Hello Jotters
I’m Cara and I’m lucky enough to make a living from drawing. I’m a graphic recorder, an author, and I train people around the world to use drawing as a communication tool in the Graphic Change Academy, which I run alongside my wife. If you’re interested in that world then you might enjoy the Visual Edit.
The JOTT is not that.
The JOTT is a personal, creative side track that I’m heading down, made up of The JOTT visual journal and The JOTT reportage.
The JOTT visual journal is a weekly ish hand drawn note to myself (and to you if you want to follow along). Each week I will be sharing something that I found curious, interesting or joyful.
The JOTT reportage are visual posts of my work as I grow my visual reportage skills. Visual reportage is a way of telling a story or documenting people, a place or a moment in time using images that are usually captured live on location.
The JOTT’s full name is the Journal of Tiny Things. Named because I find visual journaling incredibly useful as a way to gather my thoughts, and because I find myself often distracted by small things; objects, stories or moments of time that spark my imagination.
Why the side track?
I work visually for a living and have done so for nearly 20 years. I love my work, I really do, but I also want to creatively explore without the limitations of a client brief.
As a graphic recorder I visualise ‘stories’ all the time, but they are stories that other people (clients) have handed me… conversations that I observe and filter for the purpose of capturing and handing back over in a tidy visual form.
Over time I have become increasingly interested in telling the stories that spark my curiosity, and this is something I am not practised in. The JOTT is a place for me to start exercising a new part of my creative brain, the part that tells the stories and draws the pictures that interest me.
What can I expect from the JOTT?
Honestly I’m not entirely sure. It’s a creative diversion that I am at the very start of and I don’t have a clear destination in mind. I want to improve my visual storytelling and I want that pursuit to be a pleasure not a chore. I believe there is a value in sharing.
I can’t tell you where this is going but I can tell you my short term intentions:
Each week you will receive a weekly hand drawn note in your inbox. You will also receive visual stories or observations that are a bit longer but these will be less regular and more as and when. SO for now that’s it, one weekly visual note from my journal and some irregular visual reportage.
I hope to see you along the way.
