REVIEW: Comparative Study Requirements

The Comparative Study (CS) is externally assessed, worth 20% of the Visual Arts grade.

• Select at least three artworks by a minimum of two artists from contrasting contexts (cultural, historical), or geographic backgrounds (national, international). 

• Create a digital document that balances text, design elements, and images. You will describe, analyze, evaluate, compare, and contrast the chosen artworks.

  • SL 10-15 slides

  • HL 10-15 slides + 3-5 slides*

*HL students will need to make connections and analyze the extent to which their work has been influenced by the art and artists examined.

• Sources should be acknowledged throughout the CS.

• Submission requirements:

  • A digital document (no larger than 50MB) submitted as a PDF

  • A separate list of sources accompanies the Comparative Study (Word doc, PDF)

PART 1: Create Your Own CS Template

• Choose a design program you are confident with using (Powerpoint, Slides, Canva, etc.)

• Create a document. Give it a title and save it in a folder that is easy to locate.

• Select a simple template and apply a light, neutral background that relates to the images you’ve selected to study.

• Choose a maximum of 3 fonts and 3 colours. The focus of these choices should be unity and readability. Select legible (readable) fonts and colours that correspond with the mood and design of the artworks being studied. Make the body text large enough to read without having to zoom in. Text colours should strongly contrast the background for legibility. Look at this example: 

• Create labels for each artwork. Artworks should be accompanied by a label with the artist’s name, artwork title, medium, size, & the date the work was completed.

PART 2: Look for High Quality Images

PART 3: Comparative Study Criteria

PART 4: Tips for Starting Your CS

• Keep your research organised. Start with a document as a place to jot down notes, record quotations (with sources), paste relevant images (with labels) and to link to helpful websites. This is an effective way to start in the early phases of research.
• Visuals are encouraged as part of the criteria. Create some content using visual supports such as a sketchbook or digital drawing tablet.
• Keep a running list of hyperlinks, along with source titles and the date accessed, for all images, quotes, and information. It’s important to capture this information at the time of research in order to retrace your steps when writing.
• Subject-specific vocabulary should be woven into your entire study. Highlight, bold, or underline art-specific terms as you jot down notes. This will help you get into the habit of noticing and applying vocabulary.
• Look at past CS examples in order to understand the different possibilities for organising your various slides and research.
  Comparative Study Gallery

  In this section you will find a range of examples of students' comparative studies, mostly 7s and a few 6s, that explore a variety of topics with different...

PART 5: Layout your CS Slides

The following five slides offer suggestions in how to construct aspects of your final, digital Comparative Study. Here’s an overview of each slide and how it might be applied:

• Example 1: A suggested design for an introduction page (not required by IB). Here you can introduce the contextual differences between the pieces [Criterion C] and the rationale for selecting the chosen artworks for comparison.

• Example 2: Suggests possibilities for calling attention to details and annotating materials when analyzing the visual properties of an artwork [Criterion A].

• Example 3: Contextualising artworks enables exploration of culture, history, meanings and intentions [Crit. B & C].

• Example 4: Comparing artworks and note similarities & differences, and synthesise connections [Criterion D].

• Example 5: Targeting the HL component, this page offers labelling and annotations suggestions [Criterion F].

Next Steps

Once you've identified and selected three artworks to study for your Comparative Study, you'll need to get moving with research and analysis. While the above guide offers many tips and tricks for making the most of the CS design, you and your teacher must work together to determine how to organise your CS and tackle the assessment criteria. The related resources below offer helpful support to help you undertake this component with more consideration.

 Teacher only box

Each student's CS will vary in design and scope according to the comparability of the selected artworks and the amount and quality of information available about the artists, artworks, and historical or cultural context surrounding the works. A one-size-fits-all approach is limiting, so the design ideas suggested above must be used as a loose framework to support an individual approach. With this in mind we have replaced the old "CS Guiding Template" with this less prescriptive but more complete companion guide to setting up a CS.

Related Resources