The Marks We Make

The Marks We Make   In this post I have gathered drawings from different artists, different centuries, and different cultures.  Regardless of their individual styles,  what they have in common is they made a specific effort to display variation within the marks they put down.  In most drawings the change comes between material differences.  But I hesitate to suggest any rule here, rather the observation that their search for differences in the application of these marks provides variety, and clarity more in line with how we experience and see in nature.  But lines do not exist in nature, so the marks we choose to make and their juxtaposition has a great impact on image clarity, visual style, and how others interpret our images.  These artists observed very well the rich variety and visual nuance that exists in nature then reinterpreted by clarifying variation of distinctive marks, then designating them to shapes, or zones within their images....