Reflective Visual Journal.

Reflective Visual Journal.

Drawing:

RVJ is a visual reflective journal is a creative diary for the development of your thinking; it’s a place to store ideas and develop them. It’s a place to collect, organise, develop, refine, edit and evaluate visual material this can be through text, drawing and photographs. This is a vital tool to enable to engage with visual communication practice, reflect on your work helping you see what is a success or a failure.

Drawing plays a vital role when it comes to your RVJ. Drawing is a method to help gain insights and perhaps even to find inspiration. It is essential to engage a physical connection between hand, eye and the creative side of the brain. It arouses the mind, stimulates thinking that can make certain aspects of an idea visible which would normally be hidden for the naked eye.  Drawing is a different way of thinking than in words. Leonardo has developed these ideas by “thinking on the page” he invented things and created by drawing.

Leonardo De Vinci

You don’t have to be an amazing drawer to be able to express your ideas these are simply there to help start the ball rolling to express, communicate, explore and help with overall ideas and development . It also tends to develop into something totally different on your final outcome.

“I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else”

                                                                                    Pablo Picasso

Reflection

Reflection is another crucial function of the reflective visual journal as this helps others grasp exactly what you are trying to convey and why, This is one of the main procedures for the visual communicator as it shows the viewer how they got to there final outcome and why. It also illustrates all the other ideas that have been thought of. If we just drew what we see who’s to say it will be interpreted in the same way? If we just wrote our ideas how will other people able to know what we are trying to convey visually in the sense of composition, lighting, where the subject stands etc.

Arthur Getz

Arthur Getz (1913-1996), New Yorker cover idea sketchbook, 1948-58, Gift of Melvin R. Seiden in honor of William M. Griswold, 2007; MA 7159.38, © Estate of Arthur Getz.

Arthur Gets is a very renowned illustration artist and is also very passionate in fine art, He painted cityscapes and landscapes, drew political cartoons, wrote and illustrated children's books, and explored mediums and techniques such as etching, encaustic, and ink brush drawing. Like most artists Gets has hundreds of reflective visual journals expressing different idea’s along side a written brief explanation of what he is trying to achieve. As you can see drawings get taken and developed.