Mark making with colour media.
This was an interesting experiment which I started by collecting together all the different coloured mediums I could. I ended up with a selection of soft/oil pastels, coloured pencils, water-soluble oil pastels, gel pens, felt-tips, conté crayons.
It was a mark making exercise to observe the effects of each medium. I opened my sketchbook and draw random lines, experimenting with tones, solid colour and hatching techniques.
As I worked, I noted down what I considered to be the strength and weakness of each medium and how I might use it for future work.
Soft pastels & conté crayons: I love working with soft pastels but in a graphical way more than for precision drawing. The photo on the left shows how they are an excellent medium for blending and creating soft and sharp lines. Drawing thin, precise lines is difficult although there are pastel pencils for this. This is an excellent medium for blending and building tone in layers giving a soft, floaty effect.
Oil pastels: Vibrant and rich in tone and colour, oil pastels are great for colour blocking. Fine lines and hatching techniques are again not so successful as the pastels have rounded edges and tend brake if chiseled to a point.
Felt-tip, gel pens: Great for fine lines, hatching, cross-hatching and even building up tonal areas. I could see how using felt-tips for blocking flat colour would be successful, although, less so for blending. Gel pens are fine and not good for colour blocking but you can build up colour with detailed hatching and line work.
The experiment on the left was made using neopastels and soft pastels both worked with water. I was surprised at how well the soft pastel blended with water. I really enjoyed the freedom of this medium and effects created.
This has been a good experience just playing around with each media and very valuable as to how to use them in future drawings.
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