Skip to content
fivefold
Start free
All courses
Drawing

AP Drawing

Build a 20-image drawing portfolio that proves real inquiry, real synthesis, and command of the mark.

Category
Arts
Units
10 units
Exam
Portfolio submission, no timed exam
Start Unit 1 freeSign in

Unit 1 is free with an account. No card, no trial clock.

What the course covers

AP Drawing has no exam day. Your score comes from a digital portfolio you build across the year: a Sustained Investigation of 15 images guided by an inquiry you choose (60% of the score) and five Selected Works that each show drawing skills and synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas (40%). Readers score what they can see in your images and what you write beside them, and for this portfolio the skills they look for are specific: mark-making, line, surface, space, light and shade, and composition. This course teaches you to read the rubrics the way a reader does, trains each of those six skills as studio practice (from contour and hatching to sighting, perspective, value structure, toned grounds, and thumbnails), surveys drawing media from graphite to digital, walks you from a theme to a genuine inquiry, shows what practice, experimentation, and revision look like on the page, and prepares you to write, select, photograph, and submit a portfolio that earns every point it deserves. It also covers the Artistic Integrity Agreement, drawing from photographs honestly, and the 2026-27 AI policy, which decide whether work counts at all.

10 units

  1. Unit 1

    The Drawing Portfolio, the Rubrics, and the Rules

    Free
    How the AP Drawing portfolio is built and scored before you make anything for it: the two sections and three components, what counts as drawing, how readers apply the Sustained Investigation and Selected Works rubrics, the vocabulary of materials, processes, and ideas, and the originality, reference-photo, and AI rules that decide whether work can be credited at all.
    6 topics
    1. 1.1How the Drawing Portfolio Works
    2. 1.2Reading the Sustained Investigation Rubric
    3. 1.3Reading the Selected Works Rubric
    4. 1.4Materials, Processes, and Ideas
    5. 1.5Originality, Reference Photographs, and Citation
    6. 1.6The AI Policy and Student Authorship

  2. Unit 2

    Mark-Making and Line

    The first two drawing skills the rubric names. What a mark is, how its tool, pressure, speed, and arrangement carry meaning, and how line works as contour, gesture, and expressive weight. Also how marks build tone, and how unconventional tools widen what a mark can say. Every topic is practiced in the sketchbook and described with visual evidence.
    6 topics
    1. 2.1The Mark: Vocabulary and Intent
    2. 2.2Contour, Blind Contour, and Cross-Contour
    3. 2.3Gesture and Energy
    4. 2.4Line Quality and Weight
    5. 2.5Building Tone with Marks
    6. 2.6Mark-Making Tools and Unconventional Marks

  3. Unit 3

    Seeing and Measuring: Space in Observational Drawing

    How to draw what you see rather than what you know: replacing symbols with observation, measuring proportion and angle by sighting, seeing negative shapes, and building convincing space with linear perspective, foreshortening, and ellipses. Ends with the figure and the portrait, where every one of these skills is tested at once.
    6 topics
    1. 3.1Drawing What You See, Not What You Know
    2. 3.2Sighting, Proportion, and Angles
    3. 3.3Negative Space and Shape Relationships
    4. 3.4Linear Perspective
    5. 3.5Foreshortening and Ellipses
    6. 3.6The Figure and the Portrait

  4. Unit 4

    Light and Shade, Surface, and Depth

    Two more drawing skills, light and shade and surface, plus the tonal side of space. Building a full value range and a deliberate value key, modeling form with consistent light, controlling cast shadows and edges, creating depth with overlap and atmosphere, working on toned and manipulated surfaces, and handling color as a drawing tool without losing the value structure.
    7 topics
    1. 4.1Value Scales, Value Range, and Value Key
    2. 4.2Modeling Form with Light
    3. 4.3Cast Shadows, Edges, and Lost-and-Found Contours
    4. 4.4Creating Depth with Tone
    5. 4.5Surface: Papers, Grounds, and Toned Surfaces
    6. 4.6Additive, Subtractive, and Manipulated Surfaces
    7. 4.7Color in a Drawing Portfolio

  5. Unit 5

    Composition in Drawing

    The sixth drawing skill, and the one that ties the others together: choosing a format and crop, activating negative space, distributing visual weight, building a focal point and a path for the eye, and planning with thumbnails before committing. The unit ends with writing about drawing skills the way readers and critique partners expect.
    7 topics
    1. 5.1Format, Framing, and Cropping
    2. 5.2Positive Space, Negative Space, and Figure/Ground
    3. 5.3Balance and Visual Weight
    4. 5.4Emphasis, Contrast, and Focal Point
    5. 5.5Movement, Rhythm, and Directing the Eye
    6. 5.6Thumbnails and Compositional Studies
    7. 5.7Describing Drawing Skills with Visual Evidence

  6. Unit 6

    Materials and Processes of Drawing

    A working survey of drawing media, from graphite and charcoal to chalks, pastels, and colored pencil, ink and wash, printmaking and transfer, digital drawing, and mixed and expanded drawing. For each, what the medium makes possible, what skill looks like in it, and how its physical and interpreted attributes can carry an idea. Ends with choosing materials and processes on purpose.
    7 topics
    1. 6.1Graphite and Charcoal
    2. 6.2Chalks, Pastels, Conté, and Colored Pencil
    3. 6.3Ink, Wash, and Painting as Drawing
    4. 6.4Printmaking and Transfer as Drawing
    5. 6.5Digital Drawing
    6. 6.6Mixed Media and Expanded Drawing
    7. 6.7Choosing Materials and Processes with Intent

  7. Unit 7

    Inquiry: Framing a Sustained Investigation

    How a sustained investigation begins: mining experience and sketchbooks for possibilities, learning how artists and other thinkers inquire, relating your drawings to traditions, turning a theme into an inquiry that invites discovery, testing and refining questions, and planning how the inquiry will lead the drawing. Row A is won or lost here.
    6 topics
    1. 7.1Generating Possibilities from Experience
    2. 7.2How Artists Inquire
    3. 7.3Relating Work to Drawing Traditions
    4. 7.4From Theme to Inquiry
    5. 7.5Testing and Refining Questions
    6. 7.6Planning an Investigation the Inquiry Can Guide

  8. Unit 8

    Practice, Experimentation, and Revision

    The engine of the Sustained Investigation and of Row B, weighted equally with Row C as the heaviest rows: practice that builds drawing skill, experiments that ask what if, and revisions that close the gap between the actual and desired state of a drawing. Also how to document process so it proves authorship, how to use critique, and how to let the inquiry grow without losing the thread.
    6 topics
    1. 8.1Practice
    2. 8.2Experimentation
    3. 8.3Revision
    4. 8.4Documenting Process as Evidence
    5. 8.5Critique, Feedback, and Evaluation
    6. 8.6Letting the Investigation Develop

  9. Unit 9

    Synthesis and Skill

    What separates a 2 from a 3 on Row C and a 4 from a 5 on Selected Works: moving from materials, processes, and ideas that merely sit together to ones integrated into a unified drawing, and raising drawing skill from adequate to highly developed across every image. Also how viewers interpret work and how to evaluate your own portfolio the way a reader will.
    5 topics
    1. 9.1Related Versus Synthesized
    2. 9.2Strengthening Visual Relationships
    3. 9.3From Adequate to Advanced Drawing Skill
    4. 9.4Viewers, Context, and Interpretation
    5. 9.5Evaluating a Portfolio Like a Reader

  10. Unit 10

    Writing, Selecting, and Submitting

    Everything that happens between finished drawings and a submitted portfolio: the two 850-character Sustained Investigation responses, the per-image fields, ideas visually evident for Selected Works, image citation and digital tools disclosures, sequencing the 15 images, choosing the five Selected Works, and photographing graphite, charcoal, and pastel without glare or color casts, then uploading and submitting all three components as final by May 7, 2027.
    8 topics
    1. 10.1Writing the Inquiry Statement
    2. 10.2Writing the Development Statement
    3. 10.3Materials and Processes Fields That Add Evidence
    4. 10.4Ideas Visually Evident
    5. 10.5Image Citation and Digital Tools Disclosure
    6. 10.6Selecting and Sequencing the Sustained Investigation
    7. 10.7Choosing the Five Selected Works
    8. 10.8Photographing, Uploading, and Submitting

How the portfolio is scored

  • Sustained Investigation

    Questions
    15
    Time
    Untimed
    Weight
    60%
    Format details

    Task types: Sustained Investigation, Inquiry Statement, Development Statement, Rubric Scoring Practice, Investigation Plan

    Untimed (minutes 0 means untimed). Fifteen digital images of finished works and process documentation (details and process images allowed), united by one guiding inquiry, plus two written responses of up to 850 characters each and, for every image, materials (150 characters), processes (350 characters), digital tools (200 characters), size, and image citation (200 characters). Scored on four rows (A Inquiry; B Practice, Experimentation, and Revision; C Materials, Processes, and Ideas; D Drawing Skills), each 1 to 3, weighted 20%, 30%, 30%, and 20% of the section. Submitted as final in the AP Digital Portfolio by May 7, 2027, 11:59 p.m. ET. Inquiry Statement, Development Statement, Rubric Scoring Practice, and Investigation Plan are platform practice tasks for this section.

  • Selected Works

    Questions
    5
    Time
    Untimed
    Weight
    40%
    Format details

    Task types: Selected Works, Selected Works Written Evidence, Synthesis and Skills Analysis

    Untimed (minutes 0 means untimed). Five digital images of five works (one view each), related, unrelated, or both, each showing drawing skills and synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas. For each work: idea(s) visually evident (250 characters), materials (150), processes (250), digital tools (200), size, and image citation (200). Scored holistically 1 to 5 across written evidence, drawing skills, and materials, processes, and ideas. Works may also appear in the Sustained Investigation. Selected Works Written Evidence and Synthesis and Skills Analysis are platform practice tasks for this section.

How the 1 to 5 score is set

The portfolio has two required sections, each scored separately, then weighted and combined into the 1 to 5 AP score: Sustained Investigation 60% and Selected Works 40%. The Sustained Investigation is scored on four rows, each from 1 to 3, using decision rules that start at score point 1 and climb only while the answer is yes: Row A Inquiry (20% of the section) asks whether the writing identifies a real inquiry, whether the images show it being explored, and whether it guides the investigation's development; Row B Practice, Experimentation, and Revision (30%) asks whether visual and written evidence of those activities relates to, and then demonstrates development of, the investigation; Row C Materials, Processes, and Ideas (30%) asks whether visual relationships among them are evident and whether they reach synthesis (the writing is read but not scored here); Row D Drawing Skills (20%) asks whether skill in mark-making, line, surface, space, light and shade, and composition reaches good and then a range of good to advanced across the works. Selected Works gets one holistic score from 1 to 5 from the written evidence, the level of drawing skill (not present, emerging, adequate, proficient, highly developed), and the visual relationships among materials, processes, and ideas (up to evident and synthesized); writing that does not identify materials, processes, and ideas caps the section at 2, as does writing completely unrelated to the works. Readers use the preponderance of evidence, do not score spelling or grammar, credit only observable student-authored evidence, treat automated imagery as no evidence of skill, and do not credit generative AI imagery in final artwork (it is referred as a possible violation after scoring). Work in another format (2-D design, 3-D) is scored with the Drawing rubric in the context of the section. College Board does not publish the composite cutoffs. In 2026, 16% earned a 5 and 83% earned a 3 or higher; in 2025, 23,107 students submitted, 17.1% earned a 5, 84.2% earned a 3 or higher, and the mean was 3.47.

What you bring and get

No formula sheet and no timed exam. You receive the rubrics, the written prompts, and the character limits in advance (all paraphrased in this course's reference). The portfolio is for work focused on mark-making, line, surface, space, light and shade, and composition: drawing (analog and digital), painting, printmaking, and mixed media are among the possibilities, still images from video or film are accepted, composite images may be submitted, and video clips are not. Any material, process, idea, style, or subject is acceptable as long as the work is your original creation. Any preexisting image, including photographs by others and imagery generated by tools or systems, must be cited and observably transformed by your own practice, experimentation, and revision. Generative AI may be used only in early stages (research, ideation, practice, experimentation, revision), never to create final submitted artwork, including generative features built into drawing and editing apps; non-generative editing of your own images (exposure, contrast, color correction, cropping, minor cleanup) is allowed at every stage and belongs in the digital tools field. Images are uploaded as JPEG or PNG in RGB, at most 4 MB each and at least 480 pixels on every side. You submit three components as final (Sustained Investigation Images, Sustained Investigation Written Evidence, Selected Works) and affirm the Artistic Integrity Agreement. Artwork submitted in another AP Art and Design portfolio, this year or any earlier year, cannot be reused.

Skills the exam scores

  • 1.AGenerate possibilities for investigation

    Inquiry and Investigation. Turn experiences, observations, research, and sketchbook documentation into many possible directions for drawing before committing to one.

  • 1.BDescribe how inquiry guides investigation

    Inquiry and Investigation. Explain, with examples, how questions lead an artist to choose, test, and change materials, processes, and ideas over time.

  • 1.CRelate work to context and traditions

    Inquiry and Investigation. Describe how the materials, processes, and ideas of a work connect to when, where, why, and by whom it was made and viewed, and to drawing and art traditions across cultures and history.

  • 1.DInterpret works of art and design

    Inquiry and Investigation. Interpret and evaluate works by observing their materials, processes, and ideas, their context, and how viewers respond, using visual evidence and stated criteria.

  • 1.EInvestigate materials, processes, and ideas

    Inquiry and Investigation. Select and research materials, processes, and ideas to investigate, weighing both their physical attributes and the meanings viewers attach to them, including ones from outside art and design.

  • 2.AFormulate questions or areas of inquiry

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Write, test, rank, and refine questions or areas of inquiry strong enough to guide a sustained investigation.

  • 2.BConduct a sustained investigation

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Carry out an investigation over time that shows practice, experimentation, and revision guided by the inquiry, and document it.

  • 2.CMake works that demonstrate synthesis

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Make works in which materials, processes, and ideas are deliberately integrated into a unified result rather than merely present together.

  • 2.DMake works that demonstrate drawing skills

    Making Through Practice, Experimentation, and Revision. Apply the drawing skills (mark-making, line, surface, space, light and shade, and composition) with growing control and intent.

  • 3.AIdentify the guiding inquiry in writing

    Communication and Reflection. State, clearly and concisely, the questions or inquiry that guided a sustained investigation, in words that match what the images show.

  • 3.BDescribe practice, experimentation, and revision in writing

    Communication and Reflection. Describe in writing what was done, how, and why across a sustained investigation, pointing to the practice, experimentation, and revision the images show.

  • 3.CIdentify materials, processes, and ideas in writing

    Communication and Reflection. Name the materials, processes, and ideas used in a work precisely, favoring the specific and less visible over the obvious ("burned twig on found paper", not "charcoal on paper").

  • 3.DDescribe synthesis

    Communication and Reflection. Explain how the materials, processes, and ideas of a work connect with each other and whether they coalesce, citing visual evidence.

  • 3.EDescribe drawing skills

    Communication and Reflection. Point out specific drawing skills visible in a work, describe how well they are applied and where, and say how they could be strengthened.

  • 3.FPresent work for viewer interpretation

    Communication and Reflection. Decide what to show, when, how, and to whom, from informal critique to the final digital portfolio, and learn from how viewers read the work.