Chapter 2, Form: Massage Technique That Unlocks Your Unique Style

Ongoing Revision of The Art Studio Companion

8 Newberry, Morani Elbow, 2022, ink. 

In this study, we create a form on a two-dimensional surface through using a massage visualization technique combined with cross-hatching. Form is the fundamental technique that allows artists to represent the physical world.

Feeling the Form

Form is like a rock of reality in the otherwise airy mediums of drawing and painting, providing a sensual and tactile sense of substance to your artwork. As a young art professor at Otis College of Art and Design, I taught a life drawing foundation class of 23 international students. One day's assignment was to draw lines that would suggest the form of a life model, in order to develop a sense of form on paper that would result in drawings resembling topographical maps. However, to avoid uniformity, I introduced a massage visualization technique to preserve each student's individual style.

9 Contour Map. WC.

10 Illustration of moving a thumb over the object.

I instructed the class to imagine massaging the figure with their thumbs, and to make their pencil marks go in the direction their thumbs moved over the form. Every student’s drawing had a unique feeling to it, varying from delicate and soft to harsh and everything in between. This classical technique resulted in each student gaining their own voice, while still learning the essence of the lesson. We will use that same technique for the following practice.

Practice

As always, it is crucial to reinforce your understanding through practice. We studied massage visualization technique combined with cross-hatching. I recommend making a 6-hour drawing of an organic round thing like an apple. I include a still-life photo of a lemon, apple, and a potato that you can use as a reference. But, if you can, set it up yourself and draw from life; that is even better. It might take 10 or more drawings before you begin to feel like you are caressing the form rather than simply scratching the paper. Once you can feel the form, your drawings will take on your unique style.

11 Massage technique demo.

 Imagine using your thumb to massage whatever form you are drawing, then draw lines of the object in the same direction. You see this in the following demo. You can draw lines in whatever direction your thumb would naturally massage the objects. When the lines crisscross, that is called cross-hatching.

12 Newberry, Lemon Study, ink on paper.

Here is the finish of the lemon, formed through cross-hatching and light and shadow. Every mark of the pen was made using the massage technique. By the way, I use and love the inexpensive Pic pens. They are sensitive to touch, meaning that if you use a light touch, it will make light marks, and if you press firmly, it makes darker marks. They don’t smudge, and I have drawings that are 15 years old that have not faded. Usually, you can buy a large packet of them in a grocery market for a few bucks. Best deal for art supplies ever!

13 A still-life reference.

If you go back to the start of this chapter and look at my ink drawing, Morani Elbow, you'll notice that every detail and mark moves over the surface of the arm's anatomy. With enough practice, shaping the forms becomes second nature.

14 Michelangelo, Male Back with a Flag, 1504, charcoal and white chalk on paper.  Alberina, Vienna, Austria. WC.

Advanced Practice

For a more advanced practice, you can copy this Michelangelo. Later in this book, I discuss his brilliance in drawing what his hand would feel, i.e., massage technique. The difference with the human body versus something like a potato is that human anatomy has soft dips and hard lumps just underneath the surface of the skin. Not always apparent to the eye but something you can definitely feel massaging it.

This chapter introduces the massage visualization technique combined with cross-hatching for creating form in drawings. Through this massage technique, it is guaranteed you will develop a unique style while mastering form.

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Continuing to revise, The Art Studio Companion. I hope to have the new edition ready in the Spring 2024.