Drawing and Painting the Landscape – A Grid

A Grid - Drawing and Painting the Landscape
Ink on Paper
21cm x 21cm (8.25" x 8.25")

Chapter 5 of Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is about mark making. The instructions for Lesson 19 (the first lesson in the chapter) are to draw a 20cm by 20cm grid and fill each box with a different set of marks. Philip observes “At first it will be easy but as you continue to fill the 400 boxes, you will probably begin to repeat yourself.” 

I usually use fineliners for drawing - these are pens with a plastic or fine fibre needle-point tip. They are easy to use and available with various tip sizes. During the exercise, I used various fineliner, brush, fountain and dip pens. It struck me that pen with nibs and brushes are more interesting to use than fineliners. With a nib or a brush, you can alter the mark by playing with the orientation of the pen and the amount of pressure you apply. If you press hard on a fineliner, you don’t achieve much other than knackering the tip.