A Broken Thing Can Tell a New Story.

INKTOBER DAY 26:  FRACTURE

A broken object can be the beginning of something new.

Sometimes, when we look at random shapes, we start seeing things that aren't really there.

A face in a cloud.

An animal in a shadow.

Two people in a crack.

This is called pareidolia: our brain's ability to find familiar shapes in unexpected places.

And we can use it to create visual metaphors.

For this image, I started with a broken bone.

But instead of showing two ordinary broken ends, I shaped them into two human profiles facing each other.

Suddenly, the fracture becomes something more.

We see two faces.

Two sides facing each other.

And here's the interesting part: these two faces were once part of the same bone.

Now they're separated, but they're still connected by the story of what they used to be.

What happened between them?

Will they ever come together again?

The image doesn't tell us.

And it doesn't need to.

Today's tip:

When you draw something broken, don't focus only on what's missing.

Look at the shapes created by the break.

Can you find a face, an object, or something unexpected in them?

Sometimes, the shape left behind tells a better story than the thing that broke.