Rorschach - the Ink Blot

Principles of Design – Focal Point

Hermann Rorschach• Hermann Rorschach was born on Nov. 8, 1884,

Zurich, Switzerland and died April 2, 1922, Herisau.

• He was a Swiss psychiatrist who devised the inkblot test that bears his name and that is widely used clinically for diagnosing psychopathology.

• The eldest son of an art teacher, Rorschach considered becoming an artist but chose medicine instead.

• In 1917 Rorschach discovered the work of Szyman Hens, who had studied the fantasies of his subjects using inkblot cards.

• In 1918 Rorschach began his own experiments with 15 accidental inkblots, showing the blots to patients and asking them, "What might this be?"

– Their subjective responses enabled him to distinguish among his subjects on the basis of their perceptive abilities, intelligence, and emotional characteristics.

• The Rorschach test is based on the human tendency to project interpretations and feelings onto ambiguous stimuli, in this case, inkblots.

What is the Rorschach?• Most people have heard of the Rorschach test

(pronounced "ror-shock"), but few have ever seen a real Rorschach inkblot.

• The blots are kept secret. When you see an inkblot in a popular article on the test (as in the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on the Rorschach test), they are fake: it's an inkblot, but not one of the inkblots. – There are only ten Rorschach inkblots. – Psychologists want the blots to remain a secret from the

general public so that reactions to the blots will be spontaneous.

How do you create an inkblot?

• Take your paper, and fold it in half.

– 5 vertical and 5 horizontal.

• Dribble watercolor onto one side of the page, fold and press together with hand.

– The more pressure, the wider the spreading and the more mixing of colors you will see.

– The more liquid the color, the more blending, the less liquid the color, the crisper the shapes will be and the mote texture you will see.

You may create shapes, or just splash and see what

develops…

Horizontal and vertical…

Your assignment…• Create 10 inkblots.

– 5 by folding the paper vertically, and 5 by folding the paper horizontally.

• Look carefully at each of them and decide which one you like the best.– Either because you “see” something in it, it reminds you of

something or simply because the colors and shapes appeal to you.

• This is your final homework assignment.– Assignment will be due by the end of the last week of the course.

Your assignment…• Take the inkblot and scan into PhotoShop.

• Using your PhotoShop skills and what you have learned so far, turn the ink blot into a finished piece of art.– The finished artwork may be subject matter of your choice.– You may scan (at 300 DPI minimum) in new materials to add to

it, you may download stuff to add to it, you may use PhotoShop to draw on it (the possibilities are limited only by your imagination)…

– The artwork should be representational (a person, place or thing) – no abstract designs.

– The finished artwork should be balanced.– The finished artwork should have a focal point.

– Extra credit if you can use pattern or rhythm.

• Gnarls Barkley video “Crazy”

What do you see in this inkblot?Anything that might be turned into something?How many alternatives can you see?

Not a great solution but something I whipped up quickly as a solution.

Why not great? Crystal still doesn’t quite merge with the blot as one thing yet.

Misc stuff (I thought was interesting)

This is one of Rorschachs inkblots, but was rejected by him as unsuitable.