Drawing Study 2025

: Reconstructing Perception

— Looking at the World Again, Speaking of Myself Anew

How do we want to see the world—with what kind of body and mind?

A space filled with light and color, where language disappears, leaving us pleasantly tired and smiling.

Overview

This curriculum was developed for Design Studio, a graduate-level course in the Department of Visual Communication Design at Hongik University, and was taught over 15 weeks beginning in September 2025. It was designed to help students learn the fundamentals of design—observing and reinterpreting various subjects, including memories, imagination, and experiences—through the simple and intuitive act of drawing.

The course begins with observing how we respond to various external stimuli and making lines from those responses. Through our different senses, we observe the surrounding environment and reinterpret what we perceive by blending it with our memories, experiences, and dreams. From there, we gradually develop flat line drawings into drawings that contain three-dimensional structures and narratives.

By engaging with our own bodies and observing and drawing our own faces, we come face to face with ourselves. Finally, through animation drawing, we explore the mysteries that exist between forms in motion and transformation. Through this process, we aim to connect ourselves with all things in the world and grow into creative individuals.

Course Overview

Through observation and drawing, we sharpen our perception and develop the sensitivity needed for expression.
We explore the “line,” the foundation of all expression, and gradually move toward form, texture, and structure.

Three Stages of the Course

A. Nature Perception Drawing [Project 01: Nature Design Drawing 30]
B. Body Awakening Drawing [Project 02: Self-Portrait Documentation Drawing]
C. Form-Creating Animation Drawing [Project 03: Form-Creating Animation Drawing]

Weekly Schedule

Week 01: Orientation | Instructor Introduction and Course Overview
Week 02 — A: Eye-Mask Fieldwork Drawing
Week 03 — A: Nature Response Drawing
Week 04 — A: Observational Drawing of Water Forms
Week 05 — A: Hockney's Garden A (People)
Week 07 — A: Hockney's Garden B (Forest)
Week 08 — A: Nature Design Drawing 30 — Project Exhibition
Week 09 — B: Free Doodling
Week 10 — B: Giant Self-Portrait Drawing
Week 11 — B: Face-Connection Animation Drawing
Week 12 — B: Self-Portrait Documentation Drawing — Project Exhibition
Week 13 — C: Form-Creating Animation Drawing 01
Week 14 — C: Form-Creating Animation Drawing 02
Week 15 — C: Form-Creating Animation Drawing 03
Week 16 — C: Form-Creating Animation Drawing 04
Final Submission: Completed Form-Creating Animation Drawing

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A. Nature Perception Drawing

In September and October, we took our drawing classes outdoors to enjoy the clear skies and warm weather. We explored ways to perceive our surroundings and express what we noticed through lines.

At first, we focused on the relationship between our bodies and the environment. We learned to respond to what we perceived through immediate drawing. As the classes progressed, we began to reinterpret nature in our own ways and develop our ideas into visual forms that we could share with others.

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Week 2 | Eye-Mask Fieldwork Drawing

We began outdoors with Trust Fieldwork. Working in pairs, students took turns guiding a partner who was blindfolded and barefoot. They explored natural objects through touch and other senses. By talking about what they experienced, they began to interpret what they felt, moving from sensing to perception.

Back in the classroom, we tried Eye-Mask Drawing. Students drew with their eyes covered, using different drawing tools in both hands. After each attempt, they opened their eyes to look at the results and then repeated the process. Gradually, lines that first looked like random doodles began to form their own unique landscapes.

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Week 3 | Nature Response Drawing

We visited Seonyudo Park, where nature and the remains of an old water treatment plant meet beside the Han River. As we walked through the park, we drew what we noticed around us. We used only black ink, without brushes, to explore ways of expressing our perceptions directly and intuitively. I introduced two simple guidelines:

Use your body to perceive nature in different ways. Nature can include soil, light, trees, water, sounds, movement, wind, and more. Use your body, ink, and nature itself as tools to express what you perceive freely on paper.
Observe the lines created by the ink on paper and keep discovering new lines.

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Week 4 | Munari’s Special Way of Drawing Water

This class was inspired by a workshop Bruno Munari held at Harvard University to explore organic forms. In his workshop, diluted ink was dropped onto small sheets of paper, allowing organic shapes to emerge. For our class, we used a ten-meter-long sheet of drawing paper and several shades of blue acrylic paint. We aimed to turn the entire sheet into one beautiful drawing.

Students dropped paint onto crumpled paper, changing its height to guide the flow. Working together, they created a single drawing. Through this simple, intuitive process, they explored spontaneous expression with their whole bodies.

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Nature Design Drawing Homework

In Week 3, we explored spontaneous responses to nature through drawing. In Week 4, we created new forms inspired by water. Building on these experiences, students were given a homework assignment to redesign nature through drawing. Each drawing should be about 27 × 39 cm and use black ink only.

1. Designing the New Forms of Water — 1 sheet

Observe the movement and texture of water, as well as the pitch and rhythm of its sounds, through different senses and from different perspectives.
Combine patterns found through observation to create entirely new forms of water.

2. Drawing Rock Textures in Three Dimensions — 1 sheet

Explore the hardness, stillness, and uneven surfaces of rocks and stones through different senses.
Create a three-dimensional form. You can crumple the paper, as we did in class, or shape it like a real rock.

3. Drawing the Dampness and Scent of the Earth — 1 sheet

Touch and smell the ground and soil to explore their qualities.
Include memories and feelings associated with the earth in your drawing.

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Weeks 5 and 7 | Hockney’s Special Way of Drawing People (and Nature)

Throughout his life, David Hockney reinterpreted traditional painting methods, including Picasso’s Cubism, and developed his own style. Over two weeks, we explored how Hockney saw and represented people and nature through drawing workshops.

To be honest, I was not entirely sure why this workshop was necessary when I first planned it. But I had often thought about the strong impression left on me by Hockney’s exhibition in Japan, especially his painting Bigger Trees Near Warter.

The work consists of 50 canvases. From a distance, it looks like a landscape of trees and a house. Up close, however, I felt as if Hockney were searching for new forms in the dark, feeling his way forward. I was overwhelmed by a mix of fear and excitement, as if stepping into an unknown world.

In the workshop, students worked together to complete a single drawing, producing unexpected results. They also realized that people can see and interpret the same subject in very different ways.

There was something almost absurd about people observing and drawing one another. The students found this strange and funny, and they spent the class drawing and laughing together.

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Week 8 | Exhibition of the First Project — Nature Design Drawing 30

Project Brief

Use different senses, including sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, to perceive the nature around you in new ways. Then use [line] to [reconstruct] what you perceive on paper.

Choose one natural subject and create 30 drawings.
| Examples: rain, waves, foam, light, water, snow, fire, wind, heat, cold, sound, soil, and more.
You may divide one natural phenomenon into several specific types and explore each through drawing.
| Example: light (sunlight, moonlight, starlight, lightning, and more).
Choose a theme or title that clearly expresses your own perspective and the ideas behind it.
Connect and organize the 30 drawings into an exhibition. You may arrange them in several groups.

Materials and Format

Paper size: A5, 30 sheets
Color: Black
Tools: Your choice
Paper: Experiment with different textures and weights.
Additional materials: Film or tracing paper may be added to support your design idea.

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B. Body Awakening Drawing

During the first seven weeks, students observed the natural environment surrounding them. From Week 9, students spent four weeks exploring unfamiliar sensations by moving their bodies in larger or different ways than usual, gradually becoming more aware of their own bodies. For the following month, they spent time drawing their own faces and facing themselves through this process.

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Week 9 | Free Doodling Drawing

Activities

Attach large sheets of drawing paper to cover the classroom walls, and draw freely for 90 minutes.
Hold colored pencils in both hands and draw freely. (40 minutes)
Draw freely using black pencils, ballpoint pens, crayons, and other tools. (40 minutes)

Points to Keep in Mind

Enjoy moving your body in unfamiliar ways, using different muscles, and experiencing the resulting discomfort.
When drawing similar lines repeatedly, question your habits and keep searching for new ones.

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Week 10 | Giant Self-Portrait Drawing

Connect four large sheets of drawing paper to create a three-meter-long surface. Using a two-meter-long wooden pole, draw both the front and back views of the body.

Preparation: Connect four sheets of drawing paper and attach them to the wall.
First half: Draw the front view.
Middle: Take the paper off the wall and cut out the drawing with scissors.
Final part: Draw the back view, incorporating dreams and imagination.

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Week 11| Connecting Faces Animation Drawing

In this workshop, students drew their own faces and a friend's face on separate sheets of film paper. They then drew new forms emerging between the two faces and created an animation.

By observing unexpected forms appear one after another, students experienced that forms are never fixed. They also came to recognize again that, although we are all different, we are also alike in many ways.

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Week 12 | Exhibition of the Second Project, “Self-Portrait Record Drawing”

Project Description

Over three weeks, use only ink pens to make three drawings a day, five days a week.

Week 1: Carefully observe your face and draw it as it appears
Week 2: Experiment boldly with new kinds of lines.
Week 3: Expand the exploration of lines into form and texture.

Special Instructions for Week 3

Focus on three elements: form, texture, and structure.
Draw without looking at mirrors or photographs. Set aside visual observation and focus on tactile observation.
- Texture and Structure: Touch your face directly to explore its volume, texture, and structure. Translate these sensations into lines.
- Muscle Movements: Try opening your mouth wide, frowning, and making other facial expressions. Draw the unfamiliar sensations and the different expressions you experience.
- Texture Expression: Explore how the textures of the face (skin, eyebrows, bones, hair, ears, etc.) interact with the distinctive qualities of the tools and materials (ink, pens, and paper).

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C. Form-Creating Animation Drawing

During the final four weeks, students created an animated video using only A4 paper and pencils. Through this process, they brought together everything they had learned throughout the course.

The process begins with drawing a line, the starting point of all expression. Texture is then added to give the line form. Students observe forms made of lines and textures in nature. Moving beyond visual observation, students combine what they perceive through different senses to give birth to new forms of nature.

Next, students move from observing forms to exploring spaces where dreams and fantasy come together. Their exploration expands to vast natural worlds they have never seen, the immense universe, and the inner universe deep within our own bodies. Finally, they return to their own faces, and once again to a single line on a flat surface.

The four-week course begins with exploring seven forms, numbered 00 to 06, one by one.

Form 00 - A Flat Line Form
- An abstract line drawn in pencil on white paper. All creation begins with a single line.
Form 01 - A Textured, Volumetric Line Form
- A line gains texture, light, and shadow, becoming real. This is how we become creators.
Form 02 - Textured Line Forms in Nature
- What textures and lines can we find in nature? How do they exist? As creators, we learn to see nature with fresh eyes.
Form 03 - Newly Designed Forms of Nature
- New forms of nature emerge from the combination of different perceptions: smell, touch, sound, memory, and emotion. We experience nature through more than just our eyes.
Form 04 - The Outer Universe
- A new universe shaped by imagination, fantasy, dreams, and our own unique experiences of perception. We begin to design worlds beyond what we have ever seen.
Form 05 - The Inner Universe
- The inner universe exists deep within our bodies. How do we perceive it? What forms can we give it? When inner and outer universes meet, a new universe emerges.
Form 06 - My Face, Observing Everything
- We no longer draw ourselves as lifeless reflections in a mirror. I am the observer and creator of my world.