In case you were unable to join us for our seventh Drawing Together event, here is a recap of the exercises we did together.
Our host was Susan Squier, a GMIC board member, scholar, and artist. She is a co-author of the Graphic Medicine Manifesto, and author of many texts, including Epigenetic Landscapes: Drawings as Metaphor.
Takeshi “sees everything in nature from an insect’s point of view. Each tree is its own world, each leaf is different. Insects taught him that general nouns like insects, trees, leaves, and especially nature destroy our sensitivity to detail. They make us conceptually as well as physically violent. ‘Oh, an insect,” we say, seeing only the category, not the being itself.’” (Hugh Raffles, Insectopedia (2010), 345.
Takeshi expands on his experience with insects:
Today we are going to pay close attention to insects, and follow them into their world.
Exercise I: set a timer for 60 seconds
Write down as many different parts of an insect as you can think of. Don’t feel you need to use scientific terms if you can’t remember them or don’t know them.
Exercise two: set a timer for 10 minutes
Make a grid, two panels above two panels.
Now, draw an insect of your own imagination in each grid. Be as specific, as detailed, and as playful as you want. Scientific accuracy is not the goal here! Use colors if you have them available.
Exercise three: set a timer for 10 minutes
Choose two of those insects and put them in a space that they share.
Draw two speech balloons: give each insect a voice. What do they say to each other about their shared world?
If you’d like to share your work on social media, use #DrawingTogetherGM. If you’d like to join us live on Sundays at 12pm EST, details can be found here.
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