spontaneity and design

I tend to be deliberate about my writing, but spontaneous when it comes to visual art. Everyone’s got their own style. Megg favors stream-of-consciousness writing, to the point where he won’t correct an error in the prior paragraph if he notices it while writing the next paragraph. For me, editing is a vital part of the writing process. I often write an entry and then hold it until the next day. A good night’s sleep gives me a bit of distance, and I can edit for conciseness and clarity and add further details. Other times, my writing isn’t flowing, and I set aside my entry and return the next day when my thoughts have had more chance to simmer.

But my art is totally off-the-cuff. I just pick up my sketchbook and draw. Habits of a longtime pen sketcher: no undersketch, no erasing, just going for it. I value my sketchbook as a spontaneous, chaotic space. If I can’t pick up my sketchbook and doodle a dragon whenever I want then what’s even the point?

Lately I’ve been inspired by Liz Steel and Danny Gregory, art journalers who are strongly into the design aspect of sketchbooking. By “design” I mean arranging elements on the page to look good. Instead of viewing each individual drawing as a work, you view the whole page as a work. You consider composition, balance, color unity, visual interest. This is an exciting new way of thinking for me. I’m used to thinking of each drawing individually—an artifact of growing up art-wise in a digital world where everyone else’s drawings were individual, and mine only shared space due to my idiosyncratic habit of drawing on physical paper.

So yeah, design. Very cool. But how to integrate it with a spontaneous sketchbook style? I found a pdf of sketchbook layouts online, and it was like “put your main subject on the left, and three thematically related subjects (one framed, two free-floating) on the right”—that’s real nice but I do not start a sketchbook page with four interrelated subjects in mind. I just draw one thing. Later, I draw another.

My two main takeaways so far are (1) to be mindful of the framing of each individual element (borders, color blocks) and (2) when adding elements, be mindful of existing ones (white space, color unity, sizing/visual variety, “a vertical element would look nice here”). Color blocks and color unity are insanely powerful. Your page instantly looks better. It’s like sorcery. But I can continue being totally ad hoc. I believe in keeping the barrier to Doing Art as low as possible. And I enjoy the feeling of a chaotic space, comfy like a ratty couch.