Materials

Charcoal

Charcoal is a tool to be used with great skill and patience. The effects that can be made by certain techniques can be very eye catching causing shadowing and smoky effects.

The following can be done using Charcoal:

• Sketching design which creates a very toned feel. 
• Created very dark shadowing on drawings 
• Adding depth to art by creating very dark lines.
• Smudging off the Charcoal when on paper can create a very aesthetically pleasing texture to the piece. 

Charcoal can be erased but often with some difficulty due to smudging. The tip can be sharpened using a cutting knife or scalpel.

Scissors

Scissors are very important when it comes to Arts and crafts such as cutting through objects like paper, Card,and thin plastic. There are many sizes of scissors all depending on the object that is needed to be cut. You can also only use one blade of the scissor and score the object, which can be used to either bend the material accurately for precise measurements.

I used the scissors to slice through various pieces of colour card to create a collage of my observational drawing.

Eraser

The Eraser can be used in multiple ways. The main objective of the eraser is to erase errors a person has done by making wrong lines, mistakes or even rubbing out guide lines. You can also use the Eraser to add effects to your work If you lightly rub against the tonal drawing to add a light source effect that you've drawn. You could also smudge the lines to merge the lines together causing a blending effect.

I found the Eraser a very useful in my own work to create certain tones which would be nearly impossible to do with just a pencil and finger. The effects given with the eraser were very affectionate and added life to my drawing. Below is an image of what an eraser looks like.

Pencil

A pencil is the most important tool in all aspects of Art & Media. A pencil has multiple roles and needed to plan or even an overview on what the subject or project will be with making simple lines or sketches from the pencil will give others an understanding on the project. Here are some examples on what roles a pencil has below.

• Sketching ideas 
• Developing sketched idea 
• Creating a base drawing which you then fill with colour 
• Creating a graphite drawing with high detail 

The lead of a pencil can be sharpened to give it a very accurate edge. Depending on how steady your hand is you can get brilliant results with the pencil due to the flow of your hand movements. Pencils have different lead types starting from the lightest from the darkest for example. The Brightest pencil would be 6B (being the softest) and 4H (being the darkest).

In my own work I found the pencil to be the most useful tool in art and media. Mainly for the fact it's so easy to handle and creates a brilliant foundation to improve your work upon after sketching out a basic design. I used the pencil to create multiple designs even if the sketch was simply very light so in the future the lines could be erased by using the material above the "Eraser". Below is an image below on what a pencil looks like.







Paper


Paper is essentially made from trees, and is a resource you should not waste, paper is a blank material in which you can create anything in your mind and place it on your paper by, drawing, sketching, painting or doodling, the possibilities are endless.
I used paper for every piece of physical work, and of course it is useful and very effective.
You want to be careful you dont slide the paper along your skin as this will cause paper cuts which Can be fatal.

Rulers


Rulers are used to get perfect lines to make work look more tidy or to make a piece of work look professional. The ruler is very accurate if you use it correctly. I used the ruler for a few pieces of work for titles and straight lines. It could be dangerous if you were to throw a ruler at someone.
































Pen


The image below is a pen, which I would use for taking notes mainly and mainly written work.
This can come useful when you want to take notes of few things onto a pad of paper or card.
You should be careful not to stab the tip of the pen into yourself or anyone else or even attempt to try and eat it as you could get ink poisoning.




















Tweening


This technique is called tweening, its a method on adobe flash in which you can use it to animate any picture on screen, you can even make short films by using this.

I have found using Motion tween, Shape tween and classic tween very very helpful through out my time in the course. I have done alot of work on adobe flash and i have become very fimilair with the method of tweening and animating. You can even use motion tweening for walk cycles as shown below.

Photoshop




This is a technique on photoshop called fading and you can use it to make effects on pictures stand out and look really amazing.
I used this in my concept art to make the background seem slightly foggy making a dramatic effect.
















Oil Pastels


Oil pastels are very effctive in bringing colour and motion to pictures, they can be used for doing a range of different art work.
I used them in a few pieces of work to bring out the colour and make my work look unique, they are very useful and very effective.
I wouldn't put the pastels in your mouth as you could most likely choke on them.



















Paint Brush


The picture below is a paintbrush which is used in paintings.
If your paintbrush happens to break by any chance, be careful you do not get splinters from the wood, dispose of it immediately.
I didn't find it very useful, because I don't paint often that much but it can be very effective if used carefully.

Card


card is a very useful tool and can get some good results from cad. Like paper card is a material which you can draw, paint or use any primary sources to create art on. I used card quiet often in my art work because of the line effects it gives when drawing on the texture.


















Graphite


The material displayed below is called graphite, its a type of pencil similiar to lead, but not  actually lead. A graphite pencil can be very useful in creating art work with various effects. Graphite is often dark and pretty thick but the thick lines can give creative looks to the art piece.
If the user was to eat or attempt to swallow bits of graphite you could possibly die due to the poisoning this substance gives to the human body or the living object.
I used graphite to create shadows and good effects in my drawings, I personally found it very effective in my work.

Wood


Wood is very good to use as a material to use as texture, it makes your work look very neat and more realistic.
I used this material as a texture for my front cover of my Concept art cover to create a horror theme with some blood splatters created in photoshop.










Stencils


Stencils can be used for precise paintings or spray paints, you can get very unique drawings and out comes with stencils. Most professional graffiti artists such as Banksy uses stencils and have influenced a few graffiti artists to also stencil.












Steel Rulers


Steel Rulers are used for precise lines for high detailed art pieces. Steel Rulers are commonly used by architects for precise lines. Steel Rulers are more reliable than normal plastic rules as they are very unlikely to break and are much heavier so the ruler is less likely to move giving more of a straight line.

















Tissue Paper


Tissue paper is an odd piece of paper that is very delicate. You can tear the tissue paper up to get some unusual results often used in collages. Tissue paper is too fragile to draw on as it will rip, so it is often used for collages. I used tissue paper in a collage I made in my art class.