Slice of Life ICAD

Getting 2023 index card art underway

Simple “slice of life” one-line contours from a 2019 series. Amy Cowen

Slice of Life Part 2

In 2019, I did a "slice of life" series for my 100-day project. I didn't complete the 100 days, partly because the timing that year conflicted with the start of ICAD, and I shifted to ICAD in June. But the series itself, a series of one-line contours of people based on photos I would snap when out and about, often while waiting to pick up my high school student, was a favorite. It was simple, almost deceptively simple, but I found it captivating. 

Each day, I did multiple contour drawings, capturing people in motion, a couple of images a few seconds apart, a hip shifted, a foot raised, a different leg in front, the swish and swing of a skirt. While simple, I was enchanted with these drawings. There was something alive in the outlines, in the sense of movement and motion between the images. Most days, I did a series of drawings, often a trio of images, three moments, frozen. Slices of Life…. That was the name of the podcast episode in which I first talked about the series. 

In some of the drawings that year, I added color or hatching or some pattern work. In some of the early ones, I worked across sticky notes, creating a geometric frame and layer within the contour. I always let a series evolve, knowing that small shifts along the way can help us find the space where we can sink in, the space where our lines will sing. We don’t always know at the outset exactly what a series will hold or wherein the magic will appear.

Some of the daily one-line contour drawings from my 2019 series.

Fast-Forward to 2023

When debating about ICAD this year (2023), I found myself thinking a lot about the slice of life idea. I did still consider other series ideas. Partly, I know some people associate me with certain types of ICAD portrait work, and I LOVE those projects and those series. ICAD can be a powerful creative challenge in personal ways and can give you the chance to deep dive in a series, too. I always think of the 61 as a series. Doing that helps me find meaning and also gives me contours that I think help increase my chances of sticking with a long series.

After thinking about doing one-line contours again, I felt like I had a way to “do” ICAD 2023, a project I love, and still maintain my other work. But I still let myself think about other ideas. I considered portraits in various ways, and I had a specific portrait series idea that I would really like to do. It was hard to sideline it for now. I don’t like not being able to act on my ideas, and I am always cautious about starting a series or challenge if I think what I am doing will be “too simple” to share. But I was honest with myself this year. I know this isn't the right time for an in-depth series, and while the contours are simple in look and feel, I also really enjoy the challenge of them. I have a lot of things going on and a lot of creative projects that I am spending time with and that I want to spend time with. (That includes Illustrate Your Week, all of the writing I am doing, the podcast, and digital work!)

Day 1 This Year

The hardest thing was really admitting on Day 1 that I wasn't going to do a portrait series or a Copic marker series, or a series of portraits with hair with cyborg elements. I might not even use words this year (although typically, I do). Instead, I'm doing something that might look supremely simple. That isn't always in my nature, but I feel good about it. Still, until the pen hit the card on Day 1, there was still a chance I would break out the alcohol markers, draw a full portrait, and interweave a number of elements that would then become “part” of the series. The final moment of “not” doing that was the moment of reality.

I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. But there were a few hiccups getting started.

As I toyed with the contour idea for this year’s ICAD, I thought I might use dip pen. I even considered using dip pen with multiple colors of ink. So as June 1 approached, I planned to use dip pen. (I think 2021 was my 100 days of dip pen.) I planned on dip pen, but I didn’t follow through with getting my ducks in order.

The last few weeks have been complicated, so much so that I didn't gather my materials the way I would always suggest you do in advance. I didn’t stop and test (or “acid test,” as you’ve often heard me say) to see how I felt, which is also something I always recommend and have historically done especially before ICAD. This year, I did one or two quick contours, and that was it.

June 1 came fast.

The day before ICAD started, I realized I might not even have more than a few straggler index cards in the heavy weight I prefer, and if I ordered them, they wouldn’t arrive until the second week. That left me wondering, did I really need them? Maybe this year I should just use whatever cards I have. It fits my life.

A Rocky but Whimsical Start

On June 1, after a long day of work, ICAD was on my mind. I had seen notifications popping up here and there all day as people kicked off their summer ICAD series.

I ran a pharmacy errand, and I took a quick walk around a little loop that rings a small baseball field and borders a canyon. It was unusually empty that evening, and I kept watching for someone I could snap a photo of. That’s an important part of this project for me. This contour series is about figures, and I like that because it puts me in a space I don’t typically work in (full bodies) and also brings the issue of size to the foreground (fitting all or most of a full body into the space of an index card).

While I could find photos online, making this series work really hinges upon snapping photos, and, specifically, photos in sequence, of people. Taking my own photos deepens this process somehow, makes it more organic and connected and somehow “real” for me. With this series, I am most interested in bodies and clothes and movement, so what I am looking for is fairly straightforward, but getting these photos is an added challenge this year. (I think it’s a good element.)

Each lap around that little walking loop, I pass through the playground, and I squeal inside with delight as I walk over the soft, bouncy surface. There were lots of kids there, but I was looking for adults I could capture in the mundane moments of walking, talking, moving from here to there. I kept walking, and finally, afraid that I might not get photos at all, I snapped a few of the woman who was walking just ahead of me with a dog in tow. I wasn’t sure those would work. It’s been several years since I did the original series, but at least I had a few images.

(After snapping those, I looked up, and there was a kite stuck in a tall tree straight ahead of me. It was a magical moment, having just written about kites in this substack post.)

Wasted Time “Looking” for Things

Home again, I spent several flustered and frustrating hours looking for my nib holder. I didn’t turn up the holder or the little plastic box of nibs. I thought I knew where they were, but it was a classically frustrating search. I was hot and tired and sweaty, and I still needed to do my first index card. Give up? Give in? Make do?

In the end, I used a regular fountain pen, and it was fine. I spent time browsing to see if I could get a new nib holder and a new box of nibs, but I decided I might be just as content doing it with fountain pen. I had been thinking this would be a good opportunity for another dip pen series, one that would let me use dip pen in a looser way (definitely not planning on doing these contours with the needle-fine scratchy maru nib I used for portraits). Embracing the wobble and fluidity of one-line contour requires (for me) a loose and wet flow. This is a line I don’t want to control too much or struggle with. I want to just follow the zigs and zags and curves.

I know with fountain pen there will be an easy flow and looseness to the line. Maybe I'll switch or change as I go along. Maybe I’ll give in and buy a set of replacements. Maybe once I’m not looking, I will find my holder and nibs. But for now, I'm excited to have ICAD underway. (In a second round of searching that night, I did turn up what looks like a pack of heavy index cards. That was a silver lining surprise in all ways. While I don’t need a certain pen, I do need index cards. I had found some lightweight ones and thought I might just let it go. A lot of what I do anymore is about letting go and making do. I’m really grateful to have found a stack of heavier cards. That’s serendipity, for sure.)

I did Day 1. It was wobbly, which is partly something I love about one-line contour. Despite the one-line phrase, I also don’t sweat it if I have to stop somewhere and pick up again. I have “one line” as a goal, but I go with the drawing. I watch as I do them, always thinking about the line and the places I instinctively sometimes want to stop instead of backtracking out of a railroad or corner. The one line becomes a game of sorts, a bit of a puzzle, and captivating.

I think there’s a lot to this quirky one-line process. It feels like a breath of fresh air right now. I think my line will evolve, but I also don’t have to prove the start and finish of a line….. Although that might be a fun extension actually.

Simple one-line contour drawings for ICAD 2023 based on photos of someone walking ahead of me.

I did two views the first day. I only need to do one drawing and one card for ICAD, but this process takes on nuance and depth when there is more than one in sequence. In the 2019 series, I was doing the sequence all on the same page, so the views were side by side, and I think part of the magic was in the way I conceptualized that, the interplay between the snapshot moments, the slices of life. The individual index cards don’t have quite the same feel, but I like that this process is loose, encourages and requires close looking, and invites whimsy.

It also gives me a reason that I need to be snapping these photos again! On Day 2, having had to run to the post office, I took a quick walk and then sat for a minute on a bench in front of the pharmacy. I was with my son, so the process felt awkward. I felt rushed and conspicuous, and I didn’t get anything good. When I looked through the images I snapped later, I focused on a pair of a man who had passed on his way into the grocery store. They were challenging, but all in all, the first two days convinced me that this was a good choice for the summer.

I expect to change a few things as the series evolves. But you have to have a Day 1, and I'm okay with the start I got. I also think I can do this and still stay totally on track with my illustrated journal. I'll likely build in some overlap, too, which will be fun.

Looking Back

In preparing this post, I dug through my phone photos to find an image to use from the earlier series. Seeing these older images really reminded me of some of the elements from that series that I had forgotten. It also reminded me, again, of how much I loved it. I think this is going to be good.

Some of the daily one-line contour drawings from my 2019 series.

What Are You Doing for ICAD?

I hope your ICAD got off to a good start. Leave a comment below to summarize what you have planned. 

(Note: Lots of people do contours, in all forms. People do contours of objects, figures, scenes, buildings, landscapes and more. There are also really well-known artists who work with contour. Contour is a method and a style. I focus on doing my own thing.)

(Please note: Links to books or tools referenced in posts are Amazon affiliate links that help support these projects.)