Project #27 Tools For Drawing

 

Artists use all kinds of tools for monumental, room sized, and small drawings.  They sometimes appropriate tools for other purposes are used for drawing with paints or inks, for instance rakes, push brooms and mops are used on the floor or walls.  Handmade tools of all sizes can also make beautiful marks: sticks, bamboo, hair, fur, plant matter, string, cut plastic or cardboard and other items by themselves or combined to create custom tools. Above are brushes and marks made by Elizabeth Schowachert.

Lids, glass bottoms and other circular items are used to make circular marks.  End cuts of wood, square dowels and other rectangular items are used to make angular marks and thick lines.

The types of marks a tool will make greatly depend on how you hold it and the pressure used.  After you make some tools for yourself, experiment with different ways to use them - pouncing, dragging, pushing, rolling and different amounts of pressure.  Sometimes using your non-dominant hand will help get different types of marks.  

Below are some examples of tools and artists using tools.  Beatrice Oettinger stick with straw or pine needles.  

Beatrice Oettinger stick with straw or pine needles.  

A simple yet beautifully effective tool for elegant lines by Jennifer Coyne Qudeen.

I did not find information on the artist who made this tool with a stick, fabric scraps and plant matter.  The marks it makes are gorgeous.

Metal scrubbing pads, leather cord and bamboo handles, string and bamboo and reeds and bamboo tools made by artist Elizabeth Schowachert , who makes a variety of tools and teaches workshops, can be used for wonderful textures.  Handmade tools like this can be purchased from artists who make them.  You can make your own similar tools.

I could not find a credit for this image.  Wonderful feather brush made from feathers, fabric and wood. 

Tools made and marks by Olivier Umecker . 

 

Artist Shio Kato creating very large calligraphy work with a large stiff brush that looks like a round broom.  Watch a video of her working here.

Ram Samocha and audience at drawing performance with blocks at Lab 451 London, photos by Lynn Charlotte Lu. Photos of Ram Samocha drawing performances are on his website and videos are on youtube.

Pan Gongkai using what looks like a large horse hair brush and ink to create a monumental drawing.  A tour of Gonkai's exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art.

The wonderful thing about these tools and methods is that they can be used by artists of all ages and experience levels.  I hope this inspires you to do some experimentation.