Mark Making with Home Made Drawing Tools

In this 3 page resource, your students will be introduced to mark making and the reasons that artists use mark making to enhance their work.

In the first task, “a menu of marks”, your group will use non-traditional materials (such as diluted coffee in place of ink, and kitchen utensils as tools), to respond to 15 words that describe marks, such as “meandering” and “spontaneous”.

A discussion about the kind of tools they may be able to access in their immediate environment has also been beneficial at this point. I have provided images of some of my own coffee mark making samples which you can use as a visual aid here.

When delivering this task, I have encouraged my learners to consider the way they present their “menu” - they could fold their paper into squares, or allow each mark to run into the next.

This is a nice, relaxed, sociable session and it’s fun to guess the tools that have been used if your learners are able to share images of their mark making in the group chat.

In the second task, students will use mark making to draw an interior space in their home.

This resource was originally created for Level 3 Art and Design students and easily filled a 2 hour session (don’t forget to allow time for gathering materials).

In the session prior, you could invite your learners to bring in objects from home that they think could make good mark making tools. Pasta, old tooth brushes, sponges, plastic cutlery, pine cones an branches, that sort of thing.

This also works really well as a remote session and has been tried and tested during lockdown! Easily emailed, fun and experimental, great participation.

The task is also great for Textiles students and Graphics students, as a way to get them to think about backgrounds and layers that could be enhanced digitally.

I hope you find this resource to be helpful!
Best wishes
Hannah