In this studio we will develop both the physical construction of visual images and conceptual thinking by exploring processes of image-making via a workshop methodology of intentional play (experimentation) with materials. This is framing material as protagonist and collaborator.

Crafting imagery is thinking through image-making for design. Processes for making imagery will be made both individually and collectively (with other students).

Material thinking; idea generation, manifested in the methods of making images, is the foundation for practice-led research in this studio.  

Critical inquiry will support a range of image-making techniques and uses of media, however the emphasis will be on mark-making as a process for discovering visual meaning.

You will research histories of art and illustration. Researching ways that image-making movements have influenced expression will contribute to the development of your own work. Understanding an audience will be encouraged as it is vital for the success of communicating visual information.

Practice-led research methods will be the foundation for learning in this course. Crafting imagery is thinking through image-making.

Weekly workshops, excursions and presentations.

SKO – Studio Knowledge Object 

Workshop processes, outcomes and reflections create the content to produce a designed series of Studio Knowledge Objects in the form of three printed publications (and a psd-mockup of each). The design of the SKO series is important because these publications are your assessable project. During the semester you will develop a distinctly personal iconography by examining three core themes: 

1 Constructing thought: Form and narrative

2 Tactile knowledge: Surface meanings

3 Gestural presence: Marks and expression

Your SKO series will become a visual archive of your process that is reflective and analytical. This practice addresses a given area of study with an appropriate level of complexity. The SKO documents will establish an experimental visual practice with a focus on authorial image-making for design and illustration.

There are three assessment tasks for this studio, the briefs are made up of a range of milestone deliverables that are interconnected and build upon each other.

Brief 01: SKO: Constructing thought - form and narrative. Due week 4 (33%)
Brief 02: SKO: Tactile knowledge - surface meanings. Due week 8 (33%)
Brief 03: SKO: Gestural presence - marks and expression. Due week 12 (33%)

Carter, Paul. Material Thinking: The Theory and Practice of Creative Research. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 2004.

Male, Alan, and Arnold, Dana. A Companion to Illustration. Blackwell Companions to Art History. Newark: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2019.

Both texts are available online via the RMIT University library.

Solid Lines is an Australian First Nations led illustration agency that represents and nurtures First Nations illustrators producing art upon unceded ancestral lands.

The Drawing Center, a museum in Manhattan's SoHo district, explores the medium of drawing as primary, dynamic, and relevant to contemporary culture, the future of art, and creative thought. The House of Illustration gallery, London, is a home for the art of illustration in all its forms.

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is a not-for-profit organisation based in the UK. Exhibitions and projects celebrate illustration, support illustrators and empower people of all ages to tell their stories.