What Is Mark Making in Art?
By Penny Shaw
Penny describes the process of learning to draw, but actually put in proper, simpler terms, learning to make marks on a surface. She has a series of 4 classes scheduled on Thursdays in October, and you can contact her directly to sign up.
Mark Making
Earlier in my career as a beginning artist I was admonished to “draw what you see and not what you know” by my seventh-grade art teacher, Mrs. Lashley of Johns Hill Junior High. She was a firm believer in learning how to see with your eyes and elaborate on your imagery with making marks that told your story. Her teaching has served as the bedrock of my skill set for the past sixty+ years as an artist and art educator. I have used this mantra in training students how to draw or make marks that tell their stories and ideas to others.
There is a distinction between making marks and drawing. Making marks involves any mark made using any material on any surface, such as: pencil on paper, Photoshop brush mark on a screen, painting on surfaces, or scratches in clay. Mark making can be seen on many different two-dimensional or three-dimensional surfaces. The lines can describe or suggest a multitude of ideas or stories that convey emotions, directions, or separation of shapes.
Drawing chief component is line and usually appear on two-dimensional surfaces. These lines can suggest tones using techniques such as stippling, smudging, hatching or cross-hatching. Drawn lines can be created with dry or wet media.
New media has allowed drawing to evolve with moving away from chiaroscuro applications of values found in the old masters rendering of still life or portraiture to looking at how lines become designs found in zentangle designs or graphic imagery. Drawn lines tell different stories from many different cultural traditions. Many people have replicated permanent tribal tattoo designs or non-permanent henna Mehndi designs to commemorate events in their lives on their bodies as well as creating decorative imagery that evolve from emotions.
I have heard many say they cannot draw straight lines. Lines, whether as a drawn element or created in mark making, do not require you to make straight lines unless it is part of the story you are telling. Creative mark making does not require you to duplicate objects you see in your environment but does require you to allude to telling your story with visual shapes that suggest you can elicit a response from the observer.
The mantra draw what you see and not what you know requires an individual to let his story evolve from what is observed to projecting imagery that tells the artist’s vision of his story. There is no right and wrong way of telling the story in drawings or mark making. The artist becomes not only the storyteller but also the craftsperson that builds upon his ability to get responses from the viewer or interpreter of his story.
Join me at Open Space Arts at the Stonebridge Gallery for an introductory class in basic drawing on October 6. 13. 20, 27. This class is designed to begin the mark making journey that serves as the foundation for telling stories using line as the main element in two-dimensional drawing compositions. Many individuals lament that they cannot draw a straight line but wish that they can acquire basic skills in how to develop drawing skills. We will explore training the eye to SEE, investigate drawing materials, learn how to do blind and modified contour lines, and do simple value drawings using drawing techniques.
Class:
4 sessions – Thursday, October 6, 13, 20, and 27 at 6:00-8:00 in the back room of Open Space Arts at Stonebridge, 15000 #140 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA
Cost: $160.00 payable during the first class to the instructor
Materials list available during first class. Sign-up by email shawonesent@gmail.com
Ages: 15 and up, any skill level
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.
Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.
Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.
Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership
