The Reflective Visual Journal - "Drawing by Hand" and "Developing Visual Language"

As visual artists, much emphasis is placed upon the act of 'drawing by hand' as a criteria for successfully being able to explore and convey messages. This is due to the physical connections between your senses, in this case your vision and your motor functions, enabling you to create in an entirely different way to using digital or photographic means - as we are all often prone to. Through the combination of physical mark-making and thought process, we are able to create a synergised action which fully allows our creative 'right-brain' to function - the act of drawing to describe without illustrating text previously conceived. This in combination with the RVJ [Reflective Visual Journal] allows us to develop ideas in a visual environment which is free from critical judgement from within or without, as this is drawing for raw ideas rather than for display in any sense. Within this safe environment we can problem-solve and play visually with any particular element, as well as layout and placement issues.

For example, this image is from one of James Jean's sketchbooks and represents the idea that the drawing is one which deals with the passage of time in a visually playful manner - the subject's head has two placements in the drawing. The drawing itself is rendered to a much higher degree than most personal sketchbooks but this is consistent with the rest of Jean's work, suggesting that it would originally have been a 'final' sketch.

 'Drawing' itself is a particularly ambiguous term as the root word 'draw' can mean many utensils or many techniques; for example, you can draw with pencils, pens, brushes and inks, paint - even arguably through media such as photographic collage or otherwise.
It is through this concept that people develop their own working techniques and methodologies - each artist will have their own distinct style and manner of drawing or recording information. The use of drawing as a visual language is much more effective in terms of comprehending or demonstrating ideas than simply describing the exact same thing in a textual manner - it is easier to 'think around' an idea when described visually as possible alternatives are easily envisioned and implemented - creating a faster, more creative workflow. Examples of this would be 'Mind-Mapping' or even 'Venn Diagrams' - visually coherent connectives leading from an initial word or idea which present a theoretically endless range of possibilities in regards to an outcome, or the next stepping-stone in terms of progressing your personal research. An example of a Venn Diagram is below, though these are more useful for exhibiting the progression in terms of a thematic approach.

 

Drawing by hand is vitally important both in terms of creating new ideas through the synergic link between drawing and thought process, and also in terms of identifying your personal visual language. utilising such precious techniques can and will develop your entire artistic and creative output and also make your approach to creating said works more intuitive and personal.