Look around you; art materials are everywhere
Cat on leg. Media: felt-tip pen, biro, make-up.
In an early Drawanyway post (way back in the mists of time, well, in May), I made a suggestion to timid artists that they should start drawing with media they already know. The logic was that materials like watercolours and oils come with a bit of a reputation, and a feeling that there’s a right or wrong way of using them. Ballpoint pens on the other hand? Ain’t no-one’s going to tell you you’re handling one of them the wrong way.
And, you know, come to think of it, there are an awful lot of media all around us that we mostly ignore, because, well, they’re not oils or watercolours. And yet, they make interesting marks, and you know them inside out - two very good reasons you should be drawing with them. If you need a third reason, they’re convenient.
Ever written a note with lipstick? Decorated your lover’s skin with a felt-tip pen? Gone crazy with a rubber stamp at work? Doodled on a leaf? Looked at the ring a coffee cup made and thought it looked like something else? Blotted a bleeding finger on tissue? (legal note: We at Drawanyway do not endorse self-harm as a form of expression. Much). I am going to stop now before I suggest that your pet might produce a medium as useful to you as elephant dung was to Chris Ofili.
Earlier on, I drew the above picture using only items I could reach from the sofa while being held down by a fat cat and an energetic toddler. I also enjoyed dipping a brush into a cup of cold coffee and drawing on a newspaper, but the toddler got that one.
Here’s today’s task, then: think a bit about a medium you a) don’t normally draw with, but b) are really familiar with. Then draw a picture with it, and come back and share it here! Or just come and tell me about it.
Also -*bibble!* I’ll be on Radio Reverb for 15 minutes tonight at about 5.30 (and repeated at 6.30 am the next day, fellow parents with early-rising toddlers), talking about Drawanyway and playing a couple of my favourite tracks. Ha ha, boy, did it take me a long time to narrow those down. Erm, wish me luck and here’s hoping I can come across as half-way intelligent.
And hello if you have come to the site after hearing me on the radio! You are welcome. Now draw a picture and leave a comment.
Posted: July 3rd, 2007 under About drawanyway, Media.
Comments: 36
36 Comments
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I drew a picture with makeup once and it came out really well. I’m sure I still have it somewhere and have been trying to find it to post here, but no luck yet. It was of the view from my bedroom window: blue sky (eyeshadow), green hills (more eyeshadow) and houses (eyeliner, mostly).
Yes, eyeshadow = great for smudgy colours and eyeliner = just as good as a pencil crayon, or a viable alternative to an ink pen, if you have the liquid kind. Come to think of it, why aren’t there more works of art in make-up? It even looks like paints when you see it all laid out in the shop.
Actually, I wasn’t all that pleased with my picture, but, *shrug* at least it was fun to draw. And I know I’ll never need paper again.
Body paint! There was a lot of it on the recent World Naked Bike Ride which I attended but not naked you’ll be glad to hear!
fred
Oh my goodness! What a lovely cat! I found out long ago that wet water colour pencils work excellent on skin. Soon I was doing tattoos for half my class. Yep it was primary school. But that cat, mmm!
Oooh, now you’re talking! Watercolour pencils! (You meant ‘what a lovely leg’, right?)
That looks like a tattoo, only the wrong way up!
It depends who’s looking at it: if I’m sitting down it’s the right way up for me. Mind you, this is like having your name tattooed backwards on your forehead, isn’t it?
Aaaags ago, in gcse or something, I did a self portrait in make up; eyelner for the eyes, foundation for skin, etc etc… it was very shoddy but fun to experiment :)
Watercolour pencils are ace as well, I use those a lot.
Maybe I should have made the task ‘draw on your body’? Hmm, but painting with coffee was a lot of fun.
How I love your posts! It’s lit a fire under me, creatively. I’m much more involved now when my little boy wants to draw or paint.
Aren’t you lovely?! *beam*
This is a bit of a cheat, but I’m combining two jobs! I can honestly say I’ve never drawn with a biro before — I only use one for signing the backs of credit cards! Some artists like the danger of biros — you can’t rub the lines out! - and there was a great exhibition of ballpoint drawings at Pentagram a while back. The cheat is that I remember seeing a painting like this but I cannot remember where. It depicts transparent interpenetrating planes and i think there was some ambiguity going on! It was mainly oranges and reds I think and may have been in a computer mag, may even have been a large scale painting — but it’s bugging me!
fred
Ooh, blimey, I don’t know, Fred, but it looks like a highly complex thing to attempt with a biro.
Biro’s are great :D In fact, when I’m sketching, I actually tend to use them more than pencils. Which is weird. But when I’m at uni and I have to come up with 20 ideas for a project (gah) then I will always use biros because you’ve got no excuse to change anything.
Does no-one feel moved to comment on my beautiful pyjamas, then?
I was considering that but I wasn’t sure if they were pyjamas.. or just insane trousers :P
Ha ha, I may be slightly insane but trousers NO!
Well they are lovely. Showing a bit of leg, risque!
….
I don’t know where the e accent character is.
Are thay by Damian Hirst? ;)
fred
Ha, they utterly ought to be, but they are by the equally famous George at Asda.
I was more taken by the stripey socks myself…
Hennes’ best - by which I mean, not very good. They got holes in them within weeks.
Heh, I drew half a cat and half a tree with the end of a plastic coated paperclip dipped in inkpad refiller ink. It was rather nice and scratchy and splodgy at the same time.
The cleaner threw my post-its out.
You’ve got a cleaner! Luxury! But this is one more good excuse for me not to get one; enough of my favourite drawings already get destroyed by Tabitha.
Kikkoman soy sauce bottle drawn in flipchart marker on aluminium foil. It didn’t come out very well. (The yellowness in the photo is because it was taken under artificial light.) Click through for a closeup on the weird stuff that the black marker was doing, and look here for a view of the full sheet of foil with some experimentation.
There is something very satisfying indeed about the way that the pen mimics soy sauce, though. Did you consdier trying to draw it with actual soy sauce?
Ooooh, the picture of the whole sheet, taken from further out? That is beautiul Art. With a capital ‘a’.
Gosh. It is? Why?
Well, my first response was that it was just really appealing to look at. But also, there is something about the little sliver of table showing through on the right, and the try-out marks on the foil, and finally the golden colour that you say wasn’t deliberate. To my eye, they all work together to make a really appealing picture.
Another thing you could do with foil is to use something like a cocktail stick or chopstick to draw. That would make an interesting raised line.
I’m still not really seeing it :) I did leave the sliver of table in on purpose though; I liked the way the edge of the foil looked.
Drawing on the foil with a chopstick sounds great, and I might try it later. Though I’ll have to be careful not to tear the foil. Would “embossing” be a suitable word for this?
I guess it would.
The other issue begs the question of whether something can be art if the artist herself decides it isn’t what she intended!
No, I didn’t think of trying actual soy sauce! Though my first idea for this challenge was to put a layer of salt on the kitchen table and draw in it with my fingers. I decided against that because it felt wasteful. And a pain to clear up.
I felt daring, so I went for it with a fountain pen. I write with the pen every day, but drawing is a bit scarier… here’s the result. I think I’ll try ink drawings again–it was fun, and I’m quite happy with what I produced.
Aw, Pebblerocker, your link didn’t work - can you try again?
I’m sure HTML has some sort of grudge against me. Another try!
Oh, I love it! The simplicity of line is beautiful.