Expressive Line – angry

Today’s word prompt is “angry”. This is the first in a series on creating a vocabulary of expressive lines.

Gather Materials:

  • a piece of paper
  • a drawing tool of your choice

Today’s Exercise

Adopt the automatic-drawing approach…”Without thinking, planning, worrying, or analyzing, generate a linear movement of movements that feel angry—let ‘er rip. When you’re done, write the word “angry” underneath, using the same angry line.”

This exercise comes from the book Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within by Steven Aimone.

Automatic drawing is a concept that came from the surrealists.

  • Begin by putting yourself in a receptive frame of mind.
  • Think about the word angry. How does your body feels when you are angry? What does angry look like? 
  • Now, draw angry without exercising conscious control over the image. 
  • When you’re done, write the word “angry” on the page using the same angry line.
  • After the exercise, you may want to repeat the exercise using a calming word so that you aren’t living the rest of your day feeling angry.

Reflections on the Exercise

  • Physically… angry is holding the pencil straight in a closed fist, my teeth were clenched, there was tension in my neck.
  • Visually … angry is dark, quick, hard, gestural
  • I chose a thick charcoal pencil. I liked the thick line for angry. It is a chunky pencil that felt substantial to hold in my fisted hand.

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