sketching together

Here's the other 2 drawings that follow on from my previous post!

The first is a 2 minute portrait of my very self, drawn by the student sitting next to me in class. I like the energy they captured in their pencil marks, and the addition of a bit of felt-tipped colour to highlight my flower headband and earrings. She apologised that she didn't get to finish my face, but I like the result....perhaps 'unfinishedness' is an aspect of innovation? - Knowing when to leave a piece incomplete, with the possibility of being worked into at a later date, or simply to place emphasis on what is present, through the absence of the missing details... I also think this drawing makes me look a bit like some kind of tribal princess, it's slightly Pocahontus-esqe. I have never been drawn in this way before, and I quite like it!

Secondly, this was my collaborative 'mapping' drawing of Chelsea, made with Katie in the medium of fine liners and coloured pencils. Looking at both of the maps we'd drawn individually (you can see mine at the end of the post below this), we realised that we had mapped in a similar way, both choosing to depict a birds eye view looking down over the college campus. So, with this shared perspective, we decided just to make our collaborative drawing simultaneously, both drawing on the paper at once, to see how it would turn out. We discussed the direction/orientation and scale very quickly, and then set to work. As Katie had previously been drawing in fine liner, she began marking out various buildings on our paper, and I naturally started adding details and colour with my coloured pencils. I was actually quite amazed at how smoothly and easily our collaboration worked- despite the fact that the paper was only A4 sized, our hands worked around each other as we drew rather than getting in each others way, and each time one of us rotated the paper, the other responded by simply working on a different section of the map. I enjoyed the pace of this collaborative drawing exercise, and I think it can be quite refreshing to co-draw/co-design with another.

A collaborative drawing of Chelsea with Katie.

It reminded me of a print workshop we had in our Textiles Practice at the start of term, where I was learning about flocking and foiling techniques with another 2 students in my group. To test out the techniques, we made a few samples together, with one person picking a screen, another person selecting fabric, and I layed the flock and foil papers out for us to print with. Our final print was a fun combination of each of the different elements we'd selected and brought together. I'd cut some squares of flocking paper up and placed them ontop of certain sections of the final layer of print, and the other 2 students laughed and said that they never would have thought to try that if they'd been designing individually. I think this example, alongside my collaborative sketch experiment with katie today, just shows how designing with other people can lead to 'innovation'- both in your approach of how you adapt your way of working to logistically accommodate another person in the process, and also result wise, as you have collective input that comes together to form something you couldn't or perhaps wouldn't produce alone.

sketching session!

So this week: down to some sketching!

We undertook a series of timed drawing experiments, where our tutor, Peter, directed us to a quick task, and then once we'd all done it, there was a chance to look around at other's work to see how we'd all responded differently...or quite similarly, in some cases! Thinking in terms of 'innovation' in sketch, it was great to see how we approached the different aspects of drawing, and what people's instinctive responses were. Also, the fact that each task had a brief time frame (eg- between 2 and 5 minutes), I found that it prevented my thoughts from getting in the way too much, and made me simply just react and DO. And sometimes, this is the best route to innovation- simply getting on and doing!

First up, we were handed a sheet of circles. I'd already started doodling flowers and faces onto it, so when we were told that the task was to turn the circles into circular things, at least that worked out ok! From left to right from the bottom row, I drew: a dreamcatcher, a drawing pin, a pizza (thanks for the idea Peter!), a bike wheel, a smiley face, a tennis ball, the sun, an apple, flowers! and a mug of tea. Then the minute was up. I found this interesting, as shape seems to literally 'shape' our understanding of many objects- for example, many people drew apples, wheels, the sun...it's as if we are all connected in our immediate collective association of these things due to their round shape.

Next, we were asked to draw a plan of our family home where we grew up. This idea of drawing from memory leads to 'innovation', as you have to try and create a visual record which is inextricably coloured by your own unique memory of that place- it is framed by emotion and experience. It's an 'innovation' based on personal feeling, rather than an exact record of the place. 

I didn't get time to finish the whole of the house because I got a bit carried away thinking about the garden, and trying to get the layout of our bedrooms upstairs right. When I was drawing the washing line, I found myself happily reminiscing about the way my brother and I used to drape sheets and blankets over it and turn it into our 'den'. I consider this sketch to be a personal reminder of resurfacing childhood memories. It made me realise- what is important about the house, is the memories each room holds. In this way, sketching seems to have the ability to help us recall and give meaning and value to memories. It can be a tool for exploring thoughts. 

Then we had a minute to draw the person next to us. Peter noted that this is often an 'awkward and embarrassing' exercise, as you don't generally get things quite right, and are afraid of offending your subject! Here is my drawing of Katie, who was sitting to my right. I found it was actually quite good to be under pressure to simply draw a person in this way. It reminds me of when I used to sketch people covertly on the bus...although sometimes they'd realise and get a bit creeped out! It's a good way to forget about the 'technicalities' of drawing, and rather draw to simply try and capture the essence or spirit of a person/thing. So although this isn't an amazing portrait, I hope I captured some of Katie's stillness and concentration- as she was also busy trying to draw the person next to her!

Next up, I sketched my journey to college. This immediately turned into a diagrammatic form, and I found I was pretty much just drawing my thinking process of each step of the way 'Oooh, it's time to go, out the door, down the corridor, press for the lift, out the main door, walk down the road to the tube station, onto the tube, off at pimlico, up those long escalators, walk the rest to college'. 

I enjoyed this sketch, because it was all about process, moving from one thing to another, as a way of explaining the whole. 

 After this, we had to draw a series of sounds that Pete played to us. I loved how instinctive this was. I'd brought along coloured pencils, and found myself being drawn to different colours as a way to 'record' each sound. 

-traffic - I used brown, on reflection, perhaps to convey a sense of pollution/fumes? The lines squiggled like the car engines revving.

 purple- a cat meowing. the noise seemed to come in cycles, which led me to drawing swirls

brown- a dog barking. It sounded violent and punchy, so I translated the bark as jagged lines.

red-a car skidding. There was a sense of loss of control with the screeching and skidding sounds, so red for danger seemed appropriate, and I let the pencil marks curve around to follow the sound of the wheels trying to get grip.

 black- footsteps. I made a dot for each step. The smaller dots represent half steps, and the spacing of the dots shows the speed between them.

grey- a whispy line to represent a haunting wind sound

blue- this was the sound of glass smashing. I made a mark with each tinkling noise, trying to evoke the sharpness and shattering.  

finally-

plum- a spooky musical tuned sound- each time the note went up/down, I moved the pencil accordingly

bronze- a bell chiming. I made a mark with each chime, which became squiggly at the end when it reverberated. 

So mostly, 'sketching' sounds was an exercise in mark-making. Our tutor then said it would be interesting to hand these marks to a musician and ask them to 'play' them back. I think this is a great start point for 'innovation' - using sketches to interpret a physical experience, which can then be explored in a huge variety of ways across many areas of practise...these marks could also make a good start point for a dance piece, or perhaps on an emotional level, as a way to connect with feelings.

Finally, we were tasked with sketching the college itself. This was another memory challenge! And you had to try and be aware of space and scale in order to fit everything on the page. Although my sketch just gives quite a basic overview from above, I think I managed to indicate most of the main buildings/features of the college!

 What a fun and varied week! From portraits to diagrams, and from plans to squiggles. I enjoyed playing around and experimenting with sketching with these different intentions. There is just one more drawing I need to upload from this session- but it's on the way!