Visual Learning

A post on the "Power in Art" blog outlines the difference between visual and auditory learners. There's a great passage positing the idea that as a culture we cultivate visual learners, while our education system is based on an auditory model.
From infanthood, today’s students have been exposed to an incessant supply of visual stimuli via television, books, video-games, and computers. Some studies are even showing that as a result of the continual stimuli, the visual pathways in children’s brains are actually changing. Though this influx of visual stimuli is certainly a controversial topic - one side of the debate arguing that children should be taught to learn the “way they used to,” the other that children are now better multi-taskers and problem solvers; the fact is, that regardless of which side of the fence we’re on, today’s culture is cultivating the visual learner. Stimulating imagery is now the language we communicate with on a global level. We gather most of our information from a visual source. Whether it is a highway billboard, a monitor or an iphone, visual communication is the medium that children are using to gather (and retain) their information as well. If our education system won’t learn to speak their language, we risk the chance of not only leaving students disinterested in the classroom – we run the risk of leaving them behind completely.
Power in Art Blog: Drawing in the Visual Learner

US Combat Artists

Marines on Rifle Range by Kristopher Battles

There's a long tradition of artists being deployed into combat zones to document the day-to-day lives of soldiers and civilian populations. Drawing can give a different perspective on war that still photography and video don't. Kristopher Battles is serving in the US Marine Corps as a "Combat Artist". His blog Sketchpad Warrior documents his work in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006. PBS created a documentary of combat artists during during WWII titled "They Drew Fire". The accompanying website contains resources of major artists and works from the period.

How does the lead get into the pencil?


The image above, from the Musgrave Pencil Company, demonstrates the different states of the pencil making process. When looking at a pencil it might appear that wooden dowels are drilled down the middle and graphite rods slipped inside; in reality they're made in batches on slats of wood and sliced up. Two pieces of wood are grooved with a semi-circular gutter and rods of graphite are sandwiched inside. The glued piece is then divided into individual pencils, sanded and painted. BONUS: - General Pencil Co. has a great series of images documenting the manufacturing process. - More pencil making on the How Products Are Made site and on How Stuff Works.

Sketching as Visual Thinking


A List Apart has an article about the value of sketching and outlines the need to just get stuff on paper in a tangible form, rather than fussing about how pretty things look or worrying about "artistic" quality.
When you feel inadequate in your sketching, pause and reconsider your perspective. Don’t worry how well you draw. Instead, think of your sketching as visual thinking, which works regardless of your drawing quality. Ugly gets the job done just fine.
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The Undressed Art by Peter Steinhart

Peter Steinhart, in his book The Undressed Art, explores the philosophical question of WHY people draw, rather than teaching technique. Steinhart documents many of the different life drawing sessions he's taken over the course of his life, talking with both artists and models to find out the motivation behind the weekly rituals many of us pursue. From the Random House site:
To draw is to understand what we see. In The Undressed Art, writer-naturalist Peter Steinhart investigates the rituals, struggles, and joys of drawing. Reflecting on what is known about the brain’s role in the drawing process, Steinhart explores the visual learning curve: how children begin to draw, how most of them stop, and what brings adults back to this deeply human art form later in life. He considers why the face and figure are such commanding subjects and describes the delicate collaboration of the artist and model. Here is a powerful reminder that no revolution in art or technology can undermine our vital need to draw.