Dice Drawing is an ongoing experimental art project at tbC. It evolved during a discussion in the studio amongst a group of artists who had met up for the day to make art together. While making art, young member Damien McIntyre mentioned that he sees numbers as colours. This sparked a deeper conversation around the concept of synaesthesia, the ability some people have to see and even hear in colour. This conversation led to studio experimentation and investigation, culminating in the making of drawings directed by the roll of a die and a whole lot more.
Dice Drawings began with members of tbC rolling a die and using the random number rolled to dictate the colour and length of lines drawn on paper. tbC artists used Damien’s colour coding and the corresponding centimetre measurements to define these lines. (lines were initially rendered 1cm-6cm but are also often drawn in multiples: 1cm = 10cm, 2cm = 20cm etc.)
#1 - represented a black 1cm line
#2 - represented a yellow 2cm line
#3 - represented a Green 3cm line
#4 - represented a blue 4cm line
#5 - represented a purple 5cm line
#6 - represented a red 6cm line
While initially directed by the random number rolled by the die, the direction of a drawing is up to the artist. Despite these drawings technically being directed by the die, creativity blossoms in the final expression of the drawing. Furthermore, no two artists can roll the same random sequence of numbers, which means each artwork is rendered unique.
Apart from the creative enjoyment tbC members find in making these artworks, they also find the practice wonderfully social. This leads to more discussion and investigation – and more artworks.
Why don’t you make your own Dice Drawing? All you need is:
A die (you can download a digital dice app if you want)
Six coloured pens (you can choose your own colours if you want to)
A ruler (if you want to use straight, measured lines)
A small piece of paper (tbC artists found A5 is a good size to start with)
As tbC artists originally did, you can draw straight lines according to Damien’s colour coding and measurements (or multiples of) or, like many others have done since, you can use curved lines, shapes or shading. Send us a photo of your drawing if you want! We are often amazed at what people end up drawing. We’d love to see yours: info@tbcarts.com.
The drawings pictured here form part of a larger body of artwork by tbC artists, printed and exhibited in several galleries in and around Melbourne. Some of these works were digitally rendered and printed out at around 70cm square on fine art paper.