Exercise 3: Words to Pictures

Here are some keywords describing concepts:

● PAINTING

● WRITING

● SOUND

● DESIGNING

● MAKING

Choose one of these words and make a written list of the different

manifestations that the word can take.

I decided to go with the work MAKING from the list. My manifestations for this word looks like this:

MAKING a Mess

MAKING a Mistake

MAKING a Masterpiece

MAKING the Bed

MAKING my way downtown...

MAKING Dinner / Lunch / Breakfast

MAKING Friends

MAKING Music

MAKING Art

MAKING Space

MAKING Money

MAKING a Drink

MAKING the most of it

MAKING up for lost time

MAKING friends with the enemy

MAKING memories

I picked out 4 from the above and turned them into sketches. Some of the ideas came quicker for certain words than others and so the 4 I chose had been down to the fact I could imagine them easy.

I then took one of these images and fine tuned the concept with finished lines.

I really enjoyed creating this illustration, and although it is quite a simple piece, the subject feels playful and a little bit silly, which is really a positive reflection on my overall response to this exercise. It allowed me to explore the humour in situations, which after getting into the flow of writing the manifestations, can see how more obscure or random the ideas can get. Eventually they become clear visual manifestations that take a world of their own.

I decided to add colour to this illustration, just to finish this exercise on a high!

Once again I find myself surprised at the exercise and how I found this to be more beneficial than expected. The concept of taking a theme, or prompt such as the word "Making" then creating manifestations of those words is a technique I think will be keen to use again in my own practise.

I will definitely use this method in future, especially in cases where the brief from a client might not immediately resinate with me and I struggle to think outside the box. I'd like to try it on other words and see how far I can push them and in what direction they would go. Would it always bring the humour out of me?

A final thought to close on; there's something about this method that feels perfect for people with ADHD. The longer you sit with the word the more manifestations present themselves. Considering how the mind of someone with ADHD works, it's kind of like having a conversation with yourself that you're allowed to keep interupting with different ideas. Or maybe it's like trying to finish someone's sentence whilst they're speaking, but kind of get it wrong each time which only encourages another attempt, and another... I don't know, but I love this thought of how it could work for neurodivergent people!