Blog Stars

Mark Making

This post is especially for those folks who always say, “I can’t draw!” When I went to the Drawing International Symposium last year in Brisbane, I learned about a fun way to draw that is more about the process or action of making the marks, rather than trying to capture a photo-realistic image. “Mark making” sometimes refers to doodling dots, scribbles, or patterns, but it’s a also a very inventive way to draw. It’s more fun to show you the possibilities instead of describing them, so take a look at these examples:

Mark Making : a different way to draw

 

David Shrigley’s The Artist is a Roomba face with two markers in its nostrils. From David Shrigley: Life & Life Drawing at National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, 14 November – 1 March 2015)

Video from Bawdy Fox TV

 

Melbourne-based artist Ben Sheppard collaborated with Vin Ryan on a piece called The Red and the Blue (Westpspace, Melbourne, January 2013). The two artists took turns throwing sharpened blue and red pencils at two wastebaskets placed in front of a white wall. The “drawing” was made by the marks that the pencils made when they hit the wall.

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Ben Sheppard is inspired by Dutch historian and cultural theorist, Johan Huizinga, author of Homo Ludens “Playing Man,” who believed that Play is the origin of culture.

 

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Images from Ben Sheppard

 

Artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski (based in Munich and Berlin) arguably created the world’s coolest crayon called ADA (which debuted at FILE – Electronic Language Int. Festival / São Paulo (Brazil) 2011). Karina created the sculpture by inflating a large balloon with helium and then attaching 300 sticks of charcoal to its surface. Watch how it draws as it floats around this space:

Video courtesy of Karina Smigla-Bobinski

 

Sydney-based artist Patrick Shirvington explores drawing with wind by making an elaborate drawing implement using an Aboriginal rock and dead tree branches in Phenomenology: Drawn From (2015)

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Patrick Shirvington sees the act of drawing as a way of reconnecting with the world around us.

 

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Images from Patrick Shirvington

 

The Kirkkonummen kuvataidekoulu School of Art in Finland made this video of an artist doodling while rolling on a skateboard:

drawing_onSkateboard

 

trythis
Marble Painting is a wonderful idea from The Artful Parent, an awesome kids’ art website:

Video from The Artful Parent

 

I hope I’ve inspired you to try drawing differently. Mark making is perfect for anyone who thinks they “can’t draw”or obsesses about creating a “masterpiece.” Give it a go!

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