Cognitive processes of artistic creation: A field study of a traditional Chinese ink painter’s drawing process

How are art works created by artists? In this study, we focused on the drawing processes of a Chinese ink painter through a field study and a field experiment. In the field study, we observed processes of fusuma drawing in a temple, and in the field experiment, we asked the painter to draw sixteen pictures (eight drawings in BLANK condition and eight drawings LINES condition). We analyzed those drawing processes and found that: (1) this artist seems to gradually form a global image of the drawing as he draws each part one by one; (2) lines that the audience drew seem to create new constraints for his drawing and force him to create new patterns; and (3) moving his brush in the air before actually drawing lines on the paper seems to serve one of the following functions: Positioning (where to draw), rehearsal (how to draw), and image generation (what to draw).