ITAP: How artists use RVJ'S & how the brain works

Drawings have been used by artists of different creative backgrounds as a tool to generate solutions to solve a variety of design problems. The drawings in an artists RVJ don't have to be neat and tidy and in a lot of cases they are often quite crude and simple,this gives the artist the freedom to conjure up ideas relating to their brief and to think in a visual format in a way that isn't limited by self conciousness.

The sketchbook of leonardo da vinci for example contains images of various schematics for his inventions.

what I like about his sketches is that he would draw a large image of the invention and then include lots of small close up details of the different mechanisms with added commentary around them.

whilst looking at different artists to find examples of their sketchbooks I came across the sketchbook of Sam vallemeersch.

the aspect that stands out the most for me, is the vibrancy of his sketchbook and how there is very little commentary that accompanies his artwork in comparison with Leornado da vincis' sketchbook which has lots of small details with added commentary around it.
with Sams sketchbook you get the idea that he is freely exploring ideas, I also like the way he has different ideas that are almost layered on top of each other.


The final sketchbook I will be analysing is by lizzie finn, what sets Lizzies work apart from the other reflective visual journals that I have seen is that she doesn't use pen,pencil or any of the other traditional drawing mediums to express her inner thoughts, she instead utilises textiles and fabric.

How the brain works
  The second design principle I will be discussing is the brain.
The human brain is split into to halves the right side and the left side, they carry out out different processing functions in different ways and by understanding these functions one can get a better idea of how to generate and evaluate ideas.
Right brain
The right side of the brain is best described as a child at play because its the side that is responsible for your creativity and your experimental nature.
Left side
If the right brain is the child at play then the left brain is best described as being like an accountant as its primary functions are to organise and to classify.
Utilising both sides
The way to utilise both sides is to freely create images and explore different conceptual ideas using the right brain once they have been created  look back and evaluate what you've done utilising the left brain and decide what the best course of action will be in the form of annotations around the designs.