Creative Cognitive Process of Art Making: A Field Study of a Traditional Chinese Ink Painter.

This study investigated the drawing processes of a Chinese ink painter through field observation, interviews, and a field experiment. Compared to many studies using a single method such as interview only, this multimethod study enabled us to capture the creative processes from various perspectives. We observed processes of drawing in a temple and asked the painter to draw 16 pictures in a field experiment (8 created from random lines that the audience drew and 8 created on blank paper). We found that (a) the painter seemed to gradually form a global image of the drawing as he drew each part one by one, (b) lines that the audience drew seemed to create new constraints for his drawing and forced him to create a new style of pictures, and (c) the painter moved his brush in the air before actually drawing lines on the paper. This hand movement seems to have one of the following functions: positioning (where to draw), rehearsal (how to draw), and image generation (what to draw). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]