Exercise 5.0 Taking Stock 

I collected together all of my sketchbooks so far and went through them page by page. I collected my notes together and documented the key areas here. 

Informative

I reflected on drawing outside in public spaces for assignment 3. I found the standing and positioning myself super challenging. I made efforts to move around, a lot, collecting as much information as I could at various locations. 

I didn't like how stale the drawings were as this point, mainly because I felt a stiffness whilst drawing on the page. 

I like all of the seeds of ideas I collected though and they did act as a starting point for a more imaginative way forward. 

Narrative 

I didn't like my first sketches taken on location. The pages disappointed me. Too tight and too lifeless. 

I like using my imagination. 

I love creating characters, especially during assignment 2. 

I love the use of colour. 

I love using words to turn a drawing into something else. I like emotive words. 

I like the more fluid, expressive way of drawing, I am more engaged this way. 

People 

I have become more confident with my drawings of people on the street. 

I like working with a black line. 

I like capturing movement. 

I like working with a watercolour tube on location. It is fluid. Quick to use. Easy to carry. 

I like coloured pencils. The are quick. Versatile. They fill spaces in a hurry. The bring a person to life on the way. 

Descriptive 

I like working with texture. It adds depth to a background. My tutor fed back to me that I needed to work on my tone, boosting colour. Here I did that and I was encouraged by the results. 

I love working with words. 

I love the way words encourage my imagination. 

I like where the words lead me too. 

I like writing a letter using the words. 

I like using words to add to sketches. 

Fast 

I like blind contour drawings. 

I like working so fast I don't have time to feel anxious. 

I like the freedom. 

I like the positive results they have yielded. 

I like combining blind contour sketches of figures with informative reportage sketches. 

I like the imaginative result. 

Inside 

I like experimenting with different applications of the pencil and pens. 

I like the strokes of the pencil. 

I like using pencils of various hardness. 

I like the abstract nature of the drawings. 

I like the atmospheric mood of the drawings. 

I like the block of bold colour that contrasts against the black ink. 

I like the pencil and ink together. 

Figure 

Sequential 

I love creating simple sequences. 

I love the narrative this approach created. 

I love the simplicity. 

I love the meaning of the sequences. 

I love working with colour. 

Imaginative 

Meaning 

I love reworking a sketch taken on location to produce a more expressive, fictional idea. 

I love expressing emotion as elements of weather, the sun and the rain. 

I like using mixed media and experimenting to find the right way to communicate an emotion. 

Ideas 

The information collected above then lead to a more expressive set of thumbnails. 

Here my lines are much looser, more natural. 

I like working with watercolour pencils. 

I like working creatively. 

I like creating a fictional scene. 

Have your opinions and thoughts changed about how you keep a sketchbook? 

Yes. I can see now how different each of the chapters has been. How each exercise and assignment has forced me to embrace a new challenge. A new way of working. New approaches that I hadn't hear of before. Pareidolia and blind contour drawings have been my favourite sketchbook pages and before this course, I had never heard of these approaches and loved the practice. 

Before in my personal work, each page is of the same style of working. The same steps and the same media. In my sketchbooks here, each page is different. Far more creative as my imagination has been expanded. More experimental with each approach. 

Which comments do you now most empathise with and why? 

"As I explored this exercised, I did start to characterise them in the sketches. This happened by accident, but it felt too playful not to do." Assignment 2. 

I've most enjoyed the happy accidents that have occurred in my sketchbooks. 

"The overall assignment felt a little too new and definitely stretched my mind. However the step by step guide really did help break the assignment down, building it bit by bit." Assignment 2. 

Taking things step by step. Being resourceful with sketchbook pages. Building a sketchbook in collage has go me through the assignments. 

"Perhaps the characters could also be taken out of the bathroom and placed somewhere entirely different, a coffee shop or clothes shop, on the move. Perhaps even a story board could be created." Assignment 2. 

Working with characters has been an enjoyable process. Now it's time to be a little more adventurous with them. 

"The Scamper references have allowed me to venture down an entirely new path, with a new understanding of the tools necessary to get there. Scamper will now be that valuable tool. Assignment 3."

A fantastic learning resource and one that I should implement again to achieve results. 

"I loved the organic growth of the pages, the visual language of emotion, the expressive way the drawings loosely flowed with the purple watercolour, the pages weren't bound with lines." Assignment 4. 

I like fluidity, I like bringing emotion into sketches. I like using words. 

What have been the most surprising changes to your thoughts about sketchbooks? 

That I could take an idea and turn it into something entirely different as demonstrated in assignment 3 and assignment. Initial and mostly awkward sketches on location have turned into fictional narratives. I realise how much I enjoy working with my imagination. Perhaps I can see now that I haven't really enjoyed the sketching on location, logging information as felt a little stale. However what I have loved is where those first drawings have taken me. 

They have acted as seeds of thoughts, ideas that I didn't have at the point of drawing on location, but with the aid of scamper and statis, they then become a sequence, short stories take form. 

Which of the exercises would you like to do more of or return to? 

Exercise 2.6 'Pareidolia', Exercise 2.3 'Blind Contour Drawings', Exercise 4.4 'Using Basic Narrative Structure', Assignment 3 'Building Stories'. 

Tutor Words/Phrases: 

 "Respond to physical sensations :everyday moments in nature ; changes in light, weather or seasons. You might draw everyday sounds you hear and reflect upon how you describe these through marks."

"Consider how you might bring more of this humor into future projects. How might you exaggerate aspects such as razor teeth or body shape to enhance their personalities further? 

"A direct sense of mood and feeling."

"Focusing on simple shapes has enabled you to get lots of information down which shows clear posture. How might you incorporate some of the background? Perhaps this is left in black and white to allow the figures to stand out."

"Continue to use adjectives for every exercise as it helps spark new avenues for ideas

Before you begin here, evaluate whether you will work towards a poster, editorial or textbook illustration. This will help structure your ideas and determine what format you select ( portrait, landscape , size and shape) and it will also guide the material you use. If you cement this from the beginning with a brief, deciding how many images you will work towards, who the audience is and how they will be used or seen, it will help direct you. Add in research."

"Push final outcomes by creating variations of the same design."

"What shows is that you are working instinctively, bringing more textures and experiments in using methods from previous exercises."