Making Marks: Discover the Art of Intuitive Drawing

by Elaine Clayton

Through the simple act of drawing—whether it’s doodling or creating detailed illustrations—embrace your inner voice and unlock the power of your intuitive intelligence.

Do you remember being a child and the pure joy brought on by a box of crayons and piece of paper? Do you still find yourself sketching away every time you pick up a pencil? That’s because drawing is a natural impulse that stays with us throughout our entire lives. Whether you are doodling in a notebook or carving your name in the sand, this simple, stream-of-consciousness activity is a window into your deepest, truest self.

In Making Marks , you’ll learn that every single line, smudge, or spot you make contains visual imagery with the power to heal the past, develop your sense of empathy, and reveal solutions and answers you never realized before. You don’t need to have any specific experience or skills to benefit from this book; through simple steps and interactive exercises, people of all ages and artistic abilities can gain insight and learn to reconnect with their creative selves.

With beautiful black-and-white and full-color illustrations, Making Marks is a powerful guide to self-discovery. Tap into your unconsciousness as artist and spiritual guide Elaine Clayton takes you on a journey of the soul.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2014

About the author

Elaine Clayton is an artist, author, certified Reiki Master, Intuitive Reader, workshop instructor, and the creator of Illuminara Intuitive Journal. She is the author and illustrator of several books for children, and illustrator of books by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Jane Smiley and Wicked author Gregory Maguire among others. She practices Reiki and Intuitive Healing in New York City and Connecticut, where she lives with her family.

Reviews

[Shelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Making Marks is not really a book about drawing; it is a book about woo. If you are into woo, then you may really enjoy this book. If you are not into woo, you will think it is stupid. (I fall firmly into the latter category.)

Basically, the "intuitive drawing" this book encourages you to foster is not representational, abstract, or specifically artistic in any way; it is merely a tool for fortune-telling, like tarot, or reading tea leaves. This is not a Danny Gregory style "do these exercises and you'll be a looser sketcher", but more like, "do these exercises and you'll see your past lives".

It was all just a bit too silly for me, I'm afraid.

[Am Y · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unlike what the book promises, you won't really learn how to "draw intuitively" (because, let's think about the concept here - if you could really draw intuitively, you wouldn't need this book, and if your drawing is really "intuitive", it can't be "taught" - if it is, then it's no longer "intuitive" but "suggested", "facilitated", "planted", "influenced", etc - you get the idea; in other words, the words "intuition" and "taught" don't belong in the same sentence), but you may learn how to come up with outrageously fancy interpretations for a bunch of random squiggles, for which the author has all sorts of creative explanations, ranging from lost love, repressed memories, disappointment, danger, etc. It's like Freud, but with doodles!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dilemma! I'm previewing this for NetGalley.com, but it deals with the paranormal and near death experiences - subjects I'm not at all interested in (and don't necessarily support). The challenge is to read it quickly and make a fair assessment for future readers.

[Gardavson · Rating 2 out of 5]

How much you enjoy this, I think, will depend largely on your purpose for reading it. It was not what I expected, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I was anticipating something far more concrete, something that would allow me to draw conclusions about the artist, or the artist's feelings, based on the drawing. This was not so concrete as that, the whole exercise being more subjective to self, rather than, diagnosing, say, someone else based on their work. I was prepared for something more like being able to "read" a person based on their handwriting. This, I think, is more of an exercise for self. It does read like something with a psychological aspect, which I find interesting, but it also has moments of, mmm, say psychic slanting, which I have no interest in. Overall I would say it has a definite New Age feel to it, where I would prefer something more scientific. It is not light reading, but it is interesting, if such things appeal to you.

[Krzysztof · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am no arteest. I've always envied people who have a natural talent for drawing, even if it's just making an apple look like an apple, and not an anatomically correct heart.

When I was little, I was so bad at drawing that I would only ever make a series of dots on a paper and then connect them until I saw an image - sort of like looking at clouds until an image emerges.

At some point in my late 20s, I decided to kick up the habit again. A friend gave me a cutesy little Korean notebook, and I started to make a series of marks on the pages until I saw connections in them. Sometimes I would elaborate on those connections, but mostly I just let them be and would assign some bizarre name.



Sometimes I would see a more meaningful connection.



Sometimes my connections were direct, and sometimes they led to bullshit.



This book started out promising, but quickly slipped into pseudoscience and self-help. The author is a "Reiki Master" and her faith in the mystical really puts a damper on what I think can be a fun and useful exercise.

I've known reiki folk. They think that they can take bad energy away from you by pulling it off of your aura. They interpret dreams, and no dream is ever just a mishmash of the day's events. They see meaning where there is no meaning, and they encourage others to as well. I think it's generally a bad idea to encourage people to remember trauma when it might have been forgotten, moved beyond, or rendered insignificant. The author's "clients" find meaning in her interpretations of their sketches because they want to find meaning in them.

[Samantha McGuire The Writers Web Archive · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a different kind of drawing book than your typical how-to book. It talks about "stream drawing" which is a more lucid intuitive form of drawing, almost like channeling. It was quite interesting to learn about such a technique.

[Brittany]

Did not finish.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

I need to start by saying I entered the drawing for this book thinking it was more of a "how to" draw/doodle for enjoyment and relaxation book. This was not what it was. Making Marks, in the end, seems like it belongs in the "self-help" pop psychology section of a bookstore. That said, there were some things I appreciated and enjoyed about this book. I felt that Ms. Clayton makes a strong case for the fact that our culture and educational systems fail to realize the value of creativity and the importance of art in education. She stressed the value of what she calls intuitive stream drawing ("randomly" made doodle lines)for bringing out creativity. The initial activities were interesting and fun and I liked the idea of being able to look at doodles to see what emotions or ideas they might represent. Unfortunately, it was at this point that I felt that the author became too involved in describing how she viewed or "felt" about the samples. Instead of allowing for readers to be "creative" in how they interpreted the drawings, she stressed her interpretation and left the reader feeling that her way was the "right way." The final 2/3s of Making Marks became much more psychologically oriented, stressing how stream drawing can draw out a person's intuitive nature and solve hidden emotional issues. The author's repeated use of herself and her experiences and her interpretations also got old. The intensity that this book takes on removes it from the realm of fun creativity and analysis and places it into the "self-help" realm. Making Marks could serve well as a reference for professionals who use drawing as therapy but may well be more than the average person is seeking.

[Collene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I selected this book because I thought it would be fun and give me some insight into expanding my doodle drawings, but what I got was much different. It’s basically a book on making stream drawings and interpreting what they mean and in some cases even predicting their meanings.

The author explains what stream drawing is and how it helps capture emotions and gain deeper empathy. Then she takes it to the next step and that is how to interpret these drawings. This is less a book on art techniques and more a book about feelings and understanding them.

The author provides many exercises on making marks and interpreting them. Eventually the book progresses in drawing and interpreting your own dreams. It became a little too transcendental for me. It became more like reading palms.

Also included were some drawing games and indexes to various exercises and figures used in the book.

I thought what she did write was well organized and the author seemed to really know what she was talking about, I just found it too far off to enjoy it and I really just wanted to make some fun doodles.

This book was given to me by Atria books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Tom Hackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a fun book! It was great to remember the pleasure of drawing for fun and to discover messages within the work. Not only did I learn about myself, but it made for great group discussion when sharing with others. I would recommend this book to anyone who ever loved drawing who wants to go a step beyond creating to using the message within the work to heal.

I would add that the intuitive approach to creating drawings applies to the creation of music and other artistic endeavors, as well.

[Josh Mackey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intuitive drawing is a drawing in which you interpret and create to your beliefs or intentions. This book is what you want it to be. If you're reading it to learn about the basics of drawing it isn't the best for you. But if you want to learn about a certain style of drawing and how it relates to you, this is the book for you. I thought it was a good book, and had good information as long as you were willing to search through the text to see how it related to your style.

[Lisa Hagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Making Marks. It is a beautifully written and illustrated book. I had never thought to see images in the shapes that I was randomly drawing while on the phone or day dreaming. I loved the idea of coloring them in. I bought a box of colored pencils to make full use out of the exercises and I just love it.

After reading the book, now I ask questions, draw, color, and viola, I have insight. It is quite clever! Life is full of interesting and exciting ideas.

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected which isn't always a bad thing but in this case I couldn't get into it or finish it. I thought it would inspire me to draw more but alas this book did not inspire me one iota. I'm going to pass it on to a friend who might like it and will add her opinion at a later date.

[Jill Frederickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely put together. This book makes me feel the need to allow myself more time to explore drawing just because and in the gaps of time in life. That said, I am interested in the book but did have trouble getting into it.