How to Add Meaning and Story to Your Drawings
How to Add Meaning and Story to Your Drawings
Art is not only about creating pretty images. Emotions, thoughts, and experiences are also expressed. Adding personal meaning and story to your drawings can make your art a great communication tool. Here are several ways that add depth and significance to the creations.
1. Reflect on Personal Experiences
Begin with your life. What has formed you? Whether it be happiness, sadness, success, or fighting, all of these emotions can become a starting point to create your artwork. For example, your drawing based on childhood memories should bring nostalgia, and the viewer is able to connect with what you are saying. Scenes or symbols associated with those experiences give a deeper story that can be told.
2. Research Your Culture
Your culture may well influence your artwork to a great extent. Think of traditions, stories, and values passed from generation to generation. The implementation of cultural elements in your drawings can provide depth and meaning and help you convey a story that reflects your identity. For instance, the use of traditional patterns, colors, or motifs can elicit a sense of belonging and pride.
3. Apply Symbolism
Symbols add more depth, and meaning to your drawings. Symbols could be used to convey ideas or feelings, or themes too deep or esoteric to express in words. A bird could mean freedom, or being freed from a chain. Think about which symbols in life became important to you or your belief system and then use them in the artwork. Give the story depth.
4. Design Characters with Back Stories
If your drawing involves characters, you should definitely give them a history. Knowing their motivation, struggles, and desires will help you draw them naturally. This not only makes your art more meaningful but can also offer the viewer of your art an opportunity to attach to the characters on a personal level. You can easily make such a character elicit feelings of empathy while connecting those viewing it with the story you're telling.
5. Be Original.
Your personal style is a reflection of you. Are you realistic, abstract, or a mixture of both? Authenticity will shine through in your work with your personal style. Try different techniques and mediums to find what works for you. The more you enjoy the making of the drawing process, the deeper the meaning it will carry.
6. Record Your Artistic Journey
Do keep an artwork journal to record your artistic journey. Keeping such a record will help you chart your progress, ideas, and inspirations over time. REVIEWING your artistic growth gives you insights into how your personal experiences occur in your work. Eventually, this documentation becomes a rich resource for infusing new meaning into your future drawings.
Conclusion
Infuse personal meaning and story into your drawings. Reflect on your experiences, cultural background, symbolism, development of backgrounds for characters, love of style, and journaling of your journey in creating a work of art that resonates not only within you but also with your audience. Each line in your pencil is a chance to tell a story, so make it yours.
How to Add Meaning and Story to Your Drawings
