Drawing on the right side of the brain

When I was in high school, my art teacher gave us an activity that completely transformed how I saw drawing. This structured activity, lasting only one lesson, has stayed with me ever since and I have so much gratitude for Mr C for sharing this with me because it really improved my drawing. Since becoming a teacher and using this activity myself, I now know that the creator of this invaluable activity is Betty Edwards, and she published it in her book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” in 1979.

In a previous post The Secret to Drawing, I wrote that the key to drawing better is in learning how to see. Keen observation will teach you where to put lines and shadows, but this can be tricky to teach. Often there is so much going that it becomes overwhelming! Look at this drawing by Picasso.

Portrait of Igor Stravinsky by Pablo Picasso

It is a complex network of lines, not to mention the use of foreshortening. To draw this accurately would be beyond most people, but Edwards has a trick for you that would make this possible: use the right side of the brain.

We all know that there are two sides of the brain, each having different functions. The left side deals with numbers, sequences, words and language. It is your rational and verbal brain. It works quickly, labelling and categorising information for you. The right side deals in patterns, pictures and holistic thinking. It is your intuitive and non-verbal brain. This is the brain we want to draw with, but our left-brains tend to dominate like noisy parrots because it deals with language. So how do we switch from left brain to right brain mode?

Let’s go back to our Picasso drawing. Here’s the trick, ready?

Turn it upside down.

The image is hard to recognize upside down. The left brain can’t “read” the scrambled image or identify any of the parts. Instead it is left with a mess of lines and shapes and the left brain gives up. Now the right brain, master of non-rational thinking, is free to digest the mess of information differently. When looking at the image upside down, you can focus on the lines without labelling them as ‘hands’, ‘trousers’ or whatever. The attention is on the angle or length of the lines and this leads to more accurate drawing.

Try it for yourself. If you want to see the difference it makes turning it upside down, try drawing it the right way up first. I guarantee you it will be more accurate drawn upside down.

Happy drawing,

Until next time,

Erin

PS - Here's my upside-down drawing :)