"One Thing Leads To Another" : a workshop on observational drawing
I made the zine in the video during an afternoon at MAKE Southwest, moving between their shop and the main gallery, where I drew objects I could find in there and for each object I wrote down these observations:
- Observations 1: I see...
A bullet list of properties I could notice (colour, shape, texture, size, etc.)
- Observation 2: I wonder
A bullet list of questions I had about that object (how is it made? where does the material come from? what fuction does it have? why the maker decided to do this like that?)
- Observation 3: It reminds me of...
everything that I could associated this object with
This method is based on The Laws' Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, which I myself used a lot in the past as a reference for my journey into sketching journaling.
MAKE Southwest kindly invited me to run this workshop for the Saturday Club. With the help of Ian Wilkins, MAKE Southwest Educational Manager, we selected some handmade objects from the shop for the children to draw.
After a brief explanation of the tasks and folding the paper into a concertina, each attendee was invited to voice some observation on the object they chose following the three steps mentioned above. After this first round, they were asked to draw their object for around 20 minutes and to note down, somewhere near their drawing, the observation they made "I see, I wonder, It remind me of".
In this first iteration, I gave no instructions on 'how to draw', as I wanted this one to be more instinctive as possible: they could choose from a large variety of drawing tools, and use the technique they prefer.
As we switched to other objects to fill the zines, I also explained brief explanations of graphical projections and drawing tips, though they were more indicative as the focus was on demystifying drawing first.
And the results were amazing:
This workshop is a great introduction to observational drawings, and it can be readapted to be done with children and adults of all ages. It helps demystifying the idea that drawing is only for 'talented people', while it allows to better understand what I do in my research.
If you run craft activities that you would like to be featured in my project, but you are unsure on how to explain to your participants what I do, 'One Things Leads to Another' is a workshop I can run to introduce them to sketching and journaling. Don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to have more information about it.
