my sketchbook grow in size.

5. Learn To Let Go
This is probably the most important tip that I can give. Your sketchbook is yours and yours only. Ultimately you get to choose what goes in, how you want to work and who gets to see it. Learning to let go and be free with your creative self it vital. Don't hold back - your sketchbook is somewhere you should be able to make a mistake and not lose sleep over it! Don't get caught up with making everything look perfect, just let yourself create without worry and everything else will follow suit.

While these are just some of the things I do when making my own books, the best thing about a sketchbook is that it is completely personal to the creator. You may decide that non of these tips apply to your taste (although I would recommend considering #5!). The most important thing is to express yourself freely - there really are no rules!
What are some of the things you like to do when creating your sketchbooks? I'd love to know about your process! 

5 Truths Louise Gardiner Taught Me

For anybody who doesn't already know, Louise Gardiner is a textile artist who uses machine embroidery alongside painting, drawing and applique to create her beautiful work. She draws freehand with her sewing machine to create wonderfully vibrant textile pieces. She also happens to be an alumnus of the exact same foundation course I am currently studying at Manchester School of Art. This week therefore, I was lucky enough to meet her in person, listen to her talk about her own work but also pick her brains about how we creatives get by the world. I found her to be such an incredibly inspiring lady and I took a lot from the experience. She seemed to be one of those people who just beams inspiration and I left feeling very motivated to get out there and achieve exactly what it is I want from life. So, with about six full pages of notes and a voice memo recording in front of me, I thought I'd share five of the things I learnt from meeting the wonderful Louise Gardiner.

1. "Rejections shaped my career"

Of course we all like to be told that our work is wonderful and lovely and brilliant, however, at some point along the way, somebody is going to turn around and say they think our portfolio is a load of crap. It's hard to imagine that anyone could ever have a bad word to say about Louise's beautiful embroidery, but she admitted that though difficult, it was the negative comments that truly pushed her to reflect on her work and move forward in her creative career. She now embraces her critics, even when negative comments are hard to hear.

2. "Gallery owners all drive 4X4s for some reason"

Far from trying to scare us off from the big bad world of gallery owners, Louise took us on the journey of her career. Starting as a new graduate where she organised all of her own exhibitions, through to moving onto having her exhibitions organised by an agent and subsequently sacrificing 50% of her earnings, and eventually realising that there is a reason why gallery owners all drove fancy cars and she didn't, finally deciding to revert back to organising the exhibitions for herself. With this lighthearted quip, what Louise Gardiner was trying to explain was the way in which the art world worked, and the fact that at least for her, going it alone made more sense.

3. "Start archiving your work now"

During her lecture, Louise showed us an array of beautiful images of her work both past and present. However, she was forced to apologise for the fact that she wasn't able to show us any work from when she herself was doing the art foundation course. She explained that this was because she never organised her work and archived it properly, therefore it had been lost. Several times she mentioned the importance of taking good quality photographs of all of our work, and that in hindsight she wished she would have begun organising her work from the very beginning. 

4. "Self promotion is everything"

Opportunity is everywhere if you have your eyes and ears peeled at all times. My experience meeting Louise made me truly realise the fact that nobody is going to like your work unless you love it yourself. Getting noticed is a full time job that requires a whole lot of grit and determination. So get out there, talk to people in the industry, carry a business card wherever you go and seek opportunities to promote yourself in any given situation.

5. "Most people never get a 'lucky break'"

This was a very interesting and important point and one which I think I will remember for a long time to come. The truth is, most people never get that one lucky break that sets off their career like a skyrocket. In her 40s, Louise Gardiner says she is still waiting for hers to arrive. But this does not mean that you have no chance of being successful, it simply means that a career is built on lots of little breaks rather than one groundbreaking moment. You just have to work hard, immerse yourself in creativity and do things that set you apart from the crowd, and little by little you will see your opportunities snowball. 

5 Lessons I Have Learnt At Art School

I can't quite believe that I have now started work on my Final Major Project, which means it's the beginning of the end of my first year at art school and of my foundation course. It's all gone by so quickly, it really doesn't seem like more that a couple of months ago that I was walking though the doors of this big scary building on my first day not knowing what to expect, how to dress, what to do and what I was even interested in. I feel like I have come such a long way in knowing what my direction might be in art and design as well as developing my artistic skills. I have learnt such a great deal in a relatively short amount of time and today I thought I'd share 5 of the valuable lessons I have learnt over the past academic year.

1. Breaking Up Projects Is Key

As it happens, my final major project is really the only project on my foundation course which will last longer than a few weeks. The projects up until this point have been very quick, which I have become quite fond of because it stops things going stale. However, even shorter projects can be broken down with quick one day or even one morning projects. I've found that I have created some of my best work under the time pressure of 24 hours, work which can easily stand up next to the final result of longer projects in my portfolio. Breaking things down into small projects just forces you to stop THINKING and start DOING and can really help you make the most of the time available.

2. You Can Achieve A Lot In A Day

As I have said, quick one day projects have been a key part of my art foundation experience. But even day-to-day, it really is amazing what you can achieve in just 24 hours if you set your mind to it. Make a to do list, set an ambitious goal and stick to it, tell your peers what you will have done by the end of the working day so you are held accountable. Everyday has the potential for you to create your best piece of work.

3. Sharing Your Work Is A Good Thing

Before I came to art school, I was very reserved about my own artwork. I didn't like to share it with others and I kept my projects very private. But I was swiftly thrown in at the deep end and encouraged to come out of my shell and share my work, thoughts and ideas with others. Now I'm a convert and a completely changed person! I love to show my work to other people, collaborate and bounce off each other. I even share photos of my work on this blog, Instagram and Facebook which is something I wouldn't dream of doing not long ago. Collaboration is key to creativity, there's nothing more inspiring than learning off of each other.

4. There Are People Out There Just Like Me

Nobody else in my family has ever been particularly creative, and I've never really been around people that 'get' my love of art. So it was a very new and refreshing experience to be around people every single day who are just like me, and share the same traits of collecting *hoarding* everything, taking photographs at every given opportunity and just being generally more creatively minded. I firmly believe that you just cannot use up your creativity, the more of it you use, the more of it you gain, and so being around people that inspire you on a daily basis is key to unlocking your creative potential.

5. Graphic Design Is Far More Than Just Posters

By far my biggest discovery since starting at art school is my love of graphics. I hold my hands up and admit that I had previously written off graphic design as a boring monotonous job for ‘MAC monkeys’, and not something where I could express myself freely in any way that I wanted. Oh how much I had to learn. I now specialise in graphic design and will continuing it onto degree level in September. Never once have I been held back or told I can’t do something because it doesn’t fit into the umbrella of graphic design. That is why a foundation course is so valuable - it challenges all of the rules drilled into you during your a-level.

19 Things In 19 Years

So today is my 19th birthday *yay*! I feel like 19 is a bit of a funny one; you've done all of the big celebrations that come with your 18th, and you have a while to wait until the big 2-1. With that in mind I don't have huge plans to celebrate this year, just a nice meal with my family and a night out in town with my friends. But I thought I'd begin my last year as teenager by sharing 19 lessons I have learnt in my 19 years on this earth. I'm certainly not saying that I have all the worlds wisdom, but these are just a few snippets I've discovered along my journey so far. Here goes...

1. Not taking the easy option pays off in the long term
2. Experiences are more valuable than possessions
3. Worrying changes nothing
4. Death doesn't care who you are
5. People change
6. There comes a point when you realise the way your parents built you isn't enough - and they don't ALWAYS know best
7. Regret is almost entirely pointless
8. Time heals
9. Pain often leads to the biggest growth 
10. Politeness is important, and it always gets rewarded
11. Forgiving people makes you feel lighter 

12. The way things are right now is not the way they will always be

13. Not everybody will understand the value in art
14. There is no shame in enjoying your own company
15. There will always be somebody who doesn't like you, so you might as well be yourself
16. Stepping outside your comfort zone is a good thing
17. Everything seems worse at night
18. Your school years are NOT the best of your life
19. Empathy is a very valuable tool

Do you agree or disagree with anything on my list? And what lessons have you learnt in your life so far?
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15 Things To Do Every Day To Stay Creative In 2015

Staying creative is a bit like an athlete keeping themselves in shape. If you stop training, like an athletes fitness level, your creativity will gradually slump back to square one. Maintaining your creativity takes work and requires a conscious effort. So I thought I would devise a list of 15 things you should do every day try and have a go at doing every day in 2015 to keep your creative juices flowing throughout the year ahead.

 1. Stop trying to please everyone

2. Write on non-lined paper

3. Check for new upcoming exhibitions and events (and arrange to go!) 

4. Walk a different route 

5. Join forces 

6. Drop everything and sketch right now
7. Stop trying to be a great artist
8. Make lots of mistakes
9. Take praise well
10. Take criticism well
11. Stop scrolling
12. Read the news
13. Watch a documentary about something you know nothing about
14. Go outside
15. Never stick with what you know

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Advice From Art School #1

Just in the first couple of months of my art foundation I've been given so much helpful and invaluable advice about art and creating from a group of tutors that really do know what they're talking about. A year is a very short space of time and I realised very quickly that I really need to make the most of the time I have with such talented and experienced people in the art field. That's why I started my 'Advice Book'. Since my very first week at art school I have been noting down little snippets of advice and general comments made during workshops, lectures, one to one sessions etc. that I don't want to forget and putting them into a tiny little sketchbook. I figured that once my year long foundation is over, I'll be able to keep and remember the advice I was given for a long time after!

So I thought, why not share a few pages in my advice book on here? I'm not sure how often these posts will go up, it will probably just be when I feel I have enough new helpful tips to make a new post out of. 

I hope you enjoy!

p.s. I need to think of something to do on the front cover of this little sketchbook! Any ideas? 

x

How To Have A Productive Day

1. Write A To Do List The Evening Before
As I've mentioned before, I'm one of those people that are very into making lists. If I write all my 'to dos' down on paper, I find it helps stop them scrabbling around in my head and I can actually get on with doing them. If you have a particularly busy day ahead of you, I find the best time to write your to do list is the evening before. You've finished your work for that day, so you know exactly where you stand for tomorrow, yet you're not using up any precious time in the morning brainstorming all the things you need to get done (and probably causing yourself more panic than is needed in the process!).

2. Wake Up To Your Alarm First Time
I know this is a tough one, and I may be being just a tiny weeny bit hypocritical including this, however it really does put you in the right frame of mind to be productive from the outset. When you pull back your covers and jump out of bed first time your alarm goes off (ok, maybe jumping out is asking a little bit to much..), you almost feel as if you've gained some time from nowhere that simply didn't exist before. Of course in reality that time has existed in the past, we've just all been using it to catch the last few minutes of that dream where we married Bradley Cooper.. or whatever it is you may do with your time on the pillow. 

3. Make Your Bed
There's nothing that makes me feel more like a grown up respectable adult than making my bed the moment I get up. It's almost as if i'm over the first hurdle and I've completed a task already. There's also the whole idea of tidy room, tidy mind and it actually does hold some truth. Getting on with work seems much more manageable in a clean and tidy space.

4. Make The Most Of The Morning
Never underestimate the power of your first few hours awake. They have the power to set the pace and overall mood for the entire day. Say you find yourself having lunch at 1pm having done not very much so far, it'll probably be well into the afternoon before you've actually made a decent start on your tasks. On the other hand, if you woke up at 8am and worked solidly until 1pm, you'll feel much more accomplished and motivated to carry on through the afternoon (that is if you haven't finished already!).

5. Focus On One Thing At A Time
I'm a big worrier. I fret 24/7 about things that will probably never happen and this overspills into my work life. If I have say 5 reasonably large things to do in one day, instead of taking it one thing at a time, I'll dabble in one thing before my mind wonders onto worrying about another. MORE HASTE LESS SPEED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. If I force myself not to even think about another task before the one at hand is finished, I find I get my workload done much faster overall. Plus, if you don't attempt to do a bit of everything at once, you'll be able to tick off whole tasks much quicker which can give you a big boost and sense of achievement. 

5 Ways To Make Use Of Your Commute

An average week at uni for me consists of full working days from Monday-Thursday, and a self directed study day on Friday (which I usually spend at home..*guilty face*). I commute to and from uni by train which takes 30 minutes each way, meaning I spend 1 hour per day on trains at least 4 days a week. That’s not even including all that time I clock up waiting on the platform! I’ll let you do the maths on that one but ultimately the result is a lot of time wasted on flappy bird. 

In fact, the average UK employee now spends roughly 4 hours 40 minutes a week on their journey to and from work. I’ll be honest, for a long time I was guilty of wasting that time on sitting, thinking about not very much, and generally trying not to make eye contact with anyone. But then I'd get home, get started on all my work and regret all that wasted time. I'm an art student, so in general the train isn't the most practical place to get uni work done, however, there are other things that I just don't get the chance to do as I always seem to be busy in the evenings. Time to make use of that 4 hours of dead time!

1. Read

Here it comes, straight in at number 1, use your commute as a chance to read. It seems like something pretty obvious, but for me its one I really need to start doing! One of my new years resolutions was to read more, and in a way I have succeeded in that I started off the year full on intent and got a few books read very quickly, more than I had read the entire previous year. However, that sort of tailed of as I reached the final stages of my a-levels and I haven't picked it back up again since. I don't think we can or should underestimate what regular reading does for the brain, and train time is the perfect opportunity to read, something many of us claim not to have time to do. 

2. Make A To Do List
I'm a big list person. A real 'lists about lists' kind of girl. In fact, you can tell if I'm really excited about something if I start making multiples lists about it. But you don't have to be a list-aholic to write a simple to do list, and your daily commute is the perfect time to do it. Look forward to the day/week ahead and go through everything that needs to be done, prioritise if it's a super busy one! Once I have a list written down in ink on paper, I find I can stop concentrating on all the messy thoughts in my head about everything that needs doing and when, and start concentrating on actually getting on and doing it!

3. Learn
How many of us say we wish we had time to learn something new, for example, a language? There are now hundreds of thousands of podcasts available to download for free, covering subjects from language to history to the arts to health to science. Even if you drive to work, this is something which you can do during your commute. Have a scout around on the Podcasts app and find something that interests you personally. You never know, you might be speaking french by Christmas...

4. Tie Up Loose Ends
I've already mentioned that as an art student, it can be difficult to compete any work I have during my commute, and this can be the case for many people in many different professions. But I am of the belief that there is always something you can be doing. Try to get all those little 1 or 2 minute tasks done that seem to build up over the course of a few days. Reply to that e-mail, return that call or do a quick google search on something you've been meaning to look up. Tying up all those odds and ends will clear the bulk of your day for bigger tasks.  

5. Play Games To Sharpen Your Mind 

And finally, if you really can't tear yourself away from games on your phone, try to swap them for something more stimulating for your brain, like Sudoku. Some researchers believe that playing mentally stimulating games such as this may help reduce the risk of age related memory loss. Not bad for a quick commute time killer! 

How To Break Creative Block With Oblique Strategies

In 1975, musician Brian Eno and his painter friend Peter Schmidt published the original pack of Oblique Strategies cards, through thinking about approaches to their own creative work. The idea behind their deck of cards was for artists to break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking through following the aphorism on a randomly selected card. 

The reason I want to blog about these little cards is that they were mentioned to me on my very first day at art school. I'm certainly no stranger to creative blocks - and when I hit that brick wall, I really hit it hard! Creative blocks can turn into a vicious downward spiral, and the oblique strategies are an excellent tool for encouraging a new perspective on things in order to break the negative loop in one’s head.

To give you an idea of the kind of 'advice' the cards dish out to you, here's 10 randomly selected card messages:

Retrace your steps

Turn it upside down 

Use your own ideas

Emphasise repetitions 

Just carry on

Is there something missing?

Use an unacceptable colour 

In total darkness, in a very large room, very quietly

What else is this like?

Courage!

The impact of the cards on creative block has been described as “Like when you’re feeling a pain in your foot and someone slaps you in the face, suddenly you’re not feeling the pain in your foot anymore". Just one of these cryptic messages has the power to throw you off your original thought process, and that can be all it takes to get the ball rolling again. During the creative process, sometimes your thoughts solidify, and the effect of the cards is to make them liquid again. 

The first edition of Oblique Strategies was privately printed in a limited, numbered and signed edition of 500. If you want a physical copy of the new fifth edition you can buy them for £30.00 (about $48). However there are several online versions available for free such as this one, and even Twitter accounts that tweet messages from randomly chosen cards. 

It is a universally acknowledged fact that if our practising becomes monotonous and thoughtless, it will not be productive. So, perhaps add one of the online versions to your bookmarks and hopefully next time you're at a creative loss they might just relight that creative spark. 

I Survived A-Level Art: 5 Tips So You Can Too!

There's no denying it - art is a tough a-level. It's demanding on pretty much everything, your time, your energy, and sometimes it feels like your mental state too! But at the same time, it can be enjoyable - it's a creative subject after all. I completed my art a-level in May/June 2014 so I won't know what grade I achieved until August, I did however survive the a-level and I feel confident that I gave it my all. More importantly, as I went along the two year course I learnt some tips that are pretty much essential if you are pushing to achieve the grade you are capable of. Bear in mind, different courses have different requirements (if you're interested, I took Edexcel's A2 Art & Design Unendorsed course), however I have tried to create tips that are appropriate to whichever specific a-level course you are taking. These tips can even be translated into other art courses... 

1. Choose Your Subjects Wisely 
This tip only really applies if you have not yet started your art a-level (or AS level). When it comes to a- levels, it is really important to pick your subjects wisely whether you choose to do art or not, but I feel when it comes to art there are a few more things to think about in terms of your subject combination. A classic example of this is simply choosing art for an 'easy ride'. I guarantee you this will NOT be the case. Art is an intensely demanding subject and needs to be taken seriously, only take art if you truly love it. I suspect however that most people reading my blog are genuinely interested in art, so the real issue is what other subjects to combine with it. It is always my belief to do whatever you enjoy, but make sure to bear in mind that a-level art is heavily weighted on coursework. Even the 'exam' element of the a-level feels very much like coursework. For this reason you may want to consider balancing it with an exam focused course so you are not bogged down in coursework all year. I personally paired my art a-level with English Literature (which had both coursework and exam but the main focus was on exam) and Business Studies (which was entirely assessed by exam). In short, do not consider art an easy option, and think carefully about the workload compared to other subjects. 

2. Show Your Development
A-level art asks students to develop ideas from initial concepts into a final piece. If you are told that your work must show development, your tutor is telling you that your work must change a little (e.g media used, composition) from one piece to the next. An a-level art portfolio must tell a visual story of where you began, where you ended up and everything in between. The use of artist influence often helps (and bags you extra marks) when deciding how to develop your work from one piece onto the next.

3. Avoid Second Hand Sources 
During the course of my a-level I realised that you should pretty much consider second hand sources as some kind of evil force. Drawing or painting from images found, for example, on Google Images sets off alarm bells for the examiner. It can indicate a lack of personal connection to a topic, plagiarism issues, a lack of originality and even laziness. It is often assumed that if a student purely uses images taken by others, they are simply too bone idle to take images of their own. This tip should be taken as a guideline, sometimes secondary sources taken from books, magazines etc. can add weight to your project but in general, avoid relying on them too heavily as it often results in superficial / surface-deep work.

4. Say What YOU Think
It is all too easy to fall into the habit in your sketchbook of simply writing factual, surface information about, for example, an artists work. 99% of the time it is not in the examiners interest where the artist you are studying was born and what their parents did for a living. They are interested in what you think about their work and how they are influencing your project. You need to demonstrate a carefully considered opinion - WHAT do you like about the work and WHY? The same goes for your own work in your project, you must continually evaluate your process: what's good? what do you like and why? what needs to be improved? And then go and improve it! Your PERSONAL opinion is key, it does not matter if your opinion is in line with some major art critic, the key is that it must be YOURS. 

5. Don't Procrastinate!
I would go as far to say that procrastination is the number one barrier to success for art students. Of course, procrastination is never recommended for any a-level subject, but when it comes to art it is simply not an option if you want to achieve the grade you are capable of. Even skilful, highly talented students need time to produce a great art project and so leaving things until the last minute is simply not an option. You need to immerse yourself in the project from start to finish to produce the best result possible. Often the reason art students begin procrastinating is that they become overwhelmed by the quantity of work they have to get through and it just becomes a chore rather than a joy - I have written a post about how to overcome this here.