The Aim of this drawing exercise is to explore the qualities of your drawing materials. You can also learn something about the sort of marks you naturally make.
What You Need: Sketch paper and number 2 'B' pencil. If you have other grades of pencil, repeat the exercise for each one.
What To Do: Use a page of your sketchbook and just have a scribble! Try round loopy marks, ziz-zags, light lines, heavy dark lines. Try shading from light to dark and back again. Try all of your pencils and pens. Make some different marks and then drag your eraser across them. Which pencils erase well? Which smudge? Do they make an impression on the paper? How glossy is the graphite? It can be handy to make a note of which pencil makes which mark. Your page might look something like the example above.
Review:You might not think much of these marks, but now you are on your way to becoming an artist. Experimenting with materials is something all artists do - you'll get to know how each medium behaves when it's just on a piece of sketch paper, not halfway through a major piece - and happy accidents are often the inspiration for great works of art.
Consider the quality of the marks you have made. Are they vigorous or gentle? Have you wandered over the page, or ordered your patterns neatly? These qualities will be present in your drawing, and are worth thinking about.
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