Simple Mixed Media Drawing Techniques That Combine Texture and Line

Mid-January has a way of slowing everything down. The cold presses in, light flattens out, and we spend more time at the studio table just sitting, looking, noticing what does not quite fit. During this stretch, mixed media drawing feels less like a technique and more like something that starts by accident. A leftover pencil sketch under dry ink, a smear of pastel stuck in the corner of last week's collage. It works because there is time.

We have found that working with texture and line in these months is not about precision. It is about letting small things guide the shape of the work. Scratched paper edges, a lumpy brush mark, or the way a crayon crumbles under pressure. Mixed media drawing makes room for that kind of thing. It asks us to follow what the surface is already doing instead of pushing it somewhere perfect.

Starting with What’s in Reach

We do not go looking for objects this time of year. We use what is already around. Bit of crushed tissue, thread stuck to the edge of a box lid, paper already crumpled from a bad sketch the week before. These have enough shape and story to inspire something.

Anything with a surface will do. Winter materials carry wear without us trying to make them interesting. When we start drawing with what is near, no setup, no plan, things tend to start behaving how they want. Hand over graphite drawn through past ink washes. Dry pastel scraped across hardened gouache. The effect is not clean, but it is direct.

These quick-use techniques tend to create more tension, more contrast in the finished piece. Line quality changes when it is drawn over grit. Texture pops when two mismatched surfaces meet. We notice those small breaks and realize we did not need anything new. Just a reason to look harder.

Texture That Pushes Back

Not all paper wants to cooperate. Rough sketchbooks, old cardboard, mismatched pads pulled from the back of the drawer, these push back when we draw on them. And that is the point. The tooth of a cold press sheet can decide how your charcoal holds. A dry marker line catches in the grain and stutters. Suddenly, it is a different kind of drawing.

The best part is how physical it gets. Rubbing the side of a pastel block into paper until it bites. Pressing a graphite stick into corrugated board and feeling it drag. Taping layers and crushing them with your palm just to earn some new surface. Not elegant. But it holds more truth than something too balanced.

Texture slows us down. It keeps us from getting ahead of the drawing. The surface makes choices for us, and if we are paying attention, we follow.

Letting the Line Wander

There is a kind of line that does not really aim at anything. It wobbles, breaks, loops over itself. We like that. Especially across a rough or uneven surface. Lines like that stop needing to describe anything and just become a record of motion.

Some of our favorite marks show up this way:

• Ink that skips across a bumpy glue seam

• Pencil dragged through a smear of charcoal and broken midstroke

• Pen lines stitched over collage, bumping up over the paper edge

We do not force correction on these things. A meandering line reflects the way winter hands move, slower, more unsure, and that is better than pretending we are steady. Letting the line speak for itself gives space for the viewer to focus on the mark rather than the image. It trades clarity for texture. That is a worthy exchange.

When Two Materials Do Not Get Along

Sometimes we try two materials and think they will work. Then they fight. Watercolor beads up over crayon. Ink slips off wax. An oily smudge eats the graphite right off the paper. It should be a problem. But we have learned to leave it.

Those mismatches add to the surface. They warp what we expect. A crayon that repels the watercolor ends up framing the mark. A dried glue trail interrupts a charcoal blend and suddenly the form takes a new edge. We do not always know where it is going, but we do not start over either.

Working with what does not blend well softens the need to fix. Instead of correcting, we watch what changes. That slow shift in direction often ends up becoming the whole point of the drawing.

Pauses, Not Finishes

Winter drawings never quite feel done. They trail off or stop in strange places. Some pieces get left on the table for weeks. Others sit clipped to the wall and just get looked at until something else pushes them aside.

We have stopped calling that unfinished. A piece that leaves space for pause usually stays with us longer. Mixed media drawing welcomes that slightly undone feeling. The surface is built one layer at a time. Not everything needs to land.

We have started to see incomplete marks, partial forms, half-shadowed shapes as something worth keeping. These gestures of almost or not-yet are not weak. They just move at a pace we do not always recognize.

Letting Winter Do Some of the Work

Winter changes how we draw without asking. Daylight falls unevenly and the cold keeps us close to the table. We sit longer. Reach less. Listen harder. Mixed media fits this environment without fuss. You do not have to set up much or move around a lot. Paper, pencil, a few odd tools left on the desk, maybe two colors and a leftover scrap. That is enough.

We do not rush these pieces because the season does not rush either. Marks are smaller. Forms are looser. Sometimes the drawing looks more like a set of questions than answers. We have learned to let that stand. Mixed media gives us permission to layer and wait. To look again instead of adding more.

Whatever stays behind in the work, texture that did not smooth out, a line that led somewhere we did not mean, it becomes a better record of where our attention went. That is usually the part worth holding onto.

We work with what we have, and we let the edges show. Let the season seep in. Mixed media drawings do not need to be tidy. They just need to be noticed. And that feels like enough.

All the materials we trust for this kind of drawing, graphite, pastels, water-based paint, surface tools, earn their place on the table by how they behave when we are not in a hurry. At Art to Basic, we keep the work grounded in presence and care, and our wax crayons are cube-shaped with two colors in each so you can shift between broad blocks of color and sharper edges without changing tools. They are non-toxic and made to last longer than traditional stick crayons, which makes them useful for layered mixed media work on rough winter papers.

If you are curious about how certain materials respond to these slower months, we are always up for that conversation.

Winter drawings often lead us toward unusual pairings and rougher surfaces that spark unexpected creativity. We lean into that push and pull, letting layered marks and rugged materials offer shape and surprise rather than perfection. Explore our selection built for mixed media drawing at Art to Basic as you experiment with pairings that resist smooth blending. Questions about what to mix or leave unsettled? Contact us.