Thinking About Drawing: An Introduction to Themes and Concepts

This accessible book explains the significance of relationships between the body and the mark, visual imitation, drawing and writing and visual storytelling, providing a simple guide to these key ideas. For millennia drawing has been conceived as an exploratory activity, mediating between the vision of the drafter and what they are drawing. Drawing reveals hidden relationships, directs attention, scrutinises the material world and provides plans for further action. The book unpacks the key ideas that have shaped the rich, complex and foundational activity of drawing. It presents an unexpected, engaging and authoritative range of illustrated examples of drawings made by culturally and historically diverse people for different purposes, with different media, in widely different times and situations. Educator, author and artist Simon Grennan builds together concepts to create a complete guide to ideas about drawing.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Introduction: what is drawing? 1. Imitation The threshold of visualisation and the problem of media Depiction and visualisation Imitating vision and imitating drawing Digital imitation Analogue imitation Imitating experience 2. Mark Tone Line Planning Mapping Drawing systems representing three dimensions Typification Writing Mark making across media Introducing the body 3. Trace The surface The surface of the drawing as the skin of a body The surface as a visualisation of an idea The limits of the drawing The significance of drawing media Trace, media and body Trace and style Trace as evidence Movement, mind and absence Choreographing traces Trace and depiction 4. Story Story and point of view The story of the drawing Story and style Drawing style and character 5. Drawing Today Feeling Technology old and new Systematic drawings Identity and power Textiles and the line Conjecture and hypothesis Collaborative drawing Performing drawing Moving drawings Contemporary drawing and public cultural institutions Selective glossary References Further reading Index

About the Author :
Simon Grennan is Leading Research Fellow at the University of Chester, UK. He is an awarded scholar of visual narrative, graphic novelist and cartoonist. He is the author of Drawing in Drag by Marie Duval (2019), A Theory of Narrative Drawing (2017) and Dispossession (2015), one of The Guardian Books of the Year 2015, which is a graphic adaptation of a novel by Anthony Trollope. He is co-author, with Roger Sabin and Julian Waite, of Marie Duval: Maverick Victorian Cartoonist (2020), Marie Duval (2018) and The Marie Duval Archive (2015), co-author of Key Terms in Comics Studies (2021) and co-editor, with Laurence Grove, of Transforming Anthony Trollope: 'Dispossession', Victorianism and 19th-century Word and Image (2015), among others. Since 1990, he has been half of international artists team Grennan & Sperandio, producer of over forty comics and books (www.kartoonkings.com).

Review :
This is an important summation about a lot of foundational ideas in drawing. Having a functional text, written by a practitioner, is what the field needs. Thinking About Drawing is a book that explores a broad range of approaches to drawing. This book situates drawing as an enduring form of visual communication in a globally connected world. A fascinating range of illustrations bring the subject to life and are presented in relation to clearly defined technical terms. For anyone wanting to give voice to their interest in drawing, this book is the go-to guide. A refreshing take on the subject, Thinking About Drawing is well-suited to introducing the wonderful field of drawing to students in Fine Arts, Illustration, Communication Design, Architecture and related areas. The discussion is well-framed with intriguing themes and topics such as ‘Imitation, Mark and Trace’. The thought provoking text is richly-illustrated with an exciting and refreshing range of images (from early maps and Japanese woodblocks to graphic novels and emojis). A very engaging read that serves well as a broad ‘drawing survey’ with enough depth for experienced artists and designers. Thinking About Drawing considers the act of drawing as an expansive, ever-evolving set of practices and legacies that often defy simple summary. Grennan thoughtfully examines foundational, contemporary drawing principles with equal attention to analog and digital processes, and presents a global perspective on how the methods and meanings of ‘drawing’ have developed in cultural isolation and conversation throughout history. Simon Grennan’s book presents a probing journey through the meaning and uses of drawing. An engaging compliment to support and extend the understanding of the role and nature of drawing for the student and practitioner alike. The examples demonstrate the pervasiveness of drawing across fields and to different ends. It would be a great accompaniment to practice-based art or design education, demonstrating the way drawing can be simultaneously reductive and expansive in its use. The reader finishes the book with an understanding of how drawing can be viewed as both a necessary practical tool and theoretical exercise.