This topic is an investigation into ways to interpret and describe sounds on the page, through various drawing methods and mark making techniques.
I worked through in order, and it was fun to see how my confidence and technique changed throughout the topic.
Exercise 5.4: The sounds that machines make
For this first exercise I found things to record from around the house that were either mechanical, an appliance, or a gadget of some kind. I ended up working from a recording of my stair lift in use, a printer, and recording a series of clicks and taps from pressing the buttons on a games console controller.
First up was the stair lift. I was a little tentative with these ones and less sure of what I was doing, but decided not to re-do these pieces so that I could see my progression throughout the exercise.
For the first piece I worked on a longer strip of paper as the sound felt like it travelled. I started by covering the page with jerky marks to depict the whirring clicks that were constant as the machinery worked, then added swirling marks to depict the loud thunks and hums over the top, as the sounds happened all at once it felt right to overlay the marks.
I tried a second piece, working in two sections on the top and bottom of the page, and overlapping the sounds on each section–trying to laying down the marks at the points I heard the sounds on the recording. With big scribbles for the largest sounds, jerky mark making for the whirring, and dots and stabs for the beeps and clunks. I did it in two rows, switching up which marks used graphite stick and which used marker pens when I moved to the bottom row. I’m not sure I like the effect, apart from the fact it looks abstract like sheet music.
I did a third piece, also long and thin, but working horizontally, and depicted each type of noise on the recording in three separate lines, on three listens through the recording. It feels less dynamic than the first piece, but more informative, and more pleasing than the second.
I wasn’t that pleased with the outcomes of the pieces made from the stair lift recording, but moved on to using a recording of a printer working for the second set. After listening to it I decided to use wet media to have more room to play around with how to make marks, and I felt more confident with that. The noise of the printer all happened at once, different layers of sounds echoing across each other and I tried to convey that in the pieces.
I listened to the recording through three times, picking out different sections to interpret each time, layering them up so the sounds that overlapped matched up at the correct points across the page.
I did a similar thing on the second piece, but using pastel and charcoal, and then going back for a fourth listen and smudging certain parts of the drawing where the sound faded in and out.
For the third piece I used some very wet diluted ink, loaded up a paintbrush and painted along translating the sounds of the recording into sweeping brush movements until the brush ran out of ink. I’d then pause the recording, load up with ink again, and start another run underneath the last–until I got to the end of the recording.
The fourth piece I actually started first, by using a roller to lay down thick swathes of ink across a large sheet (A2) to depict the overarching background noise of the printer. Later, once that was dry, I went back and used white and yellow ink and a paintbrush to pick out the sharper noises (beeps and clicks), listening to the recording a few times and moving across the page each time, adding white and yellow over the darkest pieces, building up a picture that shows the all-over, one on top of the other noise that you get from a printer
Overall the wet ink felt much more playful and I had a lot more fun with the printer recording, and managed to try out a more different methods.
For the last set of artworks I recorded myself playing with a games console controller, pressing and flicking the buttons. It was the hardest set of sounds to know how to translate into mark making but I’d made some good progress with the above pieces and tried to go into it with confidence.
I did a long thing piece of artwork first, with charcoal (three pieces held together at once, to imitate the button clicks happening in tandem) and blue pastel. The sounds seemed to cascade, and come in groups of noises, so I did them in rows, listening through the recording and dabbing and then swiping, and then pressing, placing the marks in rows.
For the second piece I decided to show how the marks were very similar across the recording, by filling the page up with one type of mark–made with wet ink and dabbed as I listened to the clicks on the recording– and then sweeping with wet ink in the opposite direction, dragging the paintbrush through each chunk of sounds.
I finished it with green ink, flicking across the page each time I heard a more metal clunk of a joystick. I feel like this shows some of the rhythm of the clicks and clunks I was hearing, and how some parts were louder or went on longer, but how it was the same types of sounds being repeated.
Lastly, because the sound seemed to go on and on I chose to try and translate that into a spiral of ever increasing marks. I listened through the recording several times, jabbing the paintbrush in quick jerky motions each time I heard a series of clicks. I switched colours and listened for other longer sounds and added them in slightly different motions to finish off
Initially I wasn’t too sure about this process, it felt like an entirely new way of working. Once I found my feet it was easier to see some parallels with some of the earlier sections of the course like translating texture into marks as we did in part two–this was just a new type of information to describe.
I’m beginning to realise that I enjoy working with the more versatile media the most (I’m very glad I remembered and found my pastels and charcoal blocks, they came in very helpful!) because the smudges and patterns that emerge as I’m working with ink/paint or media that blends look much more interesting to me than just a standard pen or pencil.
I was very aware of not wanting to end up with the same few types of marks repeated across all the recordings. I’m interested to find out if this becomes easier or harder to accomplish in the further exercises with different types of sounds, and to see if variety in the sounds I’m hearing inspires me to feel more free in the mark making. And also to see if I can create something more lyrical and flowing than the structured, line-like series of marks that I ended up with from the mechanical noises.
Exercise 5.5: Sounds found in the natural environment
For this exercise I recorded three sounds from around the garden; some bees flitting from flower heads, birds chirping in a nearby tree, and the sound of a downpour of rain.
I felt more confident to get started after the previous trial and errors, and began with the bee sounds.
I also realised some of what I could do would be to show the progression of the volume as well as just translating the type of sounds to be heard, so I tried to incorporate that in quite a few of pieces, to give some variety.
For my first piece, I decided to recreate the overall sound levels with bright yellow ink, sweeping the paintbrush across the page as the sound ebbed and flowed–lifting and lowering it off the page in relation to the volume. I then went back and listened through twice more, using different sized paint brushes and different colours and amounts of ink, and made marks that felt similar to the sounds I was hearing–overlapping them with the rise and fall of the sound level at the appropriate points.
I worked on A2 so that I had plenty of space work. I also added some pencil lines following the sharpest parts of the sound, just to add some more depth to the piece.
For the second piece I listened (through headphones) for the way the sound travelled back and forth, and drew across the page to “follow” the sound. Then added marks across the page to simulate the types of sounds I was hearing–either sudden or concentrated in one place.
For the third I applied ink with a sponge concurrently to the amount of sound I was hearing (the black ink), then applied more dabs and little half-swirls to show the type of sound I was replicating. Blue dabs for the clearest buzzing of the bees, and little sweeping turns of the sponge in yellow-black for the bird calls.
I didn’t feel fully finished with this recording, so I grabbed a smaller sheet of A3 and a graphite stick and put down some scribbles and slashes of mark making as I listened to the recording one last time, just working instinctively without planning. I then picked up a sponge still loaded with ink, and jabbed it and swept in little increments across the page when the sound was loudest.
The second recording was birds twittering and flapping about in a nearby tree. The sounds were a lot less distinct and clear, and blurred together, so I used this to my advantage as best I could.
The sounds didn’t travel from one side of the headphones to the other like the bees, as they all came from one direction. I focused more on the way the recording made me feel and the overall tone, trying with my pencil, and then watered down gouache paint, to get a sense of the whole recordings flow rather than picking out individual noises.
For the first attempt I dabbed with a wet loaded paintbrush, touching down every time I head a bird call or twig snap. Then there was a large section of pigeons warbling so I swept up and down with their calling, the end of the recording was much quieter so translated that by using less dark marks and sparser placement.
I went back with a black pen adding a few sharp moments when a louder sound or bird call could be heard.
For second piece I worked much more quickly, rather than the above where I had carefully listened to each section of the recording until I was ‘done’ with each part of art progression. For this I listened through on repeat, used a sponge loaded with paint and dragged it across the page to show the volume of the recording, then picked up some smaller tools to dab and colour over sections where more specific sounds broke through.
For the last piece, as I didn’t feel finished experimenting, I used two paintbrushes together and just instinctively made marks as I listened to the recording one last time
The last recording I had was of a very heavy rain downpour, and I was the one I most excited to get to. The sound was more constant and had less individual noises within in, and I looked forward to trying to find a few ways to depict and translate what I was hearing.
I started by doing a lot of tests in my sketchbook, with various mediums, and settled on watered down ink and a few specific ways of applying it to try and replicate what came through the headphones
I decided to cut a large circle out of spare wallpaper and use that as my canvas for the first piece, as the sound came from everywhere at once a circle felt like a good example of that.
I picked a large decorators sized brush, and swept down the paper, wobbling my hand and sweeping side to side, lifting off the brush when the recording got quieter. I had to listen several times to cover the entire sheet. I then went back in with a palette knife, listened through again and added some big splodges at random places when I heard large rain splatter. Once it was all dry I used a graphite stick to add more tones, rubbing in short jerky movements as I crossed the page, similar to what I’d done with the paintbrush.
For the second trial I worked with both hands, listening to the rain and touching down the paintbrush in each hand as I heard it plink in my ears. I had to stop at various intervals to reload with paint, but I also closed my eyes at times to really focus on the sounds and my movement not what it looked like.
Once the blue was dry I felt it needed more so i used a different application method and drew across the page with grey ink, lifting up when the recording got quieter. I listened twice, once to do the rows in each side, and starting a new row when I reached the edge of the blue ink.
Lastly I tried a third way. I loaded up a water pen, dipped the tip in some grey ink, and swept in little back and forth motions–speeding up or slowing down for the volume levels–until the ink ran out. Then I paused the recording, reloaded, and started again until I reached the end.
I picked up some blue ink on a palette knife and drew horizontally across the grey, quick and jerky, adding more ink when it ran dry, trying to show the hurried-ness of the rain falling. Some large blue splodges happened accidentally and I added more of them when I heard louder rain sploshes, to complete the piece.
I did find these series of sounds easier to react to, and to have a wider selection of differing marks and ways of applying the media. I’m pleased that the end results look more natural and free, and less structured than the first exercise, hopefully this means I did a good job of responding to what I heard.
I definitely enjoyed this exercise more too, and I think that’s because I felt more confident, and knew more instinctively what mediums and tools to work with. Working with colour to add another layer of information to the pieces was good too; choosing whether to use watered down paint to convey soft sounds, or bright deep colours that help depict rain, for example, makes these pieces look more like finished artwork and less like experimental play.
Exercise 5.6: Instrumental and musical sounds
Working for this last exercise from three sections of music. It felt a bit like starting from scratch again as the process of adapting from music felt different from adapting sounds. It took through the first of my selection to really feel I was getting to grips with it.
I started with an acoustic cover of a song, trimmed down to a shorter 30 second clip. This section had only vocals, a guitar, and a small amount of percussion.
For the first piece I chose to work large, on A2, and translated the picking of the guitar strings into circular motions made with a loaded paintbrush and diluted ink–as the sound rang out clear and precise.
I left a gap for a section of guitar strumming which on a second listen I filled with sweeps of a large paintbrush, moving downwards in time to the strumming.
I added the variation of the vocals and percussion in pastel over the top, once the ink had dried. I chose pastel because the sound of the voice was scratchy and dry, and the percussion was short and sharp.
My second attempt I used similar methods, depicting the guitar and percussion sounds first in ink and then the vocals in black pastel over the top, corresponding with where they overlapped in the composition of the music. I worked on a long piece cut from A2, showing the progression of the song along the page.
The second piece felt a little too messy for my liking in comparison to the clean sound of the acoustic track, so I went back to something smoother and more sparse for my third piece.
I worked with gouache and paintbrushes, laying down the instrumental sounds first with some thicker paint, turning my hand to create the shapes that the music conjured to mind for me. This took a couple of repetitions through the sequence to perfect.
Then I watered down some paint and added the warbling vocals over the top, rising and falling with the notes and volume.
The next track I chose to work from was entirely instrumental. The pace moved a bit faster, but had very distinct sounds.
First off I chose to start with some brush markers, as the sounds were very crisp and clean and I wanted sharp edges to the marks I made.
I listened through and planned out in pencil where the rise and fall of certain sections of music happened, and then picked out a different shape and colour for each instrument that could be heard and laid them across the page as I listened to the track multiple times.
Next I decided to try using pastels and pastel pencils. Some of the instruments faded in and out and I thought the ability to smudge the pastel would work well for that.
I had an idea in mind of where each part of the track should be placed on the page and listened to it multiple times, picking out a different part of the range of notes to depict at different times.
I tried to make my marks in a way that evoked the ‘shapes’ the different sounds made, flowing, or precise, or little smudged dots.
I liked the second piece but wanted to try on with wet media and some different tools.
I used sponges and gouache to make a blending of colours to show the different sounds, and moved across the page through multiple repeats of the track, picking out different sweeping sounds, percussion, and laying down the marks trying to make overlapping sounds overlap on the page.
I still had some paint left, so I attempted a plan that I had drawn out in my sketchbook but hadn’t been sure of. This track felt like it was created with a cycle in mind, the main tune ending and repeating through the track.
I tried to work in a circular motion, leaving the darker marks in the middle to depict the deeper notes that ran through the whole instrumental piece, and fading out the paler marks around the edge.
The last selection of music I picked to work from was very tuneful, with lots of instruments and some quiet vocals. I chose it as it had some distinct sounds compared to what I had worked from before, and some moments of silence too.
I went a slightly different route with this one, choosing to try and encompass the entire feel of the section of music, rather than ‘copy’ each of the sounds with a particular brush stroke, trying to give an overall impression of the music not an exact translation sound by sound. The effects turned out pretty pleasing! I worked with orange and black ink, a green coloured pencil, and a pink brush pen.
The sounds in the recording seemed to trickle downwards to me, so first I split an A2 page into six sections (it was a thirty second recording) and filled each one with a vision of the sound available in each five second section of music.
Following on from this theme, I did a second piece in a portrait orientation on A3, working my way down the page. The black flicks depicted the beats of percussion and strumming, the swirls of orange were vocals, and the pink was the trilling notes of other instruments.
Thirdly I laid out the sounds of the track more individually, going back to more distinct mark making, to see what that looked like. I overlapped the inks in places to show where the sounds blended the most on the recording.
I had some leftover ink and grabbed another piece of A3, using my fingers to dab and then smudge the ink as I listened to the vocals and tinkling of the instruments. Then I grabbed a paintbrush, hit repeat, and used black ink to sweep through and blend listening to the percussion sounds, and green pencil to translate the overall speed and volume of the piece.
I think the last piece of music created my most successful artworks in this exercise, I had picked out the best way to translate what I was listening to and depict it in a way that I liked.
It was surprising to me how different it was depicting music to other sounds, it felt much more complicated but I found it easier to tell if what I had drawn looked like how the music felt.
This last exercise felt like an exploration of how much to plan, and how much to leave room for free-play and spontaneous mark making. I found if I didn’t plan at all the marks overlapped in a messy way (like the second, long thin, piece from the first recording) but if I planned too much it began to look too contrived (like the circular drawing from my second choice of music).
I did really enjoy reacting to what I was hearing with emotion and sensation, which was much easier with music than the other exercises in this topic.
It’s interesting to think about the relation of feeling and touch–experiencing something–and translating it to the page. That is what I’ve been doing through this entire course, but this felt like coming at it from a new angle. It reminds me that even when drawing a subject that is more tangible, I could use my reactions and how I feel toward it–as well as how it feels physically to touch, and how it looks–to add a new dimension to drawing. I hope to remember this as I move forward into new drawing projects in the future, it feels like an excellent thing to take away from this final topic.
Rebekah's OCA Learning Log 