Building skills: DRAWING WITH INK AND STICK

Using ink and sticks to draw with is a great way to get children experimenting with mark making in a different and tactile way. As it is not possible to rub out lines it can also encourage ‘risk taking’ in drawing, often with beautiful results.

Materials needed:

• Sticks - A wooden kebab stick snapped in half makes a perfect tool. You may want to experiment with other types of stick/dried up old paintbrushes/feathers too.

• Paper - Cartridge works better than ordinary copy paper or work directly into sketchbooks.

• Aprons - Indian ink is waterproof which makes it a versatile art material (it can be used later with watercolour without any ‘bleeding’) but it also means it may stain clothes. Explain this to your class and make sure they all wear aprons, roll up their sleeves and work carefully.

• Small pots - Small containers work better as students will only need a very small amount of ink to draw with. This also helps to reduce spillages. One small pot between two or three students works best. Always make sure the ink is the last thing onto the table and the first thing to be removed and encourage children to remain in their seats while working.

Method:

Draw a rectangle the width of the paper and divide into a grid of 9 or 12 squares. Use each square to experiment with a different kind of mark or stick. eg sharp end of the kebab stick to produces fine lines, thick end to produce fat dots, or the broken end to produce hairy textures. This can be used as a reference of different kinds of marks and tones.

When the reference squares are all completed set a 10-20 minute drawing challenge. This might be a drawing of a still life object/something collected from nature/a previous drawing and encourage students to use some (or all!) of their marks and textures in the drawing.

With ink it is not possible to rub things out which can be liberating but also frustrating for some. If a perceived ‘mistake’ is stopping a drawing moving forward, while it isn’t possible to rub it out, it is possible to take a small piece of paper, stick it over an area and draw over the top of it, or use experimental marks to turn the ‘mistake’ into a bold new departure.

Artist Links:

Quentin Blake, Lucinda Rogers, David Hockney

These resources were created by illustrators Sion Ap Tomos, Merlin Strangeway and Toya Walker as part of a four year project with three Islington primary schools funded by Children and the Arts.

They all addressed a wide range of specific curriculum units using illustration, enabling the children to develop illustration and visual communication skills. With thanks to the pupils and teachers at Copenhagen, Robert Blair and St Andrew’s Primary Schools.