About the Crayons

I began illustrating this blog (after Jon Acuff told me my photos sucked).  Understand, I was never an artist--or at least I didn't start out as to be.

Drawing is a skill.  You can get better at it with practice and you can develop a style. (My theory is that most of us stop drawing in elementary school the first time our hands won't produce what our brains were going for and we don't like the failure.)

All of the drawings on this blog are exercises in imperfection.  They just have to capture the idea.

I take crayons with me everywhere to add color to my journal.  Digitally, I draw with the Paper app on my iPad.  (It saves me the step of photographing the drawing then processing it to get the colors back to true.)

Sometimes I pick up the stylus and an idea goes nowhere.  Sometimes I just have to crash land something because I'm on a publication schedule. But every time I draw, I discover something.  How colors go together.  The way the adjustment of a line can change the expression on a face. How shapes are a part of language in the ideas they represent. (Heart for the soul of us, swoosh for motion, etc.)

I even use the technique of adding color and images to whiteboard conversations in client and brainstorming meetings.  It creates engagement at a deeper level.

How long has it been since you picked up a box of crayons? If it has been awhile, I highly recommend it. 

And you can learn more about it at yourvisualjournal.com.