Creating Automatic Drawings

What is an automatic drawing?

Automatic drawing was invented by Austin Osman Spare in the early 1900′s but the surrealists received the credit for it, according to most mainstream art historians.

Artists create automatic drawings by unconsciously drawing: they are not trying to do anything in particular; they watch the pencil in their hand moving on the paper and watch what evolves.

There are two schools of thought for how this works:

  • Psychological: the unconscious controls the hand movement and images buried within the psyche are revealed.

&

  • Mystical: the artist channels a spirit or force that controls his/her hand movements.

Whichever works better for the artist in producing the image is fine.
Comparing Spare’s art, or Dali’s sketches with some of the more widely celebrated modernist alternatives (in prestigious circles) or an utterly brilliant marketer’s–like Picasso–the more eccentric (and just plain weird) beliefs produce more interesting work, when the artist has skill.
An alternative explanation to the mystical school is that when an artist totally believes that s/he is transcending his/herself, the unconscious will more fully act to produce results; something outside the artist is larger and more powerful than just trying to call upon a part within him or her.
Also, the self conviction of an eccentric idea will produce an altered state that will be more conducive to unconscious activities like automatic drawing.

How to create automatic drawings

  • Ignore your conscious mind or turn it off.
  • Allow yourself to make random marks and see what comes out through serendipity.
  • When you see a few lines and notice they resemble a face or something else, you can continue to add details.
  • If nothing happens or you’re trying too hard to not do anything, it won’t happen, just start doodling. It’s like trying too hard to remember something you forgot: it’s better to do something else. Just experience it, and be in the experience without thought or judgment. The more you do something, the more unconscious that activity becomes, so if it’s not happing, begin drawing anyway.
  • Be light-hearted about it. You can’t do it wrong. There is no downside. Have fun.
  • Again, have fun! The more you enjoy it whether you’re doing it “right” or not the more you’re going to get better at it. “You can pretend anything and master it.” (Credit: hypnotist Milton Erickson)

The Unconscious
Hypnotists used to put a client in trance and then spend one to two hours just trying to get a deep trance phenomenon like arm catalepsy (holding the arm up in the air) before doing any actual trance work with the client.
Today great hypnotists like Richard Bandler will take the client’s arm and hold it up and tell them “Not to put it down until…” and if they start to let it drop tell them hold it up until their unconscious has worked on this thing. Who has time today to do it the other way?
John La Valle told a story of sitting there, while Richard had hypnotized him, thinking “this is stupid, I’m going to put my arm down,” and trying to, but being unable to.

On Unconscious Behavior
It’s when you’re driving, and suddenly realize you’ve already arrived at the destination and don’t remember getting there, where were you? You were there and driving safely. Barbara Stepp calls this a driving trance.
Unconscious behavior is the rule, not the exception.
Automatic drawing is actually quite easy, easier than people think. The more we as humans engage in any activity, the less conscious is becomes.
Automatic drawing is simply about tossing aside the intermediary of consciousness between the art and the source of one’s creativity.

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