Part one - Making marks

Project: Making marks

This project required a lot of experimentation. I'm usually not very good at things like this - I like to just use a pencil or biro to draw in the 'normal' way. I had never used charcoal or pastels before so I hoped these exercises would help me get used to them! Still not too sure about them, so will need more practice.


Exercise - Holding pens and pencils

Holding the tool loosely made lighter and much less precise strokes.
Holding the tool near the tip gave much more control and accuracy, and marks could be light or heavy.
Holding the pencils/pastels/charcoal almost flat made interesting broader strokes that seemed to give a more textured effect, whereas with biro or fineliner a mark could not easily be made due to the small tip size.

 I really liked working with ink, this is my favourite tool so far, especially with a brush or brush pen.

 As well as making different marks I wanted to see what trying to create objects was like with different tools, so I did a few quick sketches.

Exercise - Doodling

 As I saw the effects the marks were making I noticed they would be good for certain things, e.g. the brush effect reminded me of a bush or tree, and the round patterns in charcoal reminded me of hyacinths/veronicas.

Exercise - Mark-making techniques

(Please excuse the pastels that smudged from the opposite page!)

I attempted to recreate the Head of Satyr using the techniques mentioned in the first few exercises. I think it helped me to see which techniques work well for different things, e.g. I didn't think hatching worked well for hair, but it was good for very shadowy areas such as the eye sockets, and stippling was good for the hair texture.

Exercise - Using charcoal

I have not used charcoal very much before and found it quite difficult to deal with at first, but after I got used to it and stopped worrying about the mess it was making I found it quite fun to work with.

I wanted to experiment more with charcoal so I attempted a portrait. I messed up the mouth a bit by making the line too dark and then wasn't sure how to fix it, but other than that I think it was a successful experiment!

Exercise - Line and other marks

I did strokes of varying lengths and pressure, and wrote notes below. Again I really liked using ink tools, as they seem quite versatile.


Research point - Van Gogh

Avenue of Poplars / Poplar Trees (1884)

(from here)

I really like how Van Gogh used hatching and cross-hatching in this piece. The cross hatching is extremely effective especially on the path, and the hatching on the tree trunks makes them look so realistic.

Trees in the Garden (1889)

(from here)

In this picture I can see a lot of hatching all over, and a bit of stippling in the top right corner. Stippling has been used to give the effect of leaves, the hatching again is used very effectively on the tree trunks, but also on nearly every surface. I also can see a few 'scribble' type marks, which are used for shady areas.

Check and log

• How did holding your pen or pencil in a different way affect your drawing?

Holding the pens and pencils in different ways has made it possible for me to use the tools much more effectively. I naturally hold a pencil at a particular angle, but by holding the pencil further down or higher up the I can make much broader strokes with an interesting texture (with the pencil almost flat) or much lighter and finer (when holding near the tip).

• Which drawing tools suited the different mark-making techniques you used?

I have always liked using cross-hatching with a biro or pencil, but I think this also works really well with fine-liners and the dip pen. I think hatching and cross-hatching is much harder to do and much less effective with broader tipped tools, like the charcoal pieces and pastels. I am also still not sure how to best use smudging with the softer tools, but I will continue experimenting with this.

• Did you find that any marks or tools you used matched particular emotions or feelings? Did one convey calm and another frenzy for example?

I think that the softer tools and marks were good for portraying the 'softer' emotions. The exception for this is oil pastels which I think portray stronger emotions due to their strong and vivid colours. I also think the more opaque tools, e.g. ink tools, look more serious.

• How did the introduction of colour (soft pastels, Conté crayons) affect your mark making?

I found it was a bit more confusing trying to separate the darker colours from the shaded areas. It was interesting combining different coloured tools to get different effects. The coloured tools are usually more expressive though.

• Which of these experiments have you found most interesting and rewarding?

I thought using the different tools in the Line and Other Marks exercise rewarding as there were quite a few tools I hadn't really used before. I am quite unfamiliar with pastels and charcoal, so using those in different ways was interesting. I also found recreating the Head of the Satyr with stippling and hatching very interesting. I had not used stippling before and found it made a nice effect especially on the hair to give it a softer look.