Drawing

Drawing is essentially a technique in which images are depicted on a surface by making lines, though drawings can also contain tonal areas, washes and other non-linear marks

Eva Hesse, ‘Untitled’ 1967 — Eva Hesse
Untitled 1967
Tate
© The estate of Eva Hesse, courtesy Hauser & Wirth, Zürich

Ink, pencil, crayon, charcoal and chalk are the most commonly used materials, but drawings can be made with or in combination with paint and any other wet or dry media.

Related materials and techniques

Chalk

Chalk is a soft powdery white or off-white writing or drawing material in crayon form, generally used on a blackboard ...

Leon Kossoff, ‘Self-Portrait. Verso: Untitled (Two Figures)’ 1967

Charcoal

Charcoal is a black crumbly drawing material made of carbon and often used for sketching and under-drawing for paintings, although ...

Carl Andre, ‘Drawing for ‘The Perfect Painting’’ 1967

Graphite

Graphite is a metallic grey writing and drawing material most commonly used in pencil form – though graphite powder is ...

Marlene Dumas, ‘Magdalena 1’ 1996

Ink

Ink is an ancient writing and drawing medium in liquid or paste form, traditionally black or brown in colour – ...

Edgar Degas, ‘Miss Lala at the Cirque Fernando’ 1879

Pastel

Pastel is a coloured drawing medium made from pure coloured pigment mixed with a binder to form a stick

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Tracing of a Perspective Construction of a House’ c.1810

Vanishing point

The point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge

Joseph Wright of Derby, ‘An Iron Forge’ 1772

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is an Italian term which translates as light-dark, and refers to the balance and pattern of light and shade ...

Selected artists who draw

Barbara Hepworth, Preparation 1949

Tate Etc

Sculpture and the scalpel: Barbara Hepworth: The Hospital Drawings

Barbara Hepworth

Many of us are familiar with Barbara Hepworth’s drawings of surgeons and staff in operating theatres, which were done ...

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The River Thames and Kew Bridge, with Brentford Eyot in the Foreground and Strand-on-Green Seen through the Arches: Low Tide’ 1805

J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

Read about one of Britain’s great Romantic artists

Photograph of Rachel Whitereads studio by Nigel Shafran 2010

Tate Etc

‘The Process of Drawing is like Writing a Diary: It's a Nice Way of Thinking About Time Passing’

Bice Curiger

Rachel Whiteread

Tate Etc

Thinking drawing: Vija Celmins

Simon Grant1 and Vija Celmins

Vija Celmins was born in Latvia in 1938, fled with her family to Germany in advance of the Soviet army ...

Explore this term

John D. Schiff Installation view of First Papers of Surrealism exhibition, showing Marcel Duchamp’s His Twine 1942

Drawing in the Dark: Involuntary Drawing

Susan Morris

Susan Morris approaches the subject of involuntary drawing from the point of view of an artist trying to make a ...

Tacita Dean The Roaring Forties: Seven Boards in Seven Days (Board 2) 1997

Cinematic Drawing in a Digital Age

Ed Krčma

Developed in relation to works by Tacita Dean and William Kentridge, this article explores the way in which the arrival ...

Selected artworks in the collection

Cornelia Parker, ‘Pornographic Drawing’ 1996

Cornelia Parker Pornographic Drawing

1996

T07327

Rebecca Horn, ‘Unicorn’ 1968–9

Rebecca Horn Unicorn

1968–9

T12783

Leonora Carrington, ‘I am an Amateur of Velocipedes’ 1941

Leonora Carrington I am an Amateur of Velocipedes

1941

T11910

Leon Kossoff, ‘Drawing for ‘Children’s Swimming Pool’’ 1971

Leon Kossoff Drawing for ‘Children’s Swimming Pool’

1971

T03281

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt, ‘Study of a Girl’s Head’ 1866

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt Study of a Girl’s Head

1866

On display at Tate Britain part of Edward Burne-Jones A00060

Günter Brus, Arnulf Rainer, ‘No, Daphne, No!’ 1984

Günter Brus, Arnulf Rainer No, Daphne, No!

1984

T05212

Richard Deacon, ‘Untitled Drawing’ 1980

Richard Deacon Untitled Drawing

1980

T05208

Drawing at Tate

Tate Britain Exhibition

Rachel Whiteread Drawings

8 Sep 2010 – 16 Jan 2011

Rachel Whiteread Drawings; past exhibition at Tate Britain

Tate Liverpool Exhibition

Tracing the Century: Drawing as a Catalyst for Change

16 Nov 2012 – 20 Jan 2013

Tracing the Century: Drawing as a Catalyst for Change exhibition at Tate Liverpool 16 November 2012 – 20 January 2013

Henry Moore OM, CH, ‘Pink and Green Sleepers’ 1941

Tate Britain Exhibition

Sculpture and Drawings by Henry Moore

2 May – 29 Jul 1951

Sculpture and Drawings by Henry Moore; 1951 exhibition at Tate Gallery