Line and Other Marks and Trying New Media

I have to say that when I came to this exercise I was getting fed up with drawing various different lines and was keen to move on from this project.  Having said that I used a variety of pencils (2b,4b and 6b) to produce different line thickness and effects.  I also used a pilot drawing pen, a rotring drawing pen, graphite sticks, compressed charcoal, charcoal, felt tip pen, water colour pencil, dip pen and ink, ink and feather, ink and a skewer, watercolour ink and a dropper with a stick, conte crayons, oil pastels and chalk pastels.

I found it easier to hold the implement in the traditional writing hold, although other holds produced different effects I found them hard to control and get the lines where I wanted them.  I found the pencils the easiest to control the thickness and darkness of the line but then I have used the pencil more than any other drawing media.  I do like the flow of charcoal but found it difficult in small squares.

The dip pen and ink I  could get different thickness of line by changing the angle of the nip but struggled to get a change in darkness of line.  The feather I found extremely difficult to hold and control.  The ink dropper and stick was fun just to see what would happen.  It was easier to get a thinner line with the conte crayons over the oil and chalk pastels but I could get good thick lines with both the oil and chalk pastels, particularly when holding the chalk pastel on its side.  I would find it hard to do small precise work with oil or chalk pastels. I probably need to use them more and get more familiar with them.