It is my technique for falling asleep quickly; imagining a scene, whatever I feel like, and zooming in every detail to make sure it’s there and correct. Keep focusing on the scene and soon it was just a dream.
Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
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Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#32I struggle to imagine a fixed image or object on demand, but when falling asleep or in certain situations its like something gets unplugged and then everything becomes way more vivid and detailed to the point of becoming a flood. I've often wondered if artists can naturally get into that state much more easily.
I'm the opposite, in my mind it's almost like a CAD program mixed with Photoshop and I have complete control over building and visualizing anything. I can imagine building a lego set piece by piece and how each component looks, feels, slots together with others, etc. I can rotate it all around and imagine sides that aren't visible. I can change the colors and the textures and imagine any kind of lighting. As a kid I would just imagine playing with toys I saw on TV.
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#33I struggle to imagine a fixed image or object on demand, but when falling asleep or in certain situations its like something gets unplugged and then everything becomes way more vivid and detailed to the point of becoming a flood. I've often wondered if artists can naturally get into that state much more easily.
Do artists really visualize the whole thing? To me it seems more like a feedback loop, you start with a rough visualization, you draw something and that drawing feedback into the visualization process and then you draw more details and so on. Also it seems that in this process you can focus on visualizing different parts of the whole thing to get clarity about the details for specific parts.
In musical terms this is called audiation - the ability to imagine sound. From my experience, this can be acquired indirectly over time through regular vocal and musical practice (e.g., singing in a local choir or practicing an instrument). You can write music with or without it, or using both: sometimes you have a specific sound in your head that you want to materialize, other times you're experimenting with your instrument and discovering new sounds that you could not have imagined.
I don't know how much of this applies to visual artists, but there's probably some overlap there.
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#34Weird, I visualised those properties they listed, and more. color of jacket (only visualised top-half), color of glove (glove was not a requirement, but I visualised that for some reason), gender of person, length of hair, hair color, indoors, poor lighting, position of light source, quite a lot in the time it took to read to the next sentence.
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#35This brings to mind the whole Aphantasia¹ concept (briefly mentioned in TFA), where some people don't see images in their mind. It always amazes me how people's minds can be so fundamentally different. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to be born blind, but being sighted and still not being able to create mental imagery seems almost stranger. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
I've been scared to take the VVIQ test because I guess, in the back of my mind, I feared, or kinda knew...that I have aphantasia. Even spoke about aphantasia at an accessibility talk a couple days ago. I finally pushed myself and took the test tonight. Of the 5 choices: 1. No image at all, I only “know” I am thinking of the object 2. Dim and vague image 3. Moderately realistic and vivid 4. Realistic and reasonably vi…
> I finally pushed myself and took the test tonight.
What test is this? An online one?
> Or that reading a book means literally seeing the action. WTH? I still don't get it. That can't be real.
I assure you it is real, and why I prefer reading fiction to watching the same story as a movie.
I find that with scifi especially, the book tends to be much more visually satisfying than the movie.
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#36> “Mental images fill our daydreams, fuel our fancies, and color our memories. People often experience these images as richly detailed, making the imagination seem like a talented artist quickly painting a lifelike scene before our mind’s eye. Our results suggest that while the imagination may indeed be a good artist, it’s on a deadline, and stingy about paint.”
Reminds me of those videos where a comic book artist draws a character in 1 minute, 10 minutes, and 100 minutes (sped up of course). Cool stuff but also hilarious at the 1 min sketches.
> Reminds me of those videos where a comic book artist draws a character in 1 minute, 10 minutes, and 100 minutes (sped up of course). Cool stuff but also hilarious at the 1 min sketches.
I'd love to see one of those. Google is returning useless results for a video search on "video of sketches done by an artist with different time constraints."
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#37I struggle to imagine a fixed image or object on demand, but when falling asleep or in certain situations its like something gets unplugged and then everything becomes way more vivid and detailed to the point of becoming a flood. I've often wondered if artists can naturally get into that state much more easily.
Do artists really visualize the whole thing? To me it seems more like a feedback loop, you start with a rough visualization, you draw something and that drawing feedback into the visualization process and then you draw more details and so on. Also it seems that in this process you can focus on visualizing different parts of the whole thing to get clarity about the details for specific parts.
There is a technique of drawing where it's more like a printer. You progress down line by line only drawing what is needed in that row. when you get to the bottom your done.
This style of drawing doesn't have that feedback loop of looking at what you already have on the paper. Everything is planned in advance and you can't go back to change stuff.
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#38I struggle to imagine a fixed image or object on demand, but when falling asleep or in certain situations its like something gets unplugged and then everything becomes way more vivid and detailed to the point of becoming a flood. I've often wondered if artists can naturally get into that state much more easily.
I'm the opposite, in my mind it's almost like a CAD program mixed with Photoshop and I have complete control over building and visualizing anything. I can imagine building a lego set piece by piece and how each component looks, feels, slots together with others, etc. I can rotate it all around and imagine sides that aren't visible. I can change the colors and the textures and imagine any kind of lighting. As a kid I…
I visualize the whole process quickly but forget that it needs to happen in real time. I often underestimate how long things will take because of that, I have to be mindful to properly consider how long it takes to eg, turn the screws, collect the materials, set the glue etc.
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#39This brings to mind the whole Aphantasia¹ concept (briefly mentioned in TFA), where some people don't see images in their mind. It always amazes me how people's minds can be so fundamentally different. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to be born blind, but being sighted and still not being able to create mental imagery seems almost stranger. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
I have aphantasia and didn’t realize it until adulthood. Both my brother and I have it (or lack it), though neither of our parents have aphantasia. When people spoke of “daydreaming” I always assumed it was just a metaphor for being deep in thought, as it would be clearly impossible for people to visualize things without dreaming or hallucinating… boy was I wrong! Apparently some folk can even look at a wall and imag…
Don't believe everything people say. It is very hard for people to report their inner processes correctly.
Re: Images in the mind’s eye are quick sketches that lack simple, real-world details
#40This brings to mind the whole Aphantasia¹ concept (briefly mentioned in TFA), where some people don't see images in their mind. It always amazes me how people's minds can be so fundamentally different. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to be born blind, but being sighted and still not being able to create mental imagery seems almost stranger. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
I am very skeptical about the concept of aphantasia. For one, I think that visual phantasy can be trained, or at least developed. Also, it is near impossible to report objectively about your inner processes in a useful way.
As an example, many people believed for some time that dreams were in black and white, which is obviously not true for everyone. However, this does not imply that dreams are in color. It seems more likely that dreams and their visual response are separate processes.
It may well be that some people actually have some form of aphantasia, but all the self reporting of amazing visual powers or the lack thereof seems more indicative of peoples' egos than the actual differences in what they are capable of.
Happy to learn that I am wrong here!