Sources of Ideas and Experiences
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| experiences | 经验 | jīng yàn |
| research | 研究 | yán jiū |
Experience informs everything
- Artists' experiences 经验 inform why, how, and what they draw (CED 1.A).
- Ideas come from observation, memory, other subjects, and other artists' work.
- Ordinary subjects carry authority — the kitchen table you know beats a fantasy castle.
Where does the idea come from?
Sort each starting point by its source category.
According to the CED, what informs why, how, and what an artist makes?
Experiences inform the whole practice.
Document as it happens
- Document experiences as they happen: photos, thumbnails, notes, collected objects.
- Research 研究 feeds drawing — anatomy, costume, botany all sharpen observation.
- Cultural sources bring personal context into mark and composition choices.
Ordinary, familiar subjects can carry real authority in drawing.
What you know deeply, you draw convincingly.
Studying anatomy or botany to sharpen observation is a form of ____.
Research feeds drawing.
Select all legitimate sources of drawing ideas.
Uncredited copying needs citation and gives you another's seeing.
Keep a source bank
- Keep a source wall or folder; when momentum dips, the collected material restarts it.
- Recording experiences becomes a resource for the whole investigation.
- The richest sources are the ones only you have access to.
Match the source to an example.
Three ways ideas arrive.
Copying a striking photo off the internet gives you someone else's seeing — and needs a citation. Your own experiences and reference photos are stronger source material and keep the work honestly yours.
A student's night shifts at a bakery become a whole investigation: flour-dusted hands, 4 a.m. light, the same ovens drawn twenty ways. No one else on earth has that source — and that is exactly why the work feels true.
Ideas come from experiences: observation, memory, research, culture, and other artists. Document them as they happen and keep a source bank — and your own lived material is the strongest and most honestly yours.