I think a lot, and I draw a lot. When I draw I think. Last night as Maryanna was cooking us up a late meal I sketched what I saw in front of me. A thought that I had encountered before resurfaced – drawing is itself an act of design. Now this may sound rather obvious, but it’s worth pondering.
Design involves the ordering and structuring of information. A designer prioritizes information from the most critical down the superfluous and orders it accordingly. As a designer, drawing has greatly helped me in my critical thinking and compositional skills.
In the case of a drawing, the observant eye is given a massive amount of visual data to relay down to the hand. There’s no way that one can duplicate exactly the nuanced shades, tones, colors and contours present in reality with a simple line of black ink. A drastic simplification must occur in order to represent something akin to the view transmitted down from the eye. The artist must prioritize the forms, textures and shading and work down accordingly. One doesn’t need to know how something works in order to draw it. This same naive approach can be helpful in design. A designer should be very knowledgeable about the subject they are designing for, but the design should communicate in such a way that a lay-person can grasp the information presented.
Drawing is an exercise. Like any exercise, it may be tough at first. It takes practice and discipline but I guarantee it will strengthen. The benefits extend far beyond the sketches produced. Draw long enough and you will see results.
