Designed for students aged 14–16 (UK Key Stages 4–5 / Years 10–12), but adaptable for other ages.
Learning objectives
Explore how to show movement and depth using overlapping shapes and transparency.
Build confidence using expressive materials such as charcoal and pastel.
Learning outcomes
A series of warm-up studies exploring movement and layering.
One large-scale final drawing showing motion and spatial depth.
You will need
Charcoal and/or pastels
1 large sheet of paper
Smaller sheets of paper (for warm-ups)
Erasers
Pieces of fabric (for blending and cleaning)
Otis Blease'Street scene with yellow', Pencil on paper, 2020
Joshua Pell'St. Pancras Basin', Oil pastel on paper, 2023
Introduction
In this resource, you will explore different ways to draw outdoors, capturing the movement of the world through dynamic mark-making.
Exercise 1
Find someone or something in motion and draw it without looking at your page. Let your mark-making be free and expressive, and do not worry about accuracy. Instead, focus on dynamic lines and experiment with different kinds of marks.
Exercise 2
For the next warm-up exercise, draw while looking upwards. Find a place where something towers over you, such as a building or a tree. How does this unusual viewpoint change the way you draw?
Exercise 3
Set a large sheet of paper on the ground and begin a larger drawing. Think of this drawing as a spontaneous experience on paper rather than a realistic representation of the world. You can combine multiple viewpoints and include different parts of your surroundings, even if they are in different places. The key is to capture the hustle and bustle around you through dynamic marks and a sense of movement. Use your pieces of fabric and erasers to work back and forth, building and removing marks to create layers. Think about what you learned in the warm-ups about viewpoint and mark-making.
