Fun with Free Association Sketches

Sometimes I find myself in a drawing rut. It’s particularly frustrating when you WANT to draw, but don’t know what TO draw. What to do?

The solution, for me, is to explore “free association” drawing. I’m not sure what to call this mode of drawing, but it’s similar to when kids try to make an object out of a random set of squiggles.

In Corel Painter, I first start with a blank canvas. I take the scratchboard tool and crank the brush size all the way up to 400 – 500 pixels. Then I draw a few random blots on the canvas:

At this point, my goal is to find objects with form inside the blotches. I am free to rotate the canvas around to find forms. I don’t have to strictly adhere to the form that’s given – I use it as a mere guideline. Here’s what I came up with this morning:

And the final images:

Feel free to take the blotches from above and create your own free associations. That’s where the fun lies – to see how YOU interpret the blotches on the page. Have fun!

-Krishna

Krishna March 23, 2010