Form and Content

It is so hard to get past the meaningfulness of things so we can see in visual terms.  Can you tell whether this is a tree, petrified wood, or a rock?  Is it alive, a dead snag, a piece of plastic?  What if I told you it was a living tree?  What difference does it make?

If you think it is a tree, it is probably because you have been informed (incorrectly) by the trees and brush in the background.  This picture is from Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas where I live.  It is, indeed, a red rock.  When it comes to content, context is everything.

When it comes to drawing and the visualization process, I think it is better to not know.  If I'm all worried about whether I can make this rock look like a rock instead of a tree, I am going to be distracted from seeing the light and form.  I try to keep it very abstract.  I am a shape wrangler. My questions have to do with how  the shapes overlap, butt together, or transition into each other.  That is pretty much all I need to know.

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What is this?  Be careful... Don't say it.  See it as something else - like you have never seen it before. You have no idea what it is.  Place your thumb over its head.  For me, once I remove the head, it makes it so much easier to draw.  Why?  It helps me to forget and lose the meaning and impact of the narrative story and symbolism.  I feel the shift immediately.  With the head covered, place your other thumb over the tail.  Now it becomes very abstract. Is it easier to draw the shape?

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