How do you build tone and choose marks to describe surface and form in a drawing?
Tone and mark-making in drawing: hatching, cross-hatching, blending, stippling and scumbling; drawing media and grounds; matching the mark to the surface.
How to build tone and choose marks in drawing for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: hatching, cross-hatching, blending, stippling and scumbling, drawing media from graphite to charcoal and ink, and matching the mark to the surface for AO2 and AO3.
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What this dot point is asking
Tone and mark-making are how a drawing describes surface, form and mood. Edexcel asks you to use drawing skills for different needs and purposes and to experiment with media, so the range of marks and media you can use is both AO3 recording skill and AO2 refinement. This page covers the main tonal mark-making techniques, the common drawing media and grounds, and how to match the mark to the surface.
Tonal mark-making techniques
Tone can be built many ways, and using a range is what stops drawings looking uniform.
Drawing media
Different media give different qualities, and trying a range is AO2 evidence.
Matching the mark to the surface
The single habit that most improves drawings is changing the mark for each material.
Why a range of marks and media lifts the whole portfolio
It is easy to settle into one comfortable way of shading, but Edexcel rewards a range, and the practical benefit is large. A candidate who only ever flat-shades from the side of a pencil cannot distinguish a metal spoon from a knitted jumper, so their recording carries less information and their work looks monotonous. Building a personal library of marks and media (a few practice sheets exploring hatching, blending, stippling and scumbling in graphite, charcoal and ink) gives you a toolkit to draw on, and the practice sheets themselves are reviewable AO2 experiments. The ground matters too: working on toned paper, where you add both darker marks and white highlights to a mid-value, often produces faster, more three-dimensional results than working from white paper alone, and it is a quick way to lift a study. Many draughtsmen are studied for mark-making: Vincent van Gogh's reed-pen drawings built whole landscapes from directional marks, Georges Seurat made velvety tonal drawings in conte on textured paper, and Albrecht Durer engraved astonishing tone and texture from line alone. Analysing how an artist makes their marks, then testing the technique, links AO1 research to your own AO2 and AO3 work.
Try this
Q1. Name four tonal mark-making techniques. [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Hatching, cross-hatching, blending, stippling and scumbling (any four).
Q2. Explain why drawing on toned paper can give faster, more three-dimensional results than white paper. [Short explanation]
- Cue. On a mid-toned ground you add both darker marks and lighter highlights to an existing middle value, so you build form from the middle outward and the paper supplies the mid-tone, often making the drawing read as solid more quickly than working up from white.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Edexcel 1AD0 portfolio10 marksA candidate uses only flat shading from the side of a pencil, so every drawing looks the same. Analyse how a range of mark-making and drawing media would strengthen the work, and explain which objectives benefit.Show worked answer →
An analysis needs the change, its effect, and the AO link.
The problem. One shading method everywhere gives uniform, characterless surfaces and cannot distinguish materials or moods.
A range of marks. Hatching, cross-hatching, blending, stippling and scumbling each build tone differently and suit different surfaces, so matching the mark to the surface (blending for skin, cross-hatching for shadow, stippling for grain) adds realism and variety.
A range of media. Graphite, charcoal, conte, pen and ink, and coloured pencil each give different qualities; charcoal gives rich darks and energy, pen gives crisp line and hatching, so choosing media suits the subject and mood.
AO link. The deliberate selection of marks and media is AO2 (refining media), and the resulting tonal recording is AO3.
Markers reward the link from varied marks and media to surface and mood and the mapping to AO2 and AO3.
Edexcel 1AD0 portfolio6 marksExplain how the choice of drawing ground (the paper or surface) can change the effect of a drawing, with two examples.Show worked answer →
A short explanation needs the idea of a ground and two examples.
A ground. The surface you draw on (white paper, toned paper, textured paper, prepared board), which affects how marks read.
Example one (toned ground). Working on mid-toned paper lets you draw both darker (with pencil or charcoal) and lighter (with white chalk), so highlights and shadows are added to a mid-value, often giving faster, more three-dimensional results.
Example two (textured ground). Rough paper breaks up the mark, good for grainy textures and energetic charcoal; smooth paper suits fine detail and crisp line.
Markers reward the idea of the ground affecting the marks plus two valid examples such as toned or textured paper.
Related dot points
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How to draw from direct observation for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: sighting and measuring, looking more than drawing, capturing proportion, structure and light, and why first-hand observational drawing is the strongest evidence for AO3 recording.
- Perspective and proportion: one and two-point perspective, the horizon and vanishing points, foreshortening, and proportion systems for objects and the figure.
How to draw convincing space and accurate proportion for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: one and two-point linear perspective, horizon line and vanishing points, foreshortening and overlapping, and proportion systems for objects and the human figure.
- Recording from primary sources: gathering first-hand material through your own photography, location studies, collected objects and notes, and why primary sources outweigh secondary.
How to gather and record from primary sources for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: your own photography, location studies, collected objects and observational notes, and why first-hand primary sources are valued above secondary ones for AO1 and AO3.
- Tone as a formal element: the range from light to dark, how tone describes form and light, tonal contrast and key, and techniques for building tone.
How to use tone, one of the formal elements in Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: the light-to-dark range, how tone gives form and describes light, tonal contrast, high and low key, and techniques such as blending and hatching, with how to apply tone in coursework.
- Line as a formal element: contour, gesture, hatching and expressive line; how the quality, weight and direction of a line carry form, movement and feeling.
How to use line, one of the formal elements in Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: contour, gesture and expressive line, line weight and quality, hatching and cross-hatching, and how line describes form, movement and mood. With artists who use line and how to apply it in coursework.
- AO2: refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes, showing reviewed decisions.
How to satisfy Edexcel GCSE Art and Design Assessment Objective 2: refine work by exploring ideas and experimenting with and selecting appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing each experiment to drive the next decision, scored out of 18 per component.
Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Art and Design (1AD0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2016)