Congratulations! You are now well on your way to becoming a master Graphic Recorder, Visual Communicator and all round Drawing Champion. If you have worked through episode 1-4, you have not only learnt how to draw, you have also learnt to look at the world with a fresh set of eyes.
Let’s refresh what we have looked at so far:
- Episode 1: You got rid of the Ogre who takes delight in telling you how uncreative you are
- Episode 2: You explored the basis of all drawing – lines and learnt how simple they are to draw
- Episode 3: This was about looking at the world through the eyes of an artist and seeing world in shapes
- Episode 4: You learnt how easy it is to organise and simplify complex information with shapes
In episode 5 we enter the metaphorical badlands of drawing for most people. Why the badlands? It’s because we are learning to draw people. In my experience, people judge their creativity on their ability to draw people. I hear, “but Simon, I am not creative. I can only draw stick people” all the time. Stick people have a lot to answer for. They are messing things up.
The problem with drawing stick people is that no one looks like a stick figure.
Long neck like a giraffe, very short arms, legs at 45 deg from the of the spine. no elbows, knees, hands or feet – who looks like that? The good news is that with the same amount of lines and a circle, you can draw people that actually look like people.
Once you can draw people that an audience can look at and understand, you have their attention. It adds a human context to your communication, strategy or vision. Despite best efforts, I have never seen a strategy, vision or idea come to life without people. As such, it’s great to be able to learn how to draw them and it absolutely powers your visual communication.
I hope you have enjoyed learning to draw, visualise your thinking and learning some skills to use in graphic facilitation. It’s a brand new language that will power the way you think, communicate and innovate. Remember, it;s very natural to draw. Caveman was drawing on walls to tell his stories a long time before he was doing text heavy PowerPoint presentations.
If you have any tips on mastering the art of visual communication, please let me know.
Good luck, keep practicing and don’t forget to smile! Drawing is fun.
Simon Banks is an emcee, speaker, training facilitator and presenter who is professional and creative, and brings all the vim and vigour your audience expects to ensure brilliant corporate events. He’s the Director of creative training company VisualFunk, known for running innovation hubs, conferences and training days to brew fresh thinking and develop market leading ideas. His first book, 1000 Little Lightbulbs, will be released in early 2017.www.simonbanks.com.au
Contact details
- P: 1300 227 215
- E: letschat@simonbanks.com.au
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