Jackson Pollock + step and repeat process

Action painting

When Jackson Pollock placed his canvas on the ground, he invented what we now call the “action painting method”. Flowing alkyd enamel paint, a new material in the 1950s, allowed for gestural drips (later described as “calligraphic.”)

This new technique was not just about working quicker - it also allowed for a direct feedback loop: a closer connection between a gesture and the visible result.

“I feel nearer, more a part of the painting since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.” Src.

Compared to the more traditional painting — placing controlled brush strokes on a canvas — splash painting feels more direct. Results are visible quickly. One can repeat gestures, almost as a dance around the canvas, to create a rhythm of related marks. The cycle is quick: the gesture of making, a look to evaluate results, and then another gesture to act and improve upon these results.

Using quick feedback to study composition

Because of the quick time to results, the action painting technique is well suited to a study exercise. My aim was to improve my eye for composition by quickly selecting between several attempts at the same gesture, and trying to repeat the parts that seemed successful.

Action painting exercise: step and repeat

The materials for the exercise can vary, but the basic principle stays the same. You always start with a few initial gesture drawings or paintings. Let’s say the initial round is three pieces.

One rule to advance:

Pick the piece that seems most successful
Decide what it is about it that you like
Attempt to replicate the quality that felt successful in the next round.

My minimal set-up & materials:

4x6 index cards
Saucer with black ink + Jar with acrylic gray paint, diluted about halfway with water.
Old brushes (a stick would do just as well!)

My first and second attempts of three pieces each. I decided that I liked the amount of spread of the drips on the paper, and the diagonal dynamic look. I decided the piece in the center was the winner in each case.

In the next rounds, I kept trying to replicate the dynamic quality of my selected piece (top left) but ended up selecting it as favorite each time.

As I proceeded, I kept selecting my original favorite. This was a bit frustrating because I did not feel I was advancing in the exercise, until I realized that by trying to replicate what was successful about the original selection, I discovered what exactly I like in it. In the example above, I tried to redraw the exact splash pattern I liked from my first round, but "drawings" of it did not seem to work either.

Along the way, I could not help but experiment a bit. Adding gray paint on top of the black ink re-configured the compositions and allowed me to move a bit farther with the ones I did not initially select.

In some of them, I noticed that the ink (diluted with rubbing alcohol) had an interesting reaction if I dripped it on top of the wet acrylic (diluted with water). I played with the effect and got a few additional compositions out of it, trying each time to use the effect in a meaningful way.

I am happy with the results: I did something to train my eye to select a more interesting, dynamic composition when I see several options, and I got a few extra drippy paint images. I liked one of them in particular and used it to illustrate this post :-)

What I learned and where I can apply it

Even though I ended up selecting my original favorite, the step and repeat exercise allowed me to understand why I selected it in the first place.
Working with physical materials allowed me to stumble upon an interesting effect.
I can't directly translate an exercises like this into a web or print layout for design work. But the exercise serves to train my judgement, and gives me room to explore. Both are important to remaining a professional designer.

Practical application of step & repeat

When working on a design project, it is often important to distill the qualities we like in a piece that inspired us. This way, we can apply the inspiration to our work without copying. Making several rounds of rough attempts at solving a problem is an effective way to move forward. I often discover that my first idea - the first rough attempt at resolving the colors, a page flow, or a layout - was the most successful. But making the repeated attempts at the problem is what gives me the confidence to back up my initial instinct.

Enjoy splash painting!