For this exercise I was asked to choose a simple object and, using four different drawing tools, experiment with using different marks to create the effect of gradations in tone. I chose pencil, ballpoint pen, fine-line pen and ink and a stick. I practiced, in order, cross-hatch marks, lines close together or far apart, dots and more random, quickly applied hatching.
In the second part of the exercise I put three objects together and used a mixture of the hatching and dotting techniques to create the tonal shadows.
Reflecting on the previous two exercises, although after spending some time reflecting on this I didn’t find it very difficult to distinguish between primary light source and secondary reflected light, I did find depicting it adequately quite challenging. Increased awareness of gradations in tone has affected the way I’ve approached these drawings. I’ve spent longer stepping back from the drawing and looking again, then adding greater detail and improvements. I haven’t used hatching throughout a drawing before, practising this and seeing how artists have used this has opened up new ideas to me about how it is possible to express three dimensionality in many ways which don’t involve simple ‘shading’ with a pencil or paint etc.
Ruth Beech - Mindful Movement, Meditation and Art 