Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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Art & DesignStudio practice: recording, materials and evaluation30 min★★★ difficulty

Handling materials with control

Every material has a behaviour. Skill is knowing what a material wants to do and deciding whether to work with it or against it.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Increase their proficiency in the handling of different materials

Key learning points

  • • Dry media and pressure
  • • Preparing the surface
  • • Wet media
  • • Combining materials

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

increaseproficiencyhandlingmaterialspressure

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Handling materials with control

An English teaching video on this topic from October Gallery Education. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Increase their proficiency in the handling of different materials

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already have used pencil, and at least one wet medium.

Recap: Recording in sketchbooks and journals
3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Tooth
The surface texture of paper that grips media.
Wash
A thin, diluted layer of paint or ink.
Blending
Merging tones or colours smoothly.
Resist
A material that repels another, such as wax under wash.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Dry media

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Dry media and pressure

Graphite grades run from hard H to soft B; softer grades give darker, grainier marks. Control comes from pressure, angle and layering rather than from pressing harder. Charcoal, chalk and pastel need paper with tooth, and blending should be deliberate — over-blending removes the marks that give a drawing energy.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Preparing the surface

Paper weight matters: thin paper cockles under wash, while heavier stock holds water. Priming a surface changes absorbency, and toned paper lets you work towards both light and dark. Choosing a surface before starting saves more work than any correction technique afterwards.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

A 6B pencil compared with 2H is...

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Tooth refers to the paper's...

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Wet media and combinations

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Wet media

Watercolour and ink work light to dark, because a wash is difficult to remove. Wet-on-wet spreads and softens; wet-on-dry gives clean edges. Acrylic dries fast and can be layered opaquely, so it forgives changes that watercolour will not. Letting layers dry fully is the most common difference between a controlled and a muddy result.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Combining materials

Mixed media works when materials do different jobs: wax resist under ink wash, pencil detail over dried acrylic, collage providing pattern that would be slow to paint. Test combinations on a scrap first, and note results, because compatibility depends on drying time and absorbency rather than on how they look separately.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Watercolour should generally be worked...

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Wax under an ink wash acts as a...

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • People often press harder to get darker tone. Use a softer grade and layer instead.
  • People often paint dark first in watercolour. Work light to dark, since washes are hard to lift.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Control comes from ____, angle and layering rather than from pressing harder.

Mixed media works when ____ do different jobs: wax resist under ink wash, pencil detail over dried acrylic, collage providing pattern that would be slow to paint.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Handling materials with control

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Thin paper under a wash tends to...

  2. 2. Wet-on-wet produces...

  3. 3. Acrylic is more forgiving than watercolour because it...

  4. 4. Over-blending a charcoal drawing can...

  5. 5. Toned paper is useful because it allows work towards...

  6. 6. Before combining media you should...

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Article

Reading a portrait

Artists make choices before they make marks. A sitter placed high in the frame looks powerful; the same sitter low in the frame looks small. Light falling from one side sculpts a face into shadow and bone; flat light makes it open and plain.

Objects do work too. A book says learning, a dog says loyalty, a wilting flower says time passing. Viewers in the past read these signs as easily as we read a logo.

When you look at a portrait, ask three questions: where is the light coming from, what has the artist put in the sitter's hands, and where am I standing — above, below, or level with them?

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Choose a portrait and answer the article's three questions about it.
  2. Explain how you would light a portrait to make someone look kind.
  3. Plan your own portrait, listing two objects you would include and what each one says.

  • Sketchbook page

    Diagram

    Make your own piece, then photograph it for your sketchbook page.

    1 finished piece

  • Annotation

    Writing

    Write around your work: what you tried, what worked, what you would change.

    6 sentences

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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