22
PRELIMINARY DRAWING
Breaking Down Preconceptions
Before we go on to discuss techniques in
relation to drawing media, I want you to think
about your input into a drawing from a
psychological and physical point of view.
When we start out along the visual creative
road, we tend to bring with us a lot of
preconceived notions about what a drawing is
and how it should be produced. It’s vital for
your creative development that you shed
these preconceived ideas as quickly as
possible, otherwise they will continually hold
you back.
One of the first projects I put before my
students in the studio involves an exploration
of our relationship with the drawing
implement. We will assume, for our purposes,
that this is a pencil. Breaking down
preconceptions involves taking risks and
trying something a bit different. If we are not
careful the familiar can become a straitjacket,
and this extends to how we hold the pencil.
You might think, ‘Well surely, there’s only one
way of doing that!’ Wrong. There are several
ways and each of them will tell you something
new about the implement you are using and
what you are capable of producing with it.
If you try holding your implement in
experimental and unorthodox ways you will
produce drawings that have a variety of
expressive marks and various tensions within
those marks. You will widen your approach to
mark making, whether with a pencil or any
other drawing implement, and also open up
your attitude towards drawing techniques.
In the first stage of the project I ask
students to make test samples and just see
what sort of marks they can make by holding
the pencil in a different way to usual.
Holding the pencil in a traditional way - this
way of holding the pencil for the beginner can
be very restricting, as it tends to come with
too many preconditions that limits our ability
to be more creative. However holding the
pencil in this way is very appropriate for more
theoretical and technical drawing where you
need more control.Holding the pencil with your fingertips - this
action changes the type of control, and it
allows you to make marks that are more
tentative. The pencil can also slip quite easily
in this position, giving marks that are not
accounted for, and therefore bring a life to the
drawing that is more creative because we are
allowing for the mistake or the slip to take a
positive part in the drawing.Holding the pencil like a dagger - this is the
opposite effect to holding the pencil in your
fingertips. As the mark made from this action
is strong, direct and usually aggressive in its
expression. The very physical nature of this
drawing employs the movement of the whole
arm rather than just the wrist and the hand.Holding the pencil between the toes - I have
seen some amazing drawing done by students
in this position. Stand on one leg and don’t
hold on to anything whilst doing the drawing.
Then place the board on the floor, put the
pencil between the toes and proceed to draw.Use the figure when doing these drawings.
Treat them as experiments, and as fun - you
will be surprised at the results.Ways of holding the pencil