Exercise: sweeping marks

The course notes suggested trying out various ways of holding the pencil / drawing implement.

When experimenting with this, I discovered I do use a variety of ways to hold the pencil / charcoal, etc, but this tends to be prompted more by my physical environment (how much space I have, how long the pencil is) than a conscious choice about what type of effect I require.

I tried each of the different ways of holding the pencil and noted the different results that I achieved. The main variables were what part of the pencil point was being used (more detailed, finer lines being achieved with the pencil held almost vertically, much broader strokes being achieved from using the side of the pencil point) and how much pressure was put on the pencil. Using the position with the thumb on top of the pencil meant I could achieve a lot of pressure and very dark lines.

I was also able to achieve different qualities of lines depending on the direction of the pencil in relation to the direction of the stroke.

I found that using the pen encouraged me to hold it in a more ‘standard’ way.

Interestingly, although until I started this course I had never drawn on anything larger than A4, I soon found A3 paper to be a bit restrictive for this exercise and will repeat it with A2 paper. I would also like to try this on an easel.