Order Out of Chaos
An ongoing series of hand and digitally drawn artworks, born from a deeply personal process. Created during a period of physical healing and emotional uncertainty, this work began with spontaneous, chaotic lines and slowly evolved through mindful practice into detailed, intentional compositions. It’s a visual meditation on finding meaning, pattern, and peace in disorder.
The Sketchbook
Where it began…
In late 2017 Chris started easing himself back in to drawing, having been otherwise occupied for several years before hand.
This came to be in light of a serious change in his health. An impending operation and what would turn out to be quite a lengthy recovery…
Chris’ process is simple - Create a messy squiggle using a pencil, then trace over the lines with a pen.
Though simplistic, there are a few requirements in order to create images like these; A steady hand to trace the lines carefully, the ability to find order in the chaos, and the willingness to sit looking at the same page for what was sometimes hours on end!
There is an element of excitement and unknowing in the process. He never is sure of what the piece will become until he had filled a good portion of the cells…
And of course, one must have squinted at the page for a good period before anything tangible could be achieved.
Chris’ process developed over the weeks and months between consultations and meetings with doctors. Until he made his way to the hospital in the January of 2018…
Sitting in the hospital waiting for his pre-op, Chris was not able to focus in on very much at all. Only the thoughts of what if, how, and why.
It wasn’t until post-op that he had the mental clarity to really dig in - That’s to say the worst was over.
“It’s a strange thing to be sat in a hospital hours away from home, on your own. That paired with not being allowed to move ‘too much’, it turns out that one has a vast expanse of free time, and the hours can pass painfully slow.”
- Chris Fisher
So between small naps, reading, and attempting to have enough signal to stream music Chris turned his hand to his sketchbook and got to work.
In the five days Chris was in the hospital, before being discharged, he was able to fill a surprising number of pages! We have included a selection of these hand draw pieces below.
The digital
Where it continues…
During his recovery, Chris invested in an iPad with the Apple Pencil. This was a revelation, and paired with Adobe’s sketchbook app, the possibilities opened up for Chris and his chaotic squiggles.
The ability to swap layers and undo mistakes as opposed to being forced to stick with them and make the best of bad pen control changed the process drastically.
Playing with line thicknesses added to the effect - These digital images took far less time to produce, but due to the reduced amount of spare time towards the end of his recovery, Chris produced fewer works in the later, digital portion of the series.
There were also options to play with symmetry. Which of course Chris took full advantage of as you will find further down the gallery.
The more Chris stared, squinted, and ruminated - allowing his mind to wander, the more he realised just how much of an impact his time drawing was having as well as just how much further he had to go in his recovery, not just physically but mentally, and emotionally too.
The more he studied these images, and his own thoughts in the process the more he realised what, or who was staring straight back at him!
Years later, as Chris’s methods progressed, and as his perspectives changed he found himself.
He also found that looking back at him were faces within the ‘doodles’, which he was most amused by!
The digital techniques allowed a degree of planning. In the gallery section below you will find a selection of these drawings that Chris put a lot more time into and allowed himself to draft lines, shapes, and forms before committing to the final lines you see.
The mindfulness of this style of drawing became a huge part of Chris’ wider recovery. Working his way away from a previous version of himself in to a new required time, and these drawings and the method he employed felt to him as thought it was giving him exactly that.
He is still in fact a work in progress himself, even if he tells you otherwise!