This week I am delving into Reflective Visual Journals. Collaborations of drawings, sketches, doodles, experiments and other media all in one place. A safe place to put ideas and thoughts to paper, to develop and review at leisure. In particular I will look at drawing is Thinking and Visual Language.
By keeping a reflective visual journal we are putting our thoughts onto paper, creating and expanding our visual library. Not all will be used at that moment in time, but this safe collection of ideas keeps them in one place as a valuable resource. Putting our thoughts onto paper opens up other possibilities to explore. Instead of settling on the first image that pops into our heads we can explore and expand upon our initial idea.
You shouldn’t be negative about your skills as an artist when working in your RVJ. It is a place to play and experiment. They capture your concepts, emotions, ideas, memories and thoughts. Accuracy is not always significant. As is the materials you use. You may find inspiration in a piece of fabric, or be experimental making marks with mud or fruit juice.
Sophie B’s 09 blog, http://sophiebarrowcliff09.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/sketchbooks/ , shows how materials are collected and used to develop a creative piece of work.
Drawing is a way of working things out visually. Sketches are the starting points to design ideas, or just to stimulate new ones. These thoughts and ideas many not be more than such for now, but by putting them to paper we can make more sense of them and develop them.
Yakshini, Drawing and Painting the Undead, Keith Thompson, published by David and Charles 2008.
The image above shows an example of sketching out a figure, showing different poses, props to include and where to possibly add them. The thumbnails are not photo-realistic, but are simplified and still show enough detail to associate them with a figure in different positions. It also includes a study of a lotus that was used to further communicate the idea visually.
Ideas that may seem good in your head may not translate well onto paper, but by sketching it out, you can work on developing it, changing aspects, layouts.
http://kvanmeurs.blogspot.com/ , here he explores the different possibilities of layouts and content to a topic called “last Level”. It suggests you may reach the next level by labouring up an ascent. The viewer is drawn into and up the path by the way he has composed the image.
Drawing and sketching is not limited as you can add, distort, extend, deduct or enhance things. By drawing something you are making yourself more conscious of what you are looking at, you begin to understand where adjustments can be made, and how it will appear if you change aspects of it. Becoming more aware of texture, form, light and colour.
With drawing we can ask and answer questions. We can explore new possibilities like, what if I move that there? would it look better if I take this out? By adding this here I can solve the balance.
Technicians and engineers may start with a problem or question to solve, by sketching and drawing they can create a rough solution and develop it towards a final solution. Take a bridge for example. It answers the problem of getting from A to B, which may otherwise be inaccessible. By sketching the scene and ideas, possibilities and further problems can be explored.
It can be quicker and more accurate to sketch an idea rather than describe it in words. Rough layouts can be quickly drawn and assessed rather than relying on people’s perceptions and concepts. After all words can have so many connotations.
Words don’t always translate well across languages, but images do. What means something in one culture may mean something else to another. Yet many symbols are used repetitively that mean the same in many languages and cultures. . Road signs are universal in most languages. Road signs are uniform and simple. Which makes them easier to remember and associate, making them easier to understand in many languages.
International road signs, http://visual.merriam-webster.com/transport-machinery/road-transport/road-signs/major-international-road-signs_1.php . The colour red is also used to reinforce the signs meaning. Meaning, danger, caution and high risk. The use of symbols rather than words is ideal if you are travelling in a different country and are unfamiliar with the language.
Visuals can also help the illiterate understand text, and to make complex writings more coherent. Church windows and murals were used during medieval era to help the uneducated connect, reflect and remember psalms and verses from the Bible. The scenes showed stories in a simple manner, and allowed people to view them at their leisure.
This window depicts the Last Supper. It has people sitting around a table eating a meal. The simple forms allows people to use their own imagination to fill in the small details.
Verbally communicating an idea will lead the listener to create their own visual perspective, by drawing your notion you can reinforce your idea, making it more specific. If I were to say “a girl next to a tree”, there will be many ways it can be translated into picture format. To emphasise my conception I could go into detail about; light, thickness of tree trunk, position of girl, length of her hair, season, clothes, colours used, and we could still differ on our visual imagery. By drawing my concept I can reinforce my imagery to reflect my perception of a girl next to a tree.
If a craftsman talked or wrote in detail about the inner workings of a cuckoo clock and how it relates to the moving parts that we see it becomes complex and complicated. This image above shows both the aesthetic front to the clock and the hidden mechanics of the clock. From looking at the image (and a little basic knowledge of what makes a cuckoo clock unique) you can deduce that the bird will appear through the hatch and there will be a chime.
By sketching these aspects that are not directly visible, it becomes more coherent. Sketching non -directly visible objects, can allow pieces of art to flow and render them more comprehensible. For example a leg may not be visible under a full length gown, but by sketching where the leg may be in proportion to the body, the appropriate place for the foot can be ascertained.
Sketching and drawing will expand your visual, enabling you to communicate across audiences, by identifying key images to include and images to omit. Annotating your ideas can help you to further develop your notion. Expanding notes by word mapping can help you find links and possibilities that are not visible when spoken aloud. You cannot rely on memory alone to remember everything you think of on a subject, by committing them to paper will allow you mind to explore other scenarios and viewpoints.
Remember a RFV is a place to try new ideas, experiment, have fun and develop. Don’t be afraid to let go and try something new. If an image does not work well, you can break it down and try other ways of communicating your idea. You never know, perhaps a previous or future experiment will connect to it. As we develop, our visual library and skills will grow. Previous ideas and sketches may prove useful or pivotal and a new design idea. Your sketch may be the missing piece to someone else’s jigsaw.
