The Complete Book of Drawing Techniques

Ink, mark making

165

EXPERIMENTAL MARK MAKING WITH INK

Try to approach this without any
preconceived ideas about what the marks
should look like, as there is no formula or
recipe for this way of working. It is a way of
making a personal vocabulary of marks that
can be used as references for future
drawings. I can explain how I made my
examples but it is very important that you
expand upon these and discover your own
natural method of working. You can use any
type of ink; I used Indian ink. The
implements used were chosen at random,
just to give you examples.

1/ A feather or quill

The first few marks have been made by

dipping the pointed end (ie the non feathery

end) into the ink and applying it to the

paper. Drag the end of the quill across the

paper, applying different pressures and

moving the quill in different directions. Then

try to make dots with the quill end. You will

find that you need to replenish the ink quite

frequently for these procedures. Now try

dipping the feathery end of the quill into the

ink and work the ink across the paper by

dragging allowing the ink to naturally thin

out from very dark opaque marks to lighter

thinner textured marks.