Scribble Art: The Power of Seeing Through the Mess!

by Andrew Swainson, Art Representative

Coming back to the art room after Christmas break is always a coin toss; students will either be enthusiastic and ready to return to the workflow, or they will still be lethargic and unwilling to put in the work. The high school art room has no wiggle room for students of the latter category as we only have 3 weeks left before final assessments and the end of term 1.  

To shake off the Christmas sugar-dust I always need an accessible win for my artists. This is when I pull out the Scribble Art assignment. It is adapted from a covid-era challenge created by Charlene Cloutier, and is based on pareidolia, which is the tendency we have to perceive meaningful patterns, objects and faces in random visual stimuli.  I know I have seen a pair of eyes staring back at me from the undergrowth during a forest walk; I look for robot faces whenever I go exploring urban areas. You and your students have probably done this unconsciously.  

Labeling this phenomenon has power for our students because giving words to unconscious ways of seeing allows them to adopt such tendencies into their active art making practices.  

Supplies

• Paper (I have students do this in their sketchbooks)

• Pencils

• Erasers

• Crayons

• Markers

• Acrylic paint markers

• Liner pens or sharpies

Grade Level

I have used this activity in workshops from grades 6-12 with equal amounts of success, however this could work at any age level. I would predict that younger artists would have an easier time with this activity because they are more free with their art making and less concerned with the look of a final drawing and having it turn out less than realistic.

Key Takeaways

Exaggeration, stylization, proportion, iteration, and abstraction

Rationale

The purpose of this exercise is not to focus on realism, but to employ abstraction and simplification in a manner that forces students to “see familiarly, but differently.” This is meant to be a fun and low-risk activity that results in an art piece that is different from our students’ normal output.

Process

1. Using a pencil (3H if you have them), students will create a series of scribbles of varying line quality (jagged, looping, straight, organic, etc) over the entire page. Utilize multiple layers to create more random visual stimuli and convergent lines.

2. Have students take a step back and search for something familiar in their scribbles. I suggest faces or animals. The first thing they find sets the theme for finding other subjects.

3. Reinforce the lines that are needed to depict the seen subject with sharpies/liner pens, erase or modify lines that are not needed.

4. Continue until the drawing is complete. Add colour as desired!

**I reinforce the idea that scribble art is a tool for generating new ideas for their art, as the pieces are low-risk, can be high investment, and will lead to new contradictions and iterations with the students who really lean into the process.

See below for visuals of the process or download a PDF here.

Scribble Art! 1-4 (1).pdf

Download PDF • 11.43MB