impact of sketchbooks on artistic development

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Doug Jennings, REACH, D-28

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The ImpacT of SkeTchbookS and SelecTed InfluenceS

on arTISTIc developmenT

by Doug Jennings

TriniTy inTl. Univ. Undergrad reaCH progam, deerfield, illinois 1/29/93

From the age of 11 until the present (a twenty-year span) I have lled sketchbooks

with drawings in pencil, pen & ink, colored pencil and various media. This forms a sub-

stantial record of my artistic development.

Through the years of maintaining my own sketchbooks, I have learned:

1) Maintaining sketchbooks is a valuable developmental tool for the artist as well

as an important record.

2) Parental encouragement (especially paternal) has an enormous impact on the

young artist.

3) Regular exercise of keeping a sketchbook can provide a valuable outlet or an

arena to allow inner and social conicts to be played out harmlessly and creatively.

4) Pre-to-early adolescent male artists might sometimes pass through typical stages

in their interests and subject matter. This can include a period of fascination with violence

or the grotesque.

5) Art from sketch books can be useful in providing solutions to “real-world” art

assignments.

1 leaveS ImprInTed wITh lIfe’S proceSS

Maintaining sketchbooks is a valuable developmental tool for the artist as well

as an important record. I have yet to meet a serious or accomplished artist who does not

have at least a small collection of drawing pads containing their sketches. These “image




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FIGURE 1.

Progressive development of gure drawing techniques

displayed in respective sketchbooks.

1972 1973

19871976




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such times, I would take up the rediscovered imagery and methods again with new vision

—like engaging an old friend in conversation after a prolonged absence.

My medium of choice was originally a 2B lead pencil. This was convenient for

erasing mistakes. As I experimented with softer leads, I discovered the useful shading

technique of controlled smudging which allowed for smooth light-to- dark tones. Harder

leads provided cleaner lines that gave my drawing a more nished look. Eschewing the

use of lines and smudges all together, I briey, in the early days, tried the pointillistic

technique of shading with multitudinous dots created from the tip of a Flair brand marker.

The effect was exciting to me as I was entering a phase marked by interest in gory subject

matter. With the “dot” method of rendering, I could draw my monsters and melting gures

with almost clinical precision. A form of this technique would serve me later as I drew

pen-and-ink illustrations for printed publication (See FIGURE 2, page 5).

In recent years, my favorite medium for drawing in my sketchbooks is black ball-

point pen. Felt-tip markers tend to bleed through the paper over time and offer less of a

range of line than that of a ball-point. The ball-point pen does not smudge like a pencil

but it renders a surprising subtlety of shade. It reproduces well on a photo-copy machine

and such pens are almost as cheap as their graphite and wood forebears.

My use of ball-point pen is signicant. I no longer worry about erasing my mistakes.

During the last half of my sketchbook-keeping career, I would most often ll the page

with sketches. They seem to spin around each other and sometimes overlap, occupying

the same space. Over the last few years, I have experimented with sketching with different

colored pens as each color represents a particular image or plane of thought. A sketch in

one particular color will be juxtaposed on top of another. The different colors allow me to

more easily keep the images separate when I view them later. Originally, I developed this




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FIGURE 2.

Samples of various kinds of medium used in my sketch books over the years:

2B pencil (a), Softer leads (b), Flair pen used in pointillistic technique (c), and ball-point pen (d).

(a) 1982

(b) 1985

(c) 1973

(d) 1990




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technique to save paper. Yet I became fascinated with it as a type of layering of realities.

I feel this is analogous to objects in separate dimensions that are able to pass through one

another without losing the integrity of their individual boundaries. More specically, I liken

it to the physical and spiritual realms as they interweave, overlap and interact.

Many of my later sketch books lean toward a “stream-of-consciousness” look —un-

like my initial volumes which typically devoted one small drawing to a single expansive

page. The difference could possibly reect a more adult ability to entertain differing per-

spectives at once (See FIGURE 3, page 7).

Layering colored sketches and not being concerned about mistakes serves my

desire to record not just the nal out-put of an idea, but the process by which I

developed the idea. In the past, the initial stages of my drawings were erased or covered

over. Using different colors in developing a sketch, can leave all levels of the draw -

ing’s composition intact. I begin sketching loosely with a light blue pen. As my idea

for the drawing becomes more focused, I then use a red pen to develop lines that are

more nal. Sometimes I complete the sequence with a black pen to delineate the nal

or near-nal state of the drawing. If I plan to reproduce the layered drawing, I’ll make

a more rened tracing of it. Meanwhile the entire process of the work is recorded in my

sketch book.

This appreciation of the process involved in creating a drawing can apply to life.

Are we not all “drawings” wrought by God’s hand? And of who among the living can it

be said that God is nished in the process of creation? As I look back on my life as well

as my art, I marvel at the twists and turns of the lines rendered in the events of my life and

the changes in my outlook and personality. I am still in process of being “nished” under

the loving, interactive supervision of God. Furthermore, I have been given a role to play




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FIGURE 3.

Samples of overlapping lines in more recent sketches.




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in my own development through the choices I make during my time on earth.

Reection on the process and progress of one’s life contributes to one’s wisdom.

Scripture condemns the one who “does not ponder the path of life” (Proverbs 5:6, nasB).

Also the writer of Psalm 78 exhorts the people of God to reect upon God’s good acts to

them with conscious and deliberate regularity and to tell His exploits to succeeding genera-

tions.

The principles that apply to artists who benet from maintaining sketchbooks and

reecting on the progress and processes of their skill could easily apply to Christians who

keep a record of insights into God’s word and prayer requests offered and answered. A simple

notebook could be used for such regular exercise and could be a useful part of taking an active

role in one’s own spiritual development. I have kept such a journal off and on over the years.

When I peruse those pages from time to time, I am almost always encouraged by how God

has worked in my life, or I am admonished to turn back to the way of God more steadfastly

as before. I expect to renew my habit of keeping prayer/spiritual application journals as I

enter into less rigorous stages of life, such as when my infant daughters are older and less of

an all- consuming responsibility. In the meantime, another nugget of insight I believe I’ve

gained from my experience with keeping sketch books encourages me to take advantage of

the opportunity God has given me to teach and encourage my children.

2 parenTal encouragemenT

Parental encouragement (especially paternal) has an enormous impact on the young

artist specically (as well as a child’s moral development in general). Most children enjoy

the tactile and visual experience of creating with paint, clay, blocks or even sticks and leaves.

I was no different. Yet around the time I entered Junior High, a gesture made by my father




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persuaded me to determine to make drawing much more than a peripheral interest. It was

at this time that my father bought me a sketch pad and set of colorful markers. The act

surprised me and lled me with feelings of value and pride in the revelation that my dad

considered me skillful enough in art to bestow such a gift. My father was, in many ways,

a distant gure to me. In that context, the unspoken message of the art gift had profoundly

afrming and life-directing signicance.

Although perhaps the most signicant adult to initiate and to encourage my artistic

aspirations, my father was not my only source of the motivating spark. An older brother’s

gift of an artist’s anatomy book was pivotal, I believe, as well as the frequent words of

afrmation by a friend of the family who was an artist.

So, not only did my father help begin my useful habit of keeping a sketch book, but

he and other adults kept me going along the way to eventually complete several volumes

of drawings. These sketchbooks represent practice, growth and the learning of what would

eventually become a vocational skill. Now that I am a parent, to think upon how my father

and other caring adults helped nurture my art skills engenders a humbling awareness of

my impact in the lives of my children. I hope to nurture them so that they might develop

their God-given skills and interests to the best possible ends. Such nurturing would mean

acting as a facilitator, constructive critic and as an afrmer of accomplishment.

My father’s greatest role in my artistic development was as a facilitator. He pro-

vided the materials and, when he paid for a correspondence art course, the training to help

me grow as an artist. Whether or not my children become artists, I know that to nurture

their productive interests will require my acting in some way as an underwriter of their

interests and goals. This could mean helping to supply materials and training. Or it might

require enlisting the aid of others who would be able and willing to help them.




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Being a constructive critic requires sensitivity as well as honesty. I have beneted

from both harsh and tactful criticism. Yet I believe that I gained the most, in the long run,

from criticism given with respect for my worth as a person. Such helpful, frank-but-loving

assessments provided two lessons. The rst was insight into the artistic endeavor at hand and

the second, a lesson by example regarding how to treat other people. As a father, I realize

that it is important for me to discipline or admonish my children with love and respect rather

than with an attitude of punishment. Respectful discipline has a long-term purpose to help

the child grow and become more self-disciplined. By “the attitude of punishment”, I mean

discipline that is a type of lashing out with retribution or retaliation. I have reacted to my

child’s bad behavior with angry words and rough handling. As a little boy, I was sometimes

the object of similar explosive punishment. I recall not really learning anything from such

punishment. My hurt feelings dominated the entire situation.

On one such occasion that I can vividly picture in my mind’s eye, I cannot even

remember the behavior that caused the infraction. So, I can more easily imagine my daugh-

ter’s feelings when I might retaliate and express anger during times of discipline. Such

a perspective has been helpful to me as I seek to rmly but gently, with love, teach my

children right behavior. This will not only help them understand the concept of a loving

God, but will help them in their relationship with others.

I see the role of what I’d like to call the “afrmer of accomplishment” as being vital

to the sensibilities of most artists. While some personality types might have more or less

need for a pat on the back, I believe that the artistic temperament has a particular need for

his or her accomplishments to be recognized and praised. Praise and afrmation by older

artists went along way in keeping me interested in the pursuit of artistic excellence.

As a young husband, I have become more aware than any other time in my life of




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the need to be a facilitator, constructive critic and afrmer of accomplishment. My wife

needs me to make her work at home easier. I can do that by sharing household duties when

I am home. This would also include watching the kids while she runs errands or just takes

some “time off” with friends. I can also facilitate by doing my best to make sure she has

the resources she needs for day-to-day, household operations. Being a good listener to

discover needs also helps me, as a husband, fulll the facilitator’s role.

Calling attention to my wife’s blind spots, as a constructive critic, requires the

sensitivity and respect that I appreciate from others. It is easy to be blunt or sarcastic, yet

these attitudes can distract from the helpful message the loving constructive critic wants

to convey. Afrming my wife’s accomplishments involves taking notice and expressing

that notice of the little things she does to make our home pleasant and comfortable. Often

I’ll notice some the new curtains she made or the way the bathroom xtures sparkle but it

does little good unless I tell my wife that I notice and express a grateful attitude as well.

The impact of kindly parents and other care-givers and/or “signicant others” that

I have enjoyed as an aspiring artist can be passed on to my other spheres of inuence.

These would encompass Church and work and virtually any other situation involving hu-

man relations.

3 a valuable ouTleT

There have been a few times when I have been able to express hurt, jubilation,

puzzlement or other nameless feelings that defy words as I lled my sketch books. In the

sixth grade, I turned rejection by a girl I admired into the opportunity for a whimsical

likewise-dejected comic strip character (See FIGURE 4, page 12). Many of my doodles

and renderings over the years have served as a release for a range of emotions —sadness,




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confusion, conict and enlightenment. I feel they served as a “working out” of these emo-

tions and perhaps a means to embody them into drawings so as to allow me to confront

my feelings as I harmlessly give vent to them.

In the report “Psychodynamics of Self Portraiture”, I explain that drawing self-por-

traits over the years has helped me to confront issues in my life. I might not have addressed

these problems had the effects of inner-conicts on my countenance not been revealed

to me through the probing sketches I made of myself. In times of turmoil or depression,

uninhibited drawing sessions in my sketchbooks have provided a type of cathartic release.

Those drawings also have revealed to me visual metaphors of the forces raging inside me

at that time. Such an expose has helped me to identify and confront unhealthy attitudes

and to adjust my perspectives.

In the same way that a diary can serve as a sounding board to help express thoughts

and feelings as a way of sorting them out, so can sketchbooks. The outlet they provide does

not have to be useful in times of pain, but also in times of meditation and creativity. As a

Christian, I have used my sketchbooks to visualize Biblical truth and express devotion for

Jesus Christ. I have several pages devoted to sketches I made to help me x concrete im-

ages of Biblical principles (see pages 52 & 54, sample sketch copies in Appendix B). The

development of my understanding of the nature of Jesus is depicted in my sketch books.

Early on, my drawings of Christ are of the weak, pitiable, doe-eyed variety. Later, as my

understanding of the divine humanity of Jesus gains more depth, the pictures become less

cliche and more expressive of both Christ’s suffering and his humanity (See FIGURE 4B,

page 12).

Certain recurring themes in my sketchbooks reveal my grappling with specic issues

to which I have decided to devote the entire following chapter of this report.




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4 poSSIble markS of The paSSage beTween chIld and

young adulT.

My sketchbooks record an episode of fascination with morbid themes, violence

and bodily decomposition. This occurred most intensely during my eighth and ninth grade

years. Around the time I was in eighth grade, at approximately age 13, I rendered several

drawings of horror characters as well as gures with open sore- infested esh melting off

of their skeletons (see FIGURE 2(c), page 5). Such subjects fascinated me for a while

before I became serious about the study of anatomy for artistic accuracy.

As an adult I had been unsettled at that past record of the macabre and grotesque

until I began teaching a cartooning class ve years ago to junior high and high school

students. It seems that boys around that age almost universally go through periods of de-

siring to draw violent, gory pictures. I believe that there could be a number of inuences

that fascinate adolescent boys with themes of violence and morbidity. One cause could

be the glut of violence depicted in the media. Movies in which bodies are dismembered

and characters are blown to bits are shown in theatres and aired on television to a massive

youthful audience that clamors for more.

Violence is a hot commodity in the American Media. Yet this alone is not enough

to account for the commonality of interest among young male artists in morbid subject

matter. Growing up in the sixties and seventies, I was not subjected through the media to

nearly the amount of routine violence that my modern counterparts are, yet I drew some

hideous things. Part of my obsession with drawing horror gures, such as vampires, were-

wolves, mummies and the like, could have stemmed from the fact that those characters

frightened me as a child. In drawing them, I was able to exert control over my fears. The




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pen was in my hand and I could create the monsters that once terried me. As I conjured

them to appear upon the page, I held them in my thrall, or so I felt. I could then turn the

page and be done with them or make them trivial and familiar so that I transcended the

objects of my fright.

Another catalyst for my preoccupation with gory subject matter could have been the

unsettling metamorphosis of adolescence. The changes in my body in particular produced

a heightened awareness and interest in human gures that were similarly destabilized or

“disgured” in general. The world is often a scary, unstable place for the early adolescent.

Depicting violence in drawings could be a way for the adolescent male artist to react to

the perceived world around him.

Even so, these themes eventually gave way to traditional themes and subject matter.

The early adolescent drawings are, in their own way, attempts at problem solving. Such

practice at dealing with life-issues could lay the foundation for vocational problem solv-

ing. My sketchbooks have aided me considerably as a resource to bring into the solution

nding process in my profession as a graphic artist.

5 SkeTchbookS’ uSe In provIdIng SoluTIonS To “real-

world” arT problemS.

Opportunities for me to leisurely draw in my sketchbooks have diminished greatly

since I have started raising a family. However, I still use sketch books as one of many

means to generate ideas for art solutions to graphic problems I encounter as a member of

the graphic-arts department of a small publishing company.

I believe that I have been helped most dramatically by sketches I made for fun

rather than for professional research. Two examples would be drawings I made of Biblical




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gures from prints of paintings by a 19th Century artist. I was taken with the way the artist

depicted such characters as Sarah, Rebekah, Samson and other Old Testament inhabitants.

The folds of the clothing and the hairstyles intrigued me so much that I based some line

drawings on them for my sketch diary (see page 59, sample sketch copy in Appendix B).

Months later, I was assigned to depict Sarah and Hagar for a transparency in a Sun-

day School adult curriculum teaching packet. Remembering my sketches of Old Testament

women I had deposited in my drawing pad, I was able to use them as source material to

use for my transparency work.

This happened again when I was given the assignment to develop an activity book

for grade-school-age VBS students. The theme was dinosaurs yet I was not restricted to

only “scientically” accurate depictions. I was encouraged to be creative.

Inspired by the popularity of “Where’s Waldo” games I determined to create a similar

“search” puzzle for the VBS activity book. The key was to make it fun for kids. I recalled

that years earlier I had lled three pages of a sketch book with numerous skate-boarding

gures in various airborne or on-ground positions (see FIGURE 5, page 17). A page teem-

ing with skateboarding dinosaurs would fulll the theme requirements while interjecting

the right amount of whimsy for our target age group. I made the original sketches of skate

boarders years earlier for the fun of collecting imagery for a birthday card to give a friend

who was into “thrashing” (as skate-boarders call the pastime). Those drawings became

twice fruitful as I used them again for the VBS assignment (See FIGURE 6, page 18). In

effect, the doodles and drawings in my sketchbooks have been like seeds sown once but

that can potentially bear fruit time and time again.




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FIGURE 5.




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concluSIon

I have discussed the learning outcomes resulting from my experience through the 21 years

of maintaining my own sketchbooks. I described how maintaining sketchbooks served as a valu-

able developmental tool for me as an artist. It helped me experiment with techniques and medium

as well record my improvement. I mentioned that the discipline of keeping sketchbooks could

transfer with much benet to the recording of spiritual lessons, insights and answered prayers

into a journal of spiritual growth. I shared how parental encouragement as well as encouragement

from other adults had an enormous impact on me as a young artist in beginning my practice of

keeping sketchbooks. I mentioned how the roles of facilitator, constructive critic and afrmer of

accomplishment helped me, and how I can use them at home and other areas.

The aspect of sketchbook maintenance functioning as a valuable outlet or an arena to allow

inner and social conicts to be played out creatively was a Topic I related from my experiences.

Not only does drawing in sketchbooks provide an outlet for inner conicts but also for meditation

upon truths and life, as well as expression of devotion to God.

I also drew upon the record of my development in my sketchbooks to theorize that pre-

to-early adolescent male artists might sometimes pass through typical stages in their interests and

subject matter. This can include a period of fascination with violence or the grotesque. I attributed

such fascination to a psychological mechanism in dealing with fears and the physical, emotional

turmoil that often accompanies the onset of adolescence. Finally, I shared how art from sketch books

can be useful in providing solutions to “real-world” art assignments. I have discovered that ideas

from old sketches, done for fun can have new life as they are applied in the professional arena.

My experience with sketchbooks over the years has been an important part of my creative

development while providing insights into my psychological growth and ways to relate to other

people. The several volumes of sketches made over time should serve as an interesting resource

to examine for patterns of growth and to mine for creative ideas in the years ahead.




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Diary Fragment, 8"x11", 1978-79, (24 pages) only drawings are 4 self

portraits.

Portfolio D

3 hard-bound diary volumes

158 pages, 8"x11", 1979-1980, containing ve sketches, includingtwo self-portraits

195 pages, 5.25"x8.5", 1980-82, containing 11 sketches, including

two self-portraits

257 pages, 8.25"x10.75", 1982-85 containing 40 sketches, includ-

ing nine self-portraits

1 unbound fragment set of eight drawings (ball point pen) on 7"x12" strips

of grocery bag paper (drawn on a camping trip) 1980.

Portfolio E

1 set of 14 spiral sketchbook pages, unbound, 1978-1979, 11"x14",

numerous colored chalk drawings and colored pencil sketches.1 set of ve charcoal sketches on newsprint, 18"x24", 1979,

"contour drawings" for college art class

Spiral bound sketchpad, 18"x24, 1979 (12 pages)

college art-class assignments

Hardbound Sketchbook Volumes (6 in number)

1) Black hardcover, 3.25"x5.75", 1976-1985 (264 pages, with one page

having sketch dated ca. 1988)

2) Terra Cotta hardcover, 9"x12", January 1980—March 1986, (165

pages)

This book began as an dance class journal that takes up 24 pag-es

3) Aqua, Red and Black clothbound cover, 3.75"x5.75", July, 1985—Au-

gust, 1988, (160 pages)

4) Silver hardcover, 3.25"x5.75", August, 1985—December 1987, (168

pages)

I began this sketchbook when I temporarily misplaced #3

5) Bright, Mult-colored, cloth-bound cover, 8.25"x5", September,

1988—December 92

6) Small oral pattern, cloth-bound cover, 8"x5", October 1991—Present

(162 pages)

I began this book as a college journal only 54 pages are lled sofar.

Other

I am keeping two small paper-back sketch books that I began in the Fall

of 1992. They have identical covers. I keep one at work and one at home

(or in my brief case). Both are 3.25"x5" (128 pages). The "work copy"

has 16 pages lled and the "home copy" has 11 pages used.

✍Although Portfolio Ddiary volumes have arelatively small collec-tion of drawings andsketches, It has the

most self portraits of any of the other

portfolios.

✍School assignmentstake up most of

Portfolio E

✍My hard-bound

sketch journals aremy favorite collection.They are more recent

than sketchbooksfrom other portfoliosand their drawings

represent experimen-tation and "seed"

concepts I continue tond useful.




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appendIx b

Selected sketchbook (photo copies) samples from 1971-1992




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