Perceptual Vs. Conceptual Drawings

January 14th 2012, Sat...

What is drawing? Simply picking a pencil and sketch an object on a paper? Yes, but how is it done? I'm sure people, or even artists have always done drawing unconsciously. Try to spend sometime thinking, and you will discover that drawing actually involves visuals and thoughts. We draw something when we see or think of it. In this case, drawing is then conceptual and perceptual.

Drawing & seeing the object simultaneously...

About perceptual, it is senses, visuals; what we saw. When drawing is referred to as perceptual, it most probably means an artist responding immediately to the experience of seeing and scribbling simultaneously. For example, sketch artist who work fast with their eyes flickering between paper and live subject are drawing perceptually. Normally, amateur or beginner drawers would draw perceptually due to the lack of experiences and techniques. When they learn through drawing something by seeing and sketching at the same time, perceptual drawing is done.

Think and draw...

Whereby, conceptual drawing is about thoughts or getting the concepts. In this method, artists sketch something relied only on what is in their minds. An artist who is looking at what they're drawing for more than a few seconds is drawing conceptually. Also, when the artist digests a scene and later render large chunks of that scene at a time, it's conceptual. Conceptual drawing normally occur in experienced artists when they are asked to sketch something they seen some time ago, they then will get the big picture of the scene and draw what they remember.

Both methods have their cons and pros. For perceptual, some people might argue that, pictures drawn should be at most accurate and nearest to the original subject and therefore perceptual is more practical. However, perceptual drawing can never help further improving even it illustrates how clearly the artist is thinking and captures the artist's experience of perceiving a  subject. While in conceptual drawing, results may not be as accurate as perceptual since human brain has it's limit, but practising conceptual drawing allows the brain to be more creative because it has the whole picture of any subject that is told to be drawn.

Personally, I recommend more on conceptual drawing. It is true that the result might not be accurate as perceptual drawing as the original subject, but there's no creative art looks exactly the same in the world of art and design. In order to be creative, art and drawing should go conceptual. Getting the big picture or rough idea in the mind and create something new is always the principle of art.


Thanks for reading :)
Kyuo,
The Dynamic Kid.