Starting the exercises - doodling and techniques

Have today started the exercises and spent 4 hours testing out different ways of holding pencils, mark making, doodling and shading techniques. I was startled to learn the different textures and depths of color that can be created through using the standard drawing pencils - the biggest surprise being the versatility and 'gentleness' of the 2H pencil as compared to he heavier 3 and 4 B pencils.

Doodling was a real challenge - exploring mark making and shapes etc on large paper - I used a large roll of printing paper which feed up exploration. I initially found it difficult not to focus on 'delivering something purposeful' but on relaxing found natural shapes emerging and a freedom in simply making marks. The freedom that emerged is an aspect that I hope to be able to transfer into my painting 1 course. In addition exploring ink and the marks that can be made was also a revelation - never having experimented with that media previously and is one that i look forward to returning to - the creativity yet precision that can be found was a surprise.

Exploring shading with the media of pencil, ink, coloured pencil and felt tip was initially a little laborious as I thought I knew how to shade but was proved wrong in recognising that different grades of pencil and thicknesses creates very different effects - additionally combining them also created a depth that I had not been aware of. Some of the finer points made me 'stick at it' rather than abandon due to speed/slowness and precision which again was good discipline.