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DRY POINT PENCIL TECHNIQUES - 4 -

Types of Pencil Mark

 

The pencil mark you make will transfer more or less colour to the page dependant upon the sharpness of the point and the pressure applied.  It will also have very different effects depending on the way you make your mark.

These examples have all been prepared on a slightly ribbed cartridge paper, using a Prismacolor pencil which is quite soft and waxy. A harder pencil would have left finer lines and more precise shading but would have taken longer to lay down and the colour would have been less intense.

Firstly we have simple hatching where the mark is made by a

series of lines, all made in the same direction and close together.  

You can see that by pressing harder, or going back over with a

second layer, it is easy to show a darker area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By applying a second level of lines at right angles to the first, we get cross

hatching, which is useful where we wish to avoid shading in a single

direction. Often this is used with a second colour on the second

layer to blend two colours together visibly

 

 

 

 

It is one step from here to tonal shading, where the pencil moves back

and forwards across the area with a light touch and carefully trying not

to overlap the strokes too much.  More pressure gives more colour,

and this technique is probably the most used single marking method.

This is often used for colouring over over indented lines as shown here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I call this ‘Tick’ shading as the mark is made in a single stroke going

from fairly high pressure on the point, fading away to nothing.

This, in one way or another, is ideal for hair and fur as well as grass.

 

 

 

 

 

Vertical ( or linear) shading is another version of the single line marking.  

Here a succession of strokes are made in the same direction but leaving

spaces as required.  The closer and the heavier the marks are made,

the darker the effect.  

You can see the advantage of this mark for tree trunks, bark, and water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving on to marks of a different type, we have circular marking.

Here the pencil forms a series of small circles or ovals of different sizes.

Sometimes these overlap sometimes they are made heavier.  

These marks have a use when detailing foliage representing leaves

of various types.   Successive layers in shades of the same colour result

in a broken network of tones which represent leaves well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A step on from circles is random scribble, which has its place where we

are representing stone and rough surfaces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have ‘Aeroplane’ which is where the pencil lightly touches the paper

and leaves again, like a plane coming into land and immediately taking off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And stipple, which is made up of small marks,usually of a random nature,

which enable a more controlled image of a rough surface to be made

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, Scumble, which is a scribble action but with the aim

of producing an even surface which will work

accurately up to an edge if required.

DRY POINT COLOUR

BASIC TECHNIQUES for Wax and Oil based Coloured Pencils (1) ;  APPLICATION OF COLOUR (2) ;  DENSITY OF COLOUR (3)

DIFFERENT MARKS on the paper (4) ;   WAX BLOOM (5) ;   FIXATIVES (6)