Basic Mark-making

Before we make a start on drawing objects from the real world, it’s a good idea to practise some simple exercises as a warm-up. While these first pages are primarily intended for beginners, you’ll find that the exercises are still useful even if you’ve had a good deal of practice.

1. To make a start, try drawing a wavering, continuous line that repeatedly overlaps itself. As you draw, note the effect of the pencil on the surface of the paper. This first exercise is really just to encourage you to realize that the feel of your materials is as important as the visual result. Without this understanding you’ll find that your drawing lacks tactile values.

2. When you feel you have pursued your scribble for long enough, try out a simple sequence of repetitive strokes of vertical lines drawn so close together that they start to look like a patch of tone.

3. Then try some horizontal lines that are more spaced out and are all about the same length, the same distance apart and as straight as you can make them. You are beginning to control your pencil to achieve an effect.

4. Now try drawing a spiral that starts on the outside edge and moves slowly inwards until you reach the centre. Then do the opposite, starting in the centre and spiralling outwards.

5. Next lay down a whole rectangle of medium to dark tone, moving the pencil in diagonal strokes as naturally as you can manage and always in the same direction. Try to keep the tone the same all over.

6. Make a layer of vertical strokes close together, followed by a layer of horizontals going across them, then by diagonals crossing in both directions. You’ll see this builds up a dark tone.

7. Now try drawing a circle as perfectly as you can. Then imagine a perfect circle in your mind and try drawing a circle again. This is not so easy as the previous exercises but is very good practice.

8. Draw several small circles, lining them up in rows of four or five. The idea is to make them as similar as possible and in regular formation. You are now dividing up space and organizing shapes.

9. Next comes a series of simple conceptual shapes, starting with an equilateral triangle – that is, one with all sides equal.

10. Now try a square, remembering that all sides should be the same length and all corners are right angles.

11. Now draw the same shape but tilted up so that it stands on one corner – slightly more tricky to do.

12. Without taking your pencil off the paper, draw a five-pointed star. This may need a few attempts before you get it right.

13. Now draw two equilateral triangles overlapping to make a six-pointed star.

14. And after that, two squares overlapping to make an eight-pointed star.

15. Now draw a crescent moon shape, which is parts of two circles overlapping.