Mark making is part of the process of expressing yourself on the page and improving drawing skills. It's important to practice different marks such as stippling, hatching, cross hatching, dashes, scribbles etc to learn about tone, shadow, form and texture to a drawing and to think about the speed and pressure when applied. The thicker and closer the marks the darker the tone and the finer and further apart the marks the lighter the tone. My prefered drawing material are fineliner pens and they come in various size tips and I'm able to create quite a few detailed drawings before the ink starts to run out, all types of ink pens such as fineliners, markers etc should be kept away from direct sunlight as the ink will dry out very quickly. Any type of drawing material can be used for mark making such as pencils, pens and charcoal, it's ideal to try them all to find what feels right for you and it's a fun activity to experiment for all ages.

Stippling (dots) is my favourite type of mark making technique and I apply it to a lot of my drawings and use dots to make up either a whole or part of a drawing or for adding decoration or just for creating some shadow, although it's the most time consuming type of mark making but I love it.

 

 

Sharon

 

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