In this post, I will share my rough sketch made for UCCED 2020 Part B subjective (mandatory sketching) question to give you an idea of how to solve such questions.
The question as appeared in the paper
I hope the below image of the question is clearly visible. If not, you can refer to the question paper available in the UCEED official website or in the 2020 part A solution page.
My rough solution done digitally (Adobe Draw app in iPad mini)
Sketch 1
Same solution with a little details
Sketch 2
Few tips and points to remember
Referring to the above two sketches drawn by me, here are a few suggested tips and mandatory points to keep in mind
- First thing first, always.....always......always read the question properly and understand the requirement. I repeat to stress the importance.......READ the question and UNDERSTAND the requirements properly. If not understood in the first go, read several times. Because it's very very important to meet the requirements - as stated in the question. Also keep in mind the 'evaluation criteria' listed in the question.
- Understand the 'Evaluation criteria' and try to sketch or design accordingly. Every centimeter of your sketch/design must try to meet the criteria listed by them. This is very important. For this specific question, the six criteria given are observation, imagination, selection and composition of objects, quality of line, presentation, and attention to detail. (Note that the solution that I've given as sketches might not be meeting all the criteria owing to my time constraint. But while you are attempting, you should mind these criteria.
- Also, follow the instructions given as 'note' in the question
- In the sketch that I've drawn, I tried to show all the objects/items mentioned in the question and as required by them. I've not drawn Prof. Shastri as mentioned by them. Also, I've read the question carefully to understand the situation by noting the conversation between her and her husband.
- Because of time constraints, I've shown only a few books and my sketch has space above the work desk. You can try showing more books since it was mentioned in the question that she has the habit of being untidy!
- To improve your imagination and draw in proper perspective while at exam hall, what I would suggest to you is to place papers, pad, and mobile/desktop (whatever available at that time) on top of the desk and take advantage of the current situation at hand (a kind of copy sketch). This will particularly help with giving proper perspective to your sketch. In most cases, this works. When I was giving CEED exam back in 2013, there was a question about identifying the correct aadhar logo among the given four options. What I did was take out my aadhar in my wallet and check the options to answer it :P
- Again, proportion, shape and size of objects w.r.t. each other and line quality are very important for any sketch of this kind.
(Ignore the background empty space in the sketch and the title 'UCEED 2020' I had to keep the image in portrait to make it appear large in this post. I would suggest NOT to show unnecessary empty spaces, something like shown in the below image.)
- First: understand the question and the requirement
- Second: Visually imagine the scenario and think on what to include and where to position - like what items/objects are to be shown, where to position them w.r.t. the image, in what proportion and angle etc.
- Third: Started making an outline of the view that I had in my imagination, sketching all the items in their assumed positions. I took care of perspective, line thickness, quality, size and shape(proportion w.r.t each object as per the perspective view).
- Fourth: Keeping in mind the given time of 30 mins, after I finished the outline of the sketch and based on the leftover time, I did the remaining sketch - like showing the keyboard, adding names or lines above the paper and books, drawing pakodas on the plate, showing steam over tea glass etc. as shown in the first sketch image above.
- Fifth: Based on the leftover time I tried giving little more details, like the texture of the desk, shadows of the book etc. (which is also the requirement of the question). Although I could only do a tiny part of it, I assume that you will give a good amount of details based on the time during your attempt.
Now, to add further
Possible mistakes in the above sketch that I made
- I missed showing the laptop completely. Part of it got hidden. This may not be a mistake but still given that Prof. was working on her thesis, probably I should've shown the complete laptop or desktop.
- Some objects seem to be NOT in a proper perspective. I could've done better than what I drew.
- The glasses are looking a little smaller in size as compared to other objects (especially the nearby plate). I should've drawn them a little bigger in size.
- The books in the background are also smaller in size. I should've drawn them a little bigger in size - maybe 3/4th the size of the nearby bunch of exam papers.
- Based on the perspective view of the laptop, the written paper beneath the laptop, mobile, the paratha plate and the books in the back, the bunch of exam papers should be given a little more perspective, maybe by showing more breadth.
- The empty pakoda plate at the back could have been drawn better.
The above are some mistakes that I could list out to help you with your practice and to give you a hint on how the sketch should be drawn better. You mihjt have spotted more mistakes, but ignore them for now (or take it as your learning to avoid such mistake in your own attempt) as like I mentioned, I had to make this sketch very roughly owing to my other commitments.
I hope the above sketch solution gave you an idea to answer such questions. To remind you, I've already listed a set of Sample UCEED subjective practice questions last year (I will also update more questions based on this year's question). You may take them as a daily or weekly practice to improve with time by keeping the points, requirements and evaluation criteria in mind. I would suggest you practice mostly with pencils only!
Sketching Level required/sufficient for CEED and UCEED exams
