5. Options: Collage/Text - Hand drawn text

Step 1: The Foundation – Small Repeated Marks

I started with fairly smooth paper (A4 size) in various colours. I chose a single letter (for example, “a,” “s,” or “d”) and used tools like fine liners and pencils, both coloured pencils and graphite pencils. The pen and pencil glided smoothly over the surface, giving crisp, precise lines.

Step 2: Scaling Up – Larger Marks on Textured Paper

Next, I worked on rougher, more textured paper, which gave me a new appreciation for how tools behave differently on various surfaces. I kept the letters big and bold, experimenting with thicker tools like waxy crayons and brush pens to create marks that were free and expressive. The rougher texture added a bit of grit and unpredictability to my lines, which I quite liked.

Step 3: Watery Media on A2 (well, A3 stuck together)

For the final stage of mark-making, I grabbed some paper, a soft brush, and watered-down acrylic paint. This was my favourite part . I let the brush glide and curve, creating chunky, fluid letterforms. The watery acrylic soaked into the paper in lovely pools, sometimes darker in spots where the paint gathered. I loved the organic, almost ink-wash effect it created.

Here is a photo gallery of each sheet I made:

Step 4: Piecing It All Together – Collage Time

Once the sheets were fully prepped and photographed, the real fun began: cutting and arranging! I cut a mix of large and small shapes – circles, triangles, rectangles, and strips – from all my letter-filled sheets. I played around with different compositions before gluing them down

The final collage combines all these textual elements into a piece full of movement.

Reflections

I’ll be honest, I found the composition part of this exercise quite challenging. Despite playing around with shapes and colours, I didn’t feel like the final collage really hung together. Some of the shapes felt a bit random, and the colours didn’t seem to fully connect in a way I was happy with. That said, this process pushed me well out of my comfort zone, which is always a good thing.

It was interesting to let go of trying to make something “perfect” and instead just see where the process took me. The act of cutting, arranging, and rearranging shapes felt like a bit of a leap into the unknown, and while I didn’t love the outcome, I still learned a lot about how shapes, scale, and colours can interact. Plus, it reminded me that sometimes it’s the process, not the end result, that matters most. I’m curious to see how I can build on this and develop stronger compositions next time.