The Picture Chains Technique uses the mindseye to picture the steps that move the visual narrative forward from the initial Specific Idea.
How does Picture Chains work?
The visual creative technique Picture Chains begins, as with all creative thinking, with the specific idea. What problem are you trying to solve with the Picture Chains technique?
Use your mind’s eye to picture the creative starting point. Then envision the picture steps that move the visual narrative forward from that starting point.
The creative technique Picture Chains is the equivalent of the text-based Chains and Laddering creative techniques, but using the brain’s visual creative pathways.
Picture Chains can develop a creative work through mirroring the Laddering technique, beginning with a fixed starting point and building a picture scenario that climbs out of that starting point towards a (yet to crystallise) creative outcome.
Alternatively Picture Chains can mirror the Chains technique, visualising links between a series of specific images, and connecting these images together to form a creative skeleton around which a creative work can develop.
Supplement: Picture Chains
The pictures that could assist in creative visualisation with Picture Chains can be obtained from online libraries such as Getty Images or Shutter Stock or the online presence of museums or art galleries.