APD Week 9 - Play and Abstract

THEME

For this week's theme Play and Abstract, I did some sketches of found objects around the house. For each object, I've done three different sketches, one drawn normally, one drawn with my eyes closed, and one creative interpretation based on the second sketch. Drawing the found objects with my eyes closed means that I have to rely entirely on my memory and the sense of space. In doing so, I have to plan every stroke, minimize the distance and simplify the design. This allows me to capture the pure essence of the object and create an abstraction of the first detailed drawing.

CONTEXT

I once saw a cartoon poster demonstrating the power of rumour and exaggeration, where the context of one's opinion is completely altered after passing down to the 20th person. The moment a person tells a secrete to someone else, the other person has already begun adding their own interpretation and imagination. As the secret is being passed down to more people, the exaggeration has turned it into an unproved idea, a theory, a hypothesis, a lie. I think this is a very interesting phenomenon to implement on creative design, where we take something and add a little bit of ambiguity, it would come out as a new thing.

METHOD

I began my experiment with a 3-step sketch rule using just pencil and paper. First, I would look at a random object in the house and draw it normally, making sure it's as realistic as possible. Then, I closed my eyes and tried to draw the same object from memory. After that, the sketch would usually look nothing like the original one or has a slight difference. Then, I would take that abstract sketch and reverse the process by drawing it realistically, turning it into a new design. In my opinion, drawing with my eyes closed definitely gave the sketches an uncertainty and randomness, but the reverse-abstraction step was what inspired me to create things in a different perspective.

REFLECTION

I think this experiment would be better if more people were involved and extend the abstraction period, because by passing the abstract sketch to a new person, they would bring in a fresh idea without the preconceived notion of the original object. Overall, I really enjoyed the whole creative process of Play and Abstract and I was able to create something fun and silly during this time.