Deciding which mediums work well in the style of Vince Low

Before I progress with my experiments, I want to determine which medium would work the best when in the style of Low. He uses fine lines to create expressive and chaotic marks which is what I want to replicate in my work.

             

Firstly, I used a sharpie to see what kind of marks they create. However I found out that these will not work when attempting to create a high contrast in tone; it is difficult to distinguish the light marks from the dark marks. Additionally, this medium is too thick so in order to create an accurate piece, I would have to draw on a very large scale, which is something that I am uncomfortable with. With other mediums, you can create different tones by applying them with varying amounts of pressure however a sharpie does not do this. 

Moreover, I went on to do small experiments with biro which I think worked really well. To create high contrast, I applied different amounts of pressure as the more I apply the darker the lines and the less I apply, the lighter the lines. Also, I can use either loose, expressive marks or controlled, refined marks which would therefore create high contrast in marks/lines. I find it much easier to use biros when building form to create the illusion of something being 3D.

I then went on to experiment with fine liner, which is useful with this style of work as this medium can come in multiple sizes e.g. 0.1mm, 0.3mm, 0.5mm and 0.8mm. The fact that there are different sized finalisers means that I can create a high contrast in tone as each sized fine liner creates a different tone when applied on the material (for instance, the 0.1mm creates a light tone when compared to the dark tone of the 0.8mm). This then creates a great form as I can get a gradual change in tone from light to dark; this creates a 3D effect.

Finally, I quickly experimented with pencil however the results weren't what I was looking out for. When sharpened, I can create similar lines to Low's as his marks are very fine, however when the pencil is blunt the lines form an area that just looks like normal shading. If I was to use pencil then I would use a much larger scale background. Rather than use a pencil in this technique, I would much more prefer to use a pencil by just shading normally.

From doing these experiments, I have decided that in the future, when working in Vince Low's style I am going to use biros and fine liners as these are the mediums that work the best with this technique. they provide fine lines when creating expressive and chaotic marks, unlike pencil and sharpie (permanent marker).