video

One of my favorite kinds of drawing is the process I call freeform drawing. I uploaded a short video in our YouTube Channel (you can watch the video in the bottom of this post or here) showing the making of a drawing with this process.

Freeform drawing is a kind of meditation practice such as Zen drawing (ensō). I start drawing a few random forms, even without looking on the paper. I look into the paper and I try to see hints/traces of a face, a body, an object, a flower, anything. Sometimes I follow the hints or do the opposite than following, I draw “ignoring” them. My goal is not to lose connection with the whole picture.  The important thing is not to think about the image but to get “absorbed” by the image, to follow the hints that serve the whole picture, not part of it. I try to forget my mind and create with the body but not in the way we do in gesture drawing but in Zen drawing. I rotate the paper and continue drawing. I see some forms created and they lead me to my next trace on the paper.  Generally, when drawing, people try to have total control over the final picture; the artist is the subject of the picture. In freeform drawing, the artist gets absorbed by the picture and in a way he/she gets “controlled” by it.  

I strongly encourage everyone (artist or not) to try this practice. It is important to do it without expecting results like a work of art. See freeform drawing not as an artistic practice but as a meditation practice.  If you are an artist, you can always use the drawings you will create as an inspiration. I often find nice forms in these unexpected drawings that I use in my work.  Hope you try it!