Drawing practice, whether inside or outside of the sketchbook, is core to my conceptual thinking as an illustrator and designer. I use sketchbooks as an experimental laboratory for exploring the synthesis between drawing processes and the conceptualisation of ideas. A place to consider the relationship that exists between materials and meaning, a space for uninhibited experimentation and visual play, where the tangible form of an idea can be given shape and purpose.
Although the physical chronology of a sketchbook can be useful at times it can also be constrictive. At these moments I move out of the book onto larger sheets of paper. This change of scale acts to focus my drawing, mark-making and compositional thinking. I progressively rework these preparatory studies until I reconcile the image and idea.
This additive and subtractive editing process leaves its own mark on these drawings. As images they contain the history of their making, a visual record of false starts, revisions of composition and description, hesitations and certainties, evidence of the search that takes place between thinking and making. As roughs they become the basis upon which an illustration will be completed, as drawings they have their own character, integrity and visual purpose.
All photographs and illustrations within the site are the copyright © 2022 of Chris Harper / Deleted Manual unless otherwise indicated.