Task 1 - Markmaking

Markmaking
Pencil
For my mark making i used both HB and 6B pencils. with these two different pencils i created three different types of marks: cross hatching, stippling and shading so that i could compare them and be able to see which pencil would be better for different situations so i can tell what i should use in the future.

The marks the HB pencil are sharper compared to the 6B marks which are softer and more blunt, which in my opinions makes the HB pencil more useful for a more detailed approach. on the other hand is the 6B pencil which is darker and needs more maintenance because of how soft it is and i decided that this pencil has more use when it comes to shading rather than using it to draw but can still be used on bigger drawings or drawing that have a darker theme.

HB Pencil

6B Pencil

Pen
Using the same methods as before i also used pen to see the effectsd that i could get out of it. Using a fine line pen i created cross hatching marks that i noticed were thinner, more detailed and darker than either of the pencils and depending on hiow much pressure you use its quite easy to change the shade you get out of them. The stippling was also darker but since i was rushing the dots i ended making it far less tidy which is something that id need to remember if i were to use it later on. Lastly since i couldn't shade with the pen i scribbled on the page and added water to make the ink run which game a night time feeling along with a cloudy black which faded to white.

Toothpick and black ink
The last method and my least favorite mark making technique was created by using a  toothpick and black ink since it needed the most control over the pressure and you needed to know how much ink to use because of this the marks can go from very inky, thick and hard to control which then became thin marks which started to the fade so the toothpick needed the most maintenance since it would start to go blunt and loose ink. For the stippling it was very hard to control since if you wasn't careful you would make a huge blob or smudge them. Finally we had to create our own pattern which i made a intersecting wavy pattern since i was trying to take control of the huge blotches of ink.

Colours Making
The second main task involved lots of experimenting to see what would suit me. i had to use a plentiful of items such as brushes, sponges, tissue and even a rolling pin to recreate a bunch of images or at least try and gain a similar effect as what was on them. we put all of the work on a sheet of A3 with 12 designs placed upon them, this would lead later into my future projects such as my environment so it was quite important.

The first piece of work on the sheet was created by using a rolling pin. i used one that was sticky and less clean than the other we had and i did this to see if i could create a interesting mark but while using the rolling pin i learnt that its hard to get pint on all of the surface so to make the most out of this i would have to use the rolling pin with a lot more paint or a surface that has\already has colours on it.

For this design i added plain water to the sheet and then later added paint to the water so that the paint would run and by doing this and i was able to get a greater effect by adding another colour on top of it. i believe that a bit of extra detail and with the right colours i could get a swampy effect from it.

For the third design i used paint and then bubble wrap, first i used a golden colour to create a back ground and then used the bubble wrap to dab on the page so that i could create a far thicker stippling effect than what i had before.

For this one i used the rolling pin again but this time i used a lot more colours at the same time and really liked the effect i got off it. if there was a lot more of it or it was on a darker colour i think it would have a much greater effect.

for this one i added glue to the sheet and then added paint later on so that i could create a 3D effect on the page, one of the biggest problems i had with this one was that the glue took a lot longer to dry because it was so thick and the effect wasn't like what i was expecting.

This one was simple but looked really nice because all it was was black acrylic paint with water which almost made it look like a cumulonimbus cloud before lighting came out or a dark typhoon like effect.

this one was very simple i added glue to the page and put tissue on top of it and then added paint on top. looking back on this one i really liked it because if i could of changed the paint i used to black and added yellow to the marks it would look like a lightning bolt at night.

 i tried reusing the water then paint technique again but this time after adding the first layer of paint i added big blotched to the sheet and let them fade into the other parts to get a different look the the paint.

i tried out the pastel this time and then used paint on top of it. i made symmetrical marks on the sheet and added blue to the top of the sheet and then faded it into red and because of the white pastel which was originally added i got red, blue and purple which some interesting white markings.

this one was quite simple since i added paint to the sheet then added more paint on top with a sponge which gave a very interesting effect such as a wavy effect inside of the second layer of paint.

this was my least favourite on how you actually do it, since i used a glue spreader to spread paint which i found quite hard to do since its hard texture. The effect it gave off wasn't that bad but was too difficult to perform for a bigger design.

i tried to recreate the image that i had done earlier with the glue spreader with tissue and paint instead but still didn't like the effect it gave off because of how many colours there were and how they weren't blending together so in my opinion it would be best to recreate it with something much finer such as just using paint normally or using felt tips.

The next exercise that i had to do was a colour blending exercise. we had to make 9 squares. On the first square of each row i had to add water inside of the square and then fully colour/blend paint into it with oil paint. On the first square of each row i had to use a different yet very similar technique where i wet the paper again but this time just put paint at the very top and blend it downwards so that it faded in. In the last squares i wet the page again but this time blended all the colours together as i went down the page which helped me understand how to blend colours easier.

The final piece on task 1 included me using the cross hatching but with brown and green paint which gave me a very interesting nature like effect to the page which became useful later on.