Construct, Deconstruct, Reconstruct

Original Drawing

This is a fun technique. I created a blind contour drawing of myself (above) while looking in the mirror using pencil on bristol board. I then traced the drawing with Sharpie and embellished some of the lines. It's a rather interesting image, but I wanted to have a bit more fun. So I scanned it into the computer and printed out a copy. Then I cut it up into random, straight-edged pieces. I then assembled the pieces into a new configuration in my journal trying to line up random lines. Needless to say, I was not trying to put my portrait back together. I then used a black pen to connect lines from different pieces in order to create a new drawing(below). I'll add more media later - probably watercolor pencil, collage, and such.

Reconstructed Drawing

Encountering the Blank Page: Part 4

Another way to encounter a blank page with low anxiety is through page alteration. This is just simply the manipulation of the page in various ways. Below are just a few ways to physically alter a page before journaling on it.

Fold. The simplest page alteration is folding a page. A simple fold creates instant interactivity because everyone will want to see what is behind the fold. Folds are good for “hiding” things, making areas of surprise, and bringing another level to the journal

Tear and Cut. Tearing and cutting the edges of pages creates interesting interactions between pages. A series of torn or cut pages can be visually and psychologically interesting.

Singeing. Burning the edges of pages with a candle or lighter is another way to alter a page. Always be careful when using flames. You do not want to set your journal or your workspace on fire.

Doors, Windows, and Holes. Just as with a fold, a door adds instant interactivity because everyone will open it and look. A door can simply be a folded page or a blank card glued to a page. A door can be cut into a page so that it reveals something of another page. Or a door can be quickly made from a single piece of paper using a hobby or utility knife. Windows and holes in pages give a glimpse into other pages and create relationships between pages. Using a hobby or utility knife and cutting mat, you can quickly cut holes and windows in pages without cutting into other pages.

Pop-ups. Pop-ups create areas of surprise and fun. Simple pop-ups can be created with folded paper. There are many wonderful resources that can help in learning how to create pop-ups. One of the best is The Elements of Pop-Up by David A. Carter and James Diaz.

With the above journal spread a fold and a cut window were made in the same page.

Fold - Notice the hard line where the white touches the blue. This page has been folded in half. It even divides the letter "N" in the word "FIND".

Cut - This mask-like image is actually on the back of the folded page. A window has been cut to show it. Strips from a map frame the window.

Encountering the Blank Page: Part 3

Another way to begin pages without much thought is simply by drawing. As soon as some people hear the word "draw", they tighten up and say, "I can't draw a straight line." But the truth is that everyone has the ability to draw, and once people can accept that and accept the fact that it doesn't need to be a photo-real type of drawing, drawing can be fun and easy. Besides, many people can draw better than they think, and as with any skill, the more you practice, the better you become. As with all art, it is best to suspend judgement and enjoy the process. Use pencil, pen, marker, or crayon.

Below are several ways to begin drawing in the visual journal and to take the fear away from the blank page.

Random Lines

Without thinking about it too much, divide the page into several large areas by drawing several lines so they cross the entire page in any direction. Fill a page with a variety of one shape or multiple shapes. Simply “take your pencil for a walk” around a page by allowing your hand to slowly meander around the page allowing your lines to overlap. Set up a little game with yourself by setting limits to the types and amounts of lines and shapes you use. Do not worry about using a ruler or compass. Simply draw freehand, and turn off the inner critic that calls for you to do it right and perfect. Find the joy of making simple marks.

Tracings and Stencil

Tracing is a very simple way to add drawing to a page. Trace your hand. Trace your foot. Trace flat, interesting objects like scissors, tape rolls, and wooden spoons. Trace letter and shape stencils. Trace tools such as protractors, triangles, and French curves to draw particular shapes.

Doodles

How often have you found yourself doodling while talking on the phone, sitting in a meeting, or waiting for someone? Doodling is a great to use in the journal. Its unconscious nature is a unique way to begin a page, and you can keep a record of your unconscious thoughts. The images and words that emerge while doodling can spark more complex ideas and pages.

Blind Contours

Blind contour drawings are done by looking very closely at an object and without looking at the drawing. Your eyes stay trained on the object looking very carefully at the edges – edges of the object itself and edges of features and elements within the object. Place your journal on a table, turn your chair away from the table so that you can put your drawing hand in a comfortable drawing position slightly behind you, and hold an object in your other hand. Look carefully at the object for a few moments focusing on the edges – the contours. Pick a spot where it makes sense to begin, and place your pencil or pen on the paper. Begin to trace the edges of the object with your eyes going very slowly, and allow your pencil to follow along recording the movement of your eyes along the object. Go very slowly allowing your eyes to follow the contours of the object and allowing your hand to move along the paper. The key is not looking at the drawing. You are training your eyes to observe very closely and your hand to record those observations. Keep going until you have “traced” all the contours of the object and within the object. If you find that your pen or pencil goes off the page, simply place it back on without looking at the page. Once you are finished, look at the drawing. If you have gone slowly and not looked at the drawing, your drawing should not look like the object you were drawing. Since you did not look at the drawing, you had no way to judge size and proportion in your drawing, and that is the way these drawings are suppose to look. Some people are horrified at the results because it doesn’t look like the object. Yet these can be wonderful and beautiful drawings when you accept the process. Silence the inner critic that says that these drawings are bad or ugly or “messed-up.” The purpose of this type of drawing is to look very closely at the object and to train yourself to really see the object, and in turn improve your observational drawing skill. Try several of these on one page perhaps turning the book every time you begin with a new object. The overlapping lines make for a great basis for a page.

Continuous Contours

Continuous contours are done by sitting normally at a table so that you can see your journal page and the object you wish to draw. Setting the object in front of you is probably the easiest way to begin. Look carefully at the object for a few minutes to begin noticing the contours or edges of the object and within the object. Pick a spot to logically begin, and place your pen or pencil on the page. Allow your eyes to follow the contours of the object slowly, and allow your pencil or pen to follow along on the paper. However, this time you are able to look at the paper, but not pick up the pen or pencil. You will make judgments about length, size, and proportion, and if you do pick up your pen or pencil, put it back down where you left off. Look more at the object focusing on the contours. As the drawing progresses, you may find the need to back track along lines already drawn or to create a “bridge” to get to a feature within the object. These are both necessary since you are not allowed to pick up your pen or pencil. Continue until you have “traced” all the contours of object and within the object. Your drawing should look more like the object then the blind contour drawing, but it will not be perfect. Since you kept your pen or pencil to the paper and could not erase, the drawing should be a little “off.” Again, accepting the process and not the end results allows you to see the beauty of these drawings. As with the blind contour, the continuous line contours help you train your eyes to really observe an object and hand to record those observations.

Modified Contours

Modified contour drawings are drawings where you are allowed to look at the paper, to pick up your pen or pencil, and to fix your mistakes. But as with the continuous contour drawings, the key is to carefully look at the contours of the object and within the object and to record those observations. But try not to get caught up in making it perfect. Draw what you see. If you are interested in more drawing exercises there are many resources available. We highly recommend to books – Betty Edward’s Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Robert Kaupelis’ Experimental Drawing.

I AM...

It has become my tradition to make the first page of a new journal an "I am..." page. It's a nice introduction page, and it's interesting to see how I've approached the page in different journals. This page was from a journal that I retired back in October.

A journal is never really complete. But there just comes a time when I am transitioning from the old to the new, and I just no longer work in the older journal. It gets placed on the shelf with all the other retired journals. So, far I'm up to eight retired journals, and I'm slowly wrapping up number nine.

Fun Word Activity

One of my favorite activities is to pick a random dictionary page and browse the words and select a word that I am simply drawn to. I repeat this, and list each word to create a list of juxtaposed words. It is almost like found or Surrealist poetry. I find the strange juxtaposition of words rather fascinating. So, the pages are selected randomly, but I conscientiously pick the words based more on immediate reaction.

The list of words on the left page of this two page spread, was done this way. This spread was created by layering pencil and pen drawing, writing, watercolor pencil, and watercolor. The photograph is a packaging tape transfer of actress Hedy Lamarr. More about that technique in a future post.

Words

For us the thing that separates the visual journal from a sketchbook or art journal is the inclusion of written language as an integral and visual element. The visual journal is the melding of the visual and verbal languages. Words help us to reflect on life and art. They help us process the good, the bad, and mundane of life. Words provide the impetus for thought and reflection. Words help us express ourselves, our intentions, and our feelings. Words provide meaning. Words are powerful.


Beginning visual journalists often have a hard time mixing the written and visual. Below are some easy ways to get words, thoughts, text, writing, reflections, and such into the art and, thus, creating rich pages.


1. Random Words - Pick random words from a dictionary, book, newspaper, magazine, or thesaurus. Write, draw, or stencil the word large on a page.


2. Stream of Consciousness - Write uninterrupted for 7 minutes or 15 minutes or a half hour. Write directly in the journal or on a separate piece of paper. Maybe highlight key words and phrases.


3. Quotes - Find great quotes, and use them to spark a page.


4. Stencils - Letter stencils are a quick and easy way to draw words.


5. Cut Words - Look for big words and phrases in newspaper and magazine headlines. Cut them out an collage them into the journal. Or cut individual letters and collage them in "ransom letter" style.


6. Lists - Make lists - shopping lists, to-do lists, favorites lists, places-to-go lists, if-I-had-a-million-dollars lists, etc.


7. Prompts - Pick themes to write about such as "I believe..." "I don't believe..." "I want..." "I need..." "Today I feel..."


8. Found Poetry - Pick random words from a source and form them into a poem.


9. Printed Text - Print writings, instructions, or information from the computer, or photocopy book and magazine pages, and glue into a page.


10. Scrabble Letters and Magnetic Poetry - Glue the actually letters or words into the journal, or make a photocopy of the best words or letters, and collage them in.


11. Take Notes - Jot down notes from meetings, readings, and what not. Did you learn about a new technique or material? Jot down the details so you don't forget.

12. Rubber or Hand-carved Stamps - Use stamps to stamp in letters, words, and numbers.

13. Questions - Ask yourself a bunch of big, thought-provoking questions, and write them in your journal. Better yet, draw them in or create a Question Page. It's OK not to have answers.

14. Stories - Create stories. Use drawings, photos, or pure color to illustrate the stories. What's your story?

Layers

Rich and beautiful pages can be built up with layers of simple techniques. This page began with writing I had done on index cards and glued in. Then I used watercolor and watercolor pencil. I often get to a point where I'm not certain what to do with a page, and I'll leave it until months later when I have that one piece of fodder that just seems to fit or something I have done on one page leads to a solution. This page developed slowly over months. Freeing myself to work in this nonlinear fashion has allowed me to have pages that feel more finished.

But it is still all about the process. I rarely have an idea in mind of what I want the finished page to look like. I allow each page to develop it's own way often employing similar techniques from page to page. More and more, I am trying to be more spontaneous, hence the bold words on this page: "Dive In. Throw Down." The idea of "throwing down" in the journal is to really get caught up in the process.

Encountering The Blank Page: Part 2

Watercolor pencils have to be one of our favorite media. They have the convenience of colored pencil, but the coverage of watercolor paint. Below are some basic techniques for using the watercolor pencil. If you think of others, leave a comment, and I'll add it to the post.

Watercolor Pencil
1. Activate with water. Simply color down the watercolor pencil and paint water over it. The key is to lay down a lot of pigment, and then paint the water. This allows the color to be rich and to spread a lot.








2. Activate with watercolor paint. Color the watercolor pencil down, and instead of clean water, use watercolor paint. Use a different color to create interesting color blends.









3. Activate with watercolor marker. Color the watercolor pencil down, and use a regular marker, such as a yellow Crayola, to color over the watercolor pencil. The marker picks up a lot of pigment, and this technique will eventually ruin the marker. But they're inexpensive.







4. Dip in water. Dip the watercolor pencil into water and draw or color with it. You may need to repeatedly dip the pencil in water, but it creates a rich color with a slight texture.









5. Draw into wet paper. Paint either clear water or some watercolor paint onto a page, and then use a dry pencil to draw or color into the wet paper.









6. Layering. Use any of the above techniques, and allow it to dry. Then use another color with the same or different technique on top. You can build several layers of watercolor pencil for a page with richness and depth.








7. All-at-once. You might not have the time or patience for layering. So, color several colors at one time, and blend with water.









From Webgrl:
8. Sprinkle watercolor pencil shavings onto wet paper, and smear with a finger.

9. Color with the dry pencil, spritz with a water bottle, and leave it to do its thing.

Encountering The Blank Page: Part 1

Opening a new journal and staring at the pristine, perfect, blank pages can scare the hell out of even the most seasoned visual journalist. The inner critic rears his or her ugly head and tells us that we're going to mess it up. The problem is that we start focusing on what we want that page to look like when we are finished. We focus on the end product not the process. It is good at times to not think much at all - at least at first. So, by just getting some color down, we can take the blankness away and not worry about the end result. Our habit of working is to work in a nonlinear fashion. We end up starting a lot of pages in some way and then going back and adding more and more things later. There's a lot randomness to this, but it keeps us from thinking about what it will end up like..

One way to begin is with one of the simplest media - watercolor. Below is a list of quick and easy ways to begin pages with out much thought. Experiment and have fun.

Watercolor
1. Paint a page a single color.











2. Paint a page with more than one color.











3. Paint random shapes on a page.











4. Apply the paint with a sponge.











5. Use a toothbrush to flick and stipple the paint on a page.











6. Paint a page with a color or two and sprinkle the wet paint with salt. Let the paint dry and brush the salt off to reveal a texture.









7. Paint objects like bubble wrap, plastic mesh, bottle caps, and cup bottoms and stamp the objects on a page.










8. Paint a page with watercolor and press a piece of wrinkled plastic wrap or a flat piece of bubble wrap into the wet paint, allow the paint to dry, and then remove the plastic or bubble wrap.








9. Paint the watercolor through a stencil - if there's a lot of water, it will bleed giving some unpredictable but interesting results. Use plastic or metal mesh as a stencil.








10. Splatter a page with paint.

The following techniques are from Webgrl:
11. Cut notches and 'waves' into a piece of cardboard box and use it to paint on random shapes.

12. Peel off the cardboard top later and use the wavy bit to stamp on your page (thicker paint gives interesting effects here)

13. Use resist techniques like a crayon or candle (great use for reusing birthday candles). Draw with the wax and then paint over it for a fun effect

14. You can lay random stuff into the paint and pick it up after its dry (just like your plastic wrap etc)

15. Finger paint!

16. Dragging a feather through paint is super cool.

17. Dip some string in paint and drag it over your page. A bit messy but so much fun. If you lay the paint covered string in random shapes and leave a bit hanging out at the top and bottom of your page you can shut the book and weight it down with someone's hand or another book and pull the opposite ends of string till you feel it get taught - when you open your book you get a VERY cool effect. I love doing this with ink.


These techniques and combinations of these techniques can keep you busy for quite some time. In a short time, you could have quite a few pages started. And I'm sure there are other techniques. If you can think of other ways to use and apply watercolor paint, please leave a comment and I'll add it to the list.

Getting Started

"How do you start?" is probably the number one question we are asked all the time. But getting started is simple if you have a few basic supplies. Below is a list of the basic materials that we prefer. Some are premium quality and brand matters to us, and others are not so premium and brand doesn't matter as much. Use the materials and brands with which you are comfortable.

We use:
11x14 inch Cachet Hardbound Sketchbooks
Uniball Vision Pens - black, blue, red - waterproof or water-resistant
Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils
Prang Watercolors
UHU Glue Stick - 1.41 oz.
Crayola Marker - yellow
Watersoluble Graphite Pencils
Packaging Tape
Paint brushes
Scissors


There are other materials that we use, but the above are the basics. Putting them into a pencil pouch or small brush bag is a great way to make it a portable kit, and you can do a lot with these few simple supplies.
I'll cover starting pages with these materials in a later post.