Emotional
and psychological elements can be expressed in the physical act of drawing since
they are part of each artist’s own history and are often suffused into an artist’s
style. The pace, character, and sensibility of the mark express those aspects
of drawings, sometimes even before the artist recognizes it. But these elements
of drawing can be elicited by exercises that contain elements (singly or in
combination) of narrative, light, space, time, personal history.
I’ve
had success in expanding student awareness of this issue with an exercise I
call “Autobodiography.” Students are asked to make a life-sized figure drawing
which is based on the history of their own bodies. The final drawing then gets
built on elements like stages of growth and development; physical activities;
physical and mental health history; bodily markers like tattoos and scars;
fashion; photo and video documentation of their lives; fantasies; and
narratives.
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