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Drawing and Visualisation Research

Published in TRACEY| journal

Drawing Knowledge

May 2012

www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/

sota/tracey/

[email protected]

DRAWING KNOWLEDGE

Judith Dobler a

a Academy of Art and Design Basel, Germany

[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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INTRODUCTION

The visual material submitted for Tracey Drawing Knowledge, was executed during the

Masters program Masterstudio Design HGK Basel between October 2010 and June 2011.

The project Sketching Line and Figure between Abstraction and Description explores

two different approaches to sketching and drawing. I produced three experimental drawing

series using observation and physical gestures of the body. I applied methods such asrepetition, transformation and layering, in order to understand the epistemic process of

drawing in experimental settings. The process of shifting from analog to digital techniques

played an important role in all experiments. The knowledge gained during the making of

drawings, models and series is documented in these images.

CONTEXT

Line and Figure between Abstraction and Description is a sketch project which emerged

during the interdisciplinary masters program in Basel. In the Masterstudio theory andpractice are closely linked in order to allow the students to experiment both practically and

theoretically, as well as reflect upon design outside traditional disciplines. In this context,

the project evolved into an investigation into the involvement of the body while drawing and

sketching, and how the knowledge gained can be visualised.

As a graphic designer with a descriptive and illustrative approach to drawing, I wanted to

look more closely at the drawing process, in order to develop a way of sketching which

allowed me to be free and experimental with tools and techniques. The body and its

movement were ever-present themes which pervaded the opposing sides of descriptive

and abstract drawing.

I often begin a project by producing a series, creating material which I can develop a body

of work from and reflect upon. The sketch series were all executed in a non-linear way

during the same period of time, with the aim being to allow hand and body to take

precedent over thought processes.

The first experimental series was about using the body as a drawing tool in draft and

design processes. I created two series of drawings by observing gestures, the use of the

hands and the resulting craftsmanship. For the series LINES, I recorded the movements of

the body using lines during the drawing process. In the series JOINTS, the body movementsof wrist, shoulder and elbow generated forms which were then translated into models by

turning analog into digital data. These 3D models were produced from analog sketches by

scanning, interpreting and modeling vectors, rendering and finally using rapid

manufacturing tools.

For the second experiment, I focused on observation as a method, because it is an

essential tool in drawing and all other forms of research. I observed the variation of a


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JACKET hanging on a chair, sketching its contours on a daily basis over the course of a

month. The use of The Self as research subject or object is a method frequently used in

scientific and artistic research. For the third experiment, I used myself as the subject. Every

day, after waking up, I executed five-minute SELF-PORTRAITS.

I conclude with some written reflections about my experience and a summary of the

investigation of the process of sketching and the knowledge involved.

A: EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE

Experiments in using the body as a drawing tool for drafts.

In the series of drawings entitled LINES (14), I visually recorded the movements of the

body with drawn lines. During the process of drawing, the connection between the hand

and the drawing tool changes from unconscious use into a very conscious gesture. Everysubtle mistake was revealed as I tried to draw straight lines from the left side to the right

side of the paper. In these drawings, the body as an instrument for drawing become

visible, as do its attendant imperfections. These observations led to a more experimental

series which also uses the body as a tool.

LINES 1, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. INDIAN INK ON PAPER, PEN, 59 X 84 CM.


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LINES 2, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. INDIAN INK ON PAPER, BRUSH, 59 X 84 CM.

LINES 3, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. FELT TIP PEN ON PAPER, 59 X 84 CM.


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EMBODIED_KNOWLEDGE_LINES_4.JPG: LINES 4, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. FELT TIP PEN ON PAPER, 59 X 84 CM.

The conscious and precise use of the wrist joint as a drawing tool produces a variety of

shapes. The constant movement of the joint creates closed forms in the drawing. These

forms also seem to enclose the movement of the body in space. The images have adynamic appearance and spatial depth, due to changes in the body movement and

resulting differences in the transmission of strength and pressure onto pencil and paper.

PHOTO OF DRAWING PROCESS, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010.


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HANDGELENK 1, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. INDIAN INK ON PAPER, PEN, 42 X 21 CM.

HANDGELENK 2, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. INDIAN INK ON PAPER, PEN, 42 X 21 CM (DETAILS).


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In these images, the elbow was used as a drafting tool. When I noticed a sense of space in

the two-dimensional Wrist Drawings, I began translating the analog drawing into a digital

image. The Elbow Drawing was transformed into vectors and grids using digital rendering

software, then rendered into three-dimensional shapes.


ELLBOGEN (LEFT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. FINELINER ON PAPER, 21 X 30 CM. ELLBOGEN MODELLE (RIGHT), JUDITHDOBLER, 2010. DIGTIAL RENDERING


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e

The movement of shoulder and arm was used as a drafting tool. This drawing is

significantly larger than the others. Like the Elbow Drawings the drawings were scanned,

vectorized and transformed into grid models and three-dimensional shapes using rendering

software. I noticed that the forms become rounder and less angular as the movements of

the body increase.



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SCHULTER 1 (LEFT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. FELT TIP PEN ON PAPER, 90 X 130 CM. SCHULTER FORMEN 1 (RIGHT),JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. DIGITAL RENDERING.

SCHULTER 2 (LEFT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. FELT TIP PEN ON PAPER, 90 X 130 CM. SCHULTER FORMEN 2 (RIGHT),JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. DIGITAL RENDERING


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SCHULTER 3 (LEFT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. FELT TIP PEN ON PAPER, 90 X 130 CM. SCHULTER GITTER 3 (TOP RIGHT),JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. DIGITAL RENDERING. SCHULTER FORMEN 3 (BOTTOM RIGHT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. DIGITALRENDERING.

Rapid prototyping/manufacturing is a technique used for transforming 3D images into 3D

models. The lines of digitalized and vectorized drawings were translated into tubes which

define the material thickness in the production process. The three spatial models are

based on three Shoulder drawings and can be understood as a spacial interpretation of

the sketches.

SCHULTER MODELL 1 (LEFT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. NYLON, SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING (SLS), 10 X 10 X 10 CM.SCHULTER MODELL 1 (TOP RIGHT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. DIGITAL RENDERING. SCHULTER MODELL 1 (BOTTOM RIGHT),JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. RAPID PROTOTYPING, 3D MODEL PREVIEW.


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SCHULTER MODELL 2 (LEFT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. NYLON, SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING (SLS), 10 X 10 X 10 CM.SCHULTER MODELL 2 (TOP RIGHT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. DIGITAL RENDERING. SCHULTER MODELL 2 (BOTTOMRIGHT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. RAPID PROTOTYPING, 3D MODEL PREVIEW.

SCHULTER MODELL 3 (LEFT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. NYLON, SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING (SLS), 10 X 10 X 10 CM.SCHULTER MODELL 3 (TOP RIGHT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. DIGITAL RENDERING. SCHULTER MODELL 3 (BOTTOMRIGHT), JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. RAPID PROTOTYPING, 3D MODEL PREVIEW.

B: EPISTEMIC OBJECT JACKET

For this experiment, I sketched a jacket, hung randomly on a chair, over a period of 24

days, from November 11th until December 24th, 2010. If the sketches are arranged on a

timeline, the jacket begins to move or dance. Observing the jacket in sketch form makes

the formerly liveless object come alive. The drawn object (jacket) also makes the invisible

object (chair) visible with its continually transforming shape.


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JACKE BER EINEM STUHL HNGEND #124, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. PENCIL ON PAPER, 24 DRAWINGS, 21 X 30 CM.

JACKE TANZEND, JUDITH DOBLER, 2011. ANIMATION


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C: FROM LINE TO FIGURE SELF-PORTRAITS

I drew the 24 self portraits in the mornings just after getting up, between November 12th

and December 24th, 2010. The outline of the figure in the mirror was captured quickly with

a ballpoint pen and each sketch took between five and ten minutes. Once the outlines

were digitally layered, they revealed a dense figure. Time is visualised here through

techniques of repetition and overlapping.

SELBSTPORTRTS #124, JUDITH DOBLER, 2010. BALLPOINT PEN ON PAPER, 24 DRAWINGS, 21 X 30CM.


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to the acquisition of knowledge, if it is performed and repeated over a certain period of

time. We can now describe the different elements of the sketching experiments. Firstly, the

involvement of a performing hand using gestures to create drawn objects. Secondly, the

tools used in order to produce visualisations of these processes. And thirdly, the

conventions of software visualization which have a significant influence on aesthetics and

the results of creative processes.

CONCLUSION

As technology evolves and the use of interactive media becomes increasingly

commonplace, we need to look at the way we use our hands and exactly what we do when

we design, form and draft the world. We should also consider how tools and programs

affect us and the way we act and perform.

How do we access the world we want to design? The Tacit Dimension (as Polanyi put it)

becomes reality through interfaces of apparati that make our life convenient and complexat the same time. We control interfaces mostly with hand gestures and unconsciously.

Analog and digital worlds are merging in the development of hybrid tools (e. g the digital

stylus, which I am using in an ongoing project). Sketching plays an important role in these

processes, because it challenges and enhances the necessary skills of eye-hand-mind

coordination, which is fundamental to it. Mankind has always tried to interact with his

surroundings via the use of images. Sketching (analog and digital) relates to this theory in

that it constitutes a form of interaction with the world.