Experimentation Excercise 1

Each of the materials I've 'messed around' with so far, certainly create a variety of looks, and will allow me to try out techniques in art that I have never tried before. Below is how I've gotten on.

The first thing I experimented with was an old fashioned ink pen and jar that I had. I'd forgotten how messy it was! As noted in my picture,I found it hard to control the flow of ink at all, though it seemed to get thinner when I pressed down on the nib. I discovered it has a strong prounounced tone, but is very easy to smudge.

 I'm a fan of both manga and comic books, and I know that alot of illustrators use (albeit more modern) ink pens for shadowing, and doing line art, so inking a way of drawing I would like to get to grips with.

I then tried with a normal  ink pen in blue. Once I managed to get the ink flowing, it was alot easier to use and just dot down different marks.

 I have never used oil pastels before so I didn't know what to expect. How bright they are. They could certainly add great texture and beautiful tones to a picture. I will have to experiment with them more as I don't really know much about actually using them in art.

And finally, pencils. I'm always sketching or doodling with pencil so it was pretty easy for me to messy around with them. For me they are the most easiest medium to draw with and play around with and although simple they can achieve beautiful effects. Effects they I will hopefully learn and build upon during this course.

Now I've dabbled with each of these materials, I'm going to have lots of fun doodling with them and using them to jot ideas in my sketch books!

Drugs help you doodle

As the next exercise involves doodling I thought I'd browse the web for inspiration. Flickr is a great source of ideas! I found this by someone called kfarewell which just shows had simple ideas can still be pretty and still integrate nicely with each other if done well.

I also found this sketch/doodle by a French artist  Jean-Martin Charcot. Apparently it was drawn with pen and ink under the influence of hashish. If this is what hashish does for drawing skills then I need to get myself a load!!!!  

Creative course how I art you

Yes,  today is the day my course materials came through the post. This module is about starting to draw. I've got some random experience on the matter, I suppose we all do really, but this is a chance for me to discover new techniques and get in touch with my creative side.

So far I've done some work on Exercise 1: Making marks.

It involved me experimenting with different mediums just to see how they varied with each other. Pencil was pretty each for me as I'm used to doodling and sketching with just them. But an old fashioned 'dip in pot' ink pen was really hard for me as I couldn't control the consistancy of the ink or stop it from smudging everywhere. When more materials are delivered to me tommorrow, I will experiment with them too!