Mark Making Techniques

I experimented with different mediums and materials to create different effects.

The subject I chose is a cone, this is because it has a variety of different texture however you feel it. For example, if you drag your finger downwards, it has a smooth texture whereas if you drag your finger upwards it has a rougher texture.

The section I decided to draw for all my pieces is this:

All of these were quick observational drawings that took around 1-2 minutes, excluding the time it takes to prep the materials. I decided to make them quick so they were uncontrolled and therefore all unique in the lines and textures. Making them quick also helped me try out more techniques in less time. 

For my first experiment, I used a simple 2B pencil and paper with my dominant (right) hand to create this drawing. Paper is a smooth texture, so it is a contrast to some textures that can be created with pencil. With pencil you can create many different marks and textures simply just by how you handle the pencil. This makes pencil a good medium to use when experimenting with textures.

Secondly, I use exactly the same materials except I drew this with my non-dominant (left) hand. With my non-dominant hand, the lines are a lot more free and uncontrolled compared to drawing with my right hand. It also makes the piece much more rough with textures. I feel using the non-dominant hand will be effective if you are doing pieces that are meant to be seen as abstract and uncontrolled. Therefore, I will move forward by using my left hand more to draw to make more interesting and uncontrolled effects.

                                                     

I used Biro again with tracing paper and my non-dominant (left) and dominant (right) hand. I felt the tracing paper made the piece more transparent, which if placed in different lighting could create different effects and make the piece stand out further. I felt the piece with my left hand made it seem less controlled than the piece drawn by my right hand. I also tried cross-hatching as a way of adding tone to the piece with the biro. Overall, compared to the two pieces I feel that the first (with my left hand) is more effective due to it looking more free and uncontrolled compared to the one done with my right hand.

Here I used 2 pencils together. I found using 2 mediums at once had made creating a piece harder to control. Because it was harder to control in such a quick time, there were inaccuracies with the form as well as some overlapping lines. I found these overlapping lines and inaccuracies added more abstract form to the piece rather than making it seem realistic or accurate. Therefore, to move forward I will try using two mediums together to see what other effects I can create.  

Here I also drew with Biro but instead I used brown paper with my non-dominant (left) hand. I felt using brown paper made less of a contrast with black biro than regular white paper or tracing paper did. However, due to the lines in the brown paper it created more of a bumpy texture when drawing with the pen which caused the lines to be more rough. To move forward, I will try more mediums on this surface to see what effects brown paper could give with the texture.  

Next experiment was with brown paper and graphite. I feel graphite suits brown paper the most due to the medium following the lines on the brown paper fully, leaving blank spaces where the bumps are in the brown paper. I feel this medium gives a more worn and scratchy effect when used with brown paper. I feel to move forward I will use graphite with other surfaces with texture to see what effects and lines it creates. 

This was a combination of paper with compressed charcoal rubbed onto it, with rubber to create the highlights and lines from the object. I feel using this technique makes it harder to create different contrasts of tones compared to creating the lines using the charcoal instead of a rubber. 

In this experiment, I decided to use charcoal with some wallpaper. Due to wallpapers rough and bumpy texture, the charcoal brings it out further depending on the pressure of which is placed onto the surface. The harder the charcoal is pressed onto the surface, the less texture is shown which brings more depth to the piece. 

When I applied white onto the piece, I felt the white lost the texture of the wallpaper which took the texture away from the piece and stood out by looking smooth on a rough surface. Therefore, I feel adding the white charcoal was a mistake as it made it look too busy. To move forward, I will experiment more with toning with white and black charcoal to see the other effects and texture it can create on different surfaces.  

For this I used charcoal with a piece of map. I used charcoal as it often keeps the texture of the surface on the piece. I also feel depending on the pressure placed on the piece it adds more tone and depth in the piece. Having something (such as a map) on the background adds more contrast and pattern in the piece while a plain surface doesn't show as much pattern. To move forward, I will use more surfaces (such as collage) with charcoal to see the effects I can create. 

I used graphite and some collage as a background. I feel the collage adds different textures in the same piece. Graphite is also similar to pencil, which also creates different textures when used differently (pressure, etc). The collage also keeps a contrast from the smooth surface of the plain paper to the rough texture of the brown paper and wallpaper. To move forward, I will experiment with collage with different mediums to see the different effects and textures they create.

Here, I experimented with pen when trying collage on my piece. I felt pen was easier to control when drawing lines on the different textured surfaces in this piece, but I felt that being easier to control made the piece seem less abstract and more controlled. I wish to make my pieces more free so I feel this medium is too controlled to be used in this way. However, the texture it creates on the wallpaper is effective because it seems less smooth. To move forward, I will try more techniques to try and make pen less controlled as well as experiment with other mediums and surfaces for more texture. 

For my first experiment, the surface I used was brown paper. However, I placed emulsion onto the piece to show more contrast with the mediums I plan to use. I also did it so it would create a bumpy but smooth texture on the surface due to the surface it was painted onto. I feel this creates a contrast with the two textures which is effective. 

I also used biro with a ruler to make this piece. I did this to create quick straight lines as a way of toning the piece rather than doing it freehand. Because of the quick 1 minute time limit, the lines were also less controlled due to being done quicker. 

In this piece, I used graphite on brown paper covered in emulsion. This time, I used the graphite free handed and quickly tried to create realistic tone based on the object.  I felt this was more effective than using a ruler and pen. This is because this creates much more tone than pen and also shows more of the texture in the graphite. The lighter you press the graphite onto the piece the more of the texture it showed. However, I feel this is not abstract enough so  to move forward I will try and make it seem less realistic by adding colour and more abstract techniques.

In this piece, I continued using emulsion on the brown paper. However, I used oil pastel on top of it to see the different effects I could create. I found that with oil pastel, it heavily showed the texture underneath by showing the gaps in the texture where the oil pastel couldn't reach. I felt the green and black oil pastel also added more contrast from the background but also does not show clearly the form it was inspired from. I feel like this piece is effective in being abstract in both colour and texture so to move forward I will experiment with these mediums more. 

In this piece, I used the brown paper with emulsion and went back to biro. I felt retrying biro as a freehand drawing would be effective as drawing freehand would enable me to find any more different textures that I previously couldn't find with the ruler technique.I felt the freehand made the textures stand out much more compared to before, as the different pressures also added different tones to add more depth and form to the piece. To move forward, I will focus on adding more depth and tone into my pieces for experiments. 

In this piece, I used black, green and white oil pastel. I also used cardboard and brown paper with emulsion as a collage background. I used cardboard to see the effects it would give my piece. I felt it lost the contrast compared to the white emulsion. However, it does show the texture of the cardboard further in the piece which is effective. 

This is the large A3 reproduction on cartridge paper of the picture above. this took more time than the above experiments.

My favourite area to work on is brown paper on emulsion paint because it gives a rough and lined texture. I also like oil pastel because you can use it to make different effects and textures depending on how you hold it.