Line - Tone, Mark Making and Texture

Task

• Produce 15 Line drawings using tone and/or pattern.
• Quality of line.
• Reflection in action.
• Use of up to two colours.

• Dry brush and ink - This was my favourite method I used during the task. I found that I could create really interesting textures very easily, especially on fur, using this way of drawing.
• Fine liner pens - They produce a restricted quality of line compared to ink, paint, etc. In future tasks I want to experiment even more and get out of the habit of automatically reaching for the fine liner pens.
• Ink wash - I feel that I may have over worked this one slightly however I do like the effect of an ink wash, particularly when using two colours.
• Blind drawing - I love the freedom of blind drawing. There is almost an excuse you can make for yourself if it doesn't turn out too well, a resemblance to anything is an achievement! This blind drawing wasn't the best but overall I enjoy the process and find it can work really well when illustrating movement and a more gestural approach. I always work more expressively when using this method.
• Continuous line drawing - A bit of an obvious choice again! Similarly to what I think about using fine liners, I would like to move away from subconsciously drawing in this way. I feel I mastered this technique quite quickly and am now getting a bit bored of it. 

http://www.tomgauld.com/index.php?/portfolio/the-hairy-monster/

Tom Gauld demonstartes how effective use of texture can be. His monster is a simple shape but brought to life almost completely by the slight tonal marks on his fur. Simple yet effective seems to be a running theme when it comes to characterisation and I think I am guilty of sometimes over complicating ideas/images. This is something I am addressing in my Visual Skills projects.

Things that frustrated me

• I may have rushed myself at the beginning of the task, I think it may have helped to have drawn more than 15 images. I treated this task as an opportunity to try drawing away from reference. Once I had the general shapes of the dog I attempted to characterise him. He may have got a bit crazier looking as the time went on but I had a lot of fun experimenting with his features and expression. He ended up looking a bit like a homeless gremlin but I quite liked that.
• Fitting to the size of the page was quite a challenge, many of the feet are cut off, this is because I have got into the habit of starting a drawing with the eyes of a figure/animal. This may be something I need to address when being given a size to work with. This is quite ironic because I got an A3 sketchbook in order to be able to work at a larger scale, I think this may have given me a false sense of how much room I actually have.