Right Brain Drawing
Welcome to Art Class Time. This podcast will cover the classic book,
“Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, by Betty Edwards.
The Lesson: Exercises from the book that help anyone learn to draw
Supplies: Your eyes, pencil and paper
Begin this class by showing students the drawing called, “Carpenter”, by Vincent Van Gough; but, don’t reveal who the artist is. This picture and the following one are in the book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”.
Explain to the class that the man who drew this picture did so as he tried
to teach himself how to draw.
Ask students to point out what this beginning artist was struggling with? The proportion of the human body is wrong, the picture is very flat, there is no perspective or depth, the man looks stiff, there could be more shading or value with a light source, and it does not convey any feeling or emotion.
Next, show students the drawing, “Woman Mourning”. The same artist drew this picture only two years later and it is much improved. He taught himself to be an artist. Ask the debatable question, “Do you think drawing can be learned or do you have to be born an artist”?
The book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, by Betty Edwards, was ground-breaking when it was written and it remains an essential tool for
anyone wanting to teach or to learn how to draw. It is a collection of studies and exercises for anyone who would like to know how to tap into the parts of the brain that help you draw what you see. Even though the location of the brain used to draw is more complex than simply dividing it in half, the book uses the terms, Right-mode and Left-Mode to more easily convey the two methods of thinking.
Right Mode thinking controls:
drawing, music, creativity, and images
Left Mode thinking controls:
language, time, logic, and math
The left-mode is dominant most of the time but by training yourself to
use your right-mode you will become better at drawing. So, what does
right-mode feel like?
Think back to a time when reading a book you became lost in thought. It felt like a day dream or zoning out and you had to re-read everything over. This is Right-mode. The passage of time fades away, words recede, and anxiety disappears. It is a pleasant and peaceful activation of right-mode. Other
activities that produce this shift are jogging, meditation and listening to music.
The following exercises from the book are recommended to be done in order since they build on one another.
Ask your students to think back to when they were itty-bitty. How did they draw a tree. Most likely it was a stick with a circle and looked like a lollipop. Every time your younger self saw a tree your brain would say, “well, I’m not wasting time and energy drawing THAT tree when I’ve got a perfectly good memory of one tucked away”. So when you had your crayons out your dominant left-mode used the same lollipop tree over and over because it was fast and easy.
THE LESSON:
Exercise 1: SQUARING UP
Squaring up is a way to draw what you see with accuracy. For my class I used a line drawing of our school mascot, a tiger, and cut it into 20 equal size squares. Now, instead of a tiger, each square becomes simple lines and shapes. Give each student a square, of any line drawing you choose, and ask them to study the exact placement of the lines and shapes. Notice how far from the middle or corner each line is located. Tell them to focus on their square instead of trying to guess what the full drawing is.
On a larger blank square of blank paper, ask them to begin to draw what they see on their square. This is also an opportunity to teach gridding by dividing both squares into four quadrants lightly with pencil or by folding. Now the design is further simplified into four smaller drawings. Help students really see if they are making an accurate copy. When everyone is finished, have them assemble their drawings like a puzzle. How close is their finished art to the original?
Ask your students, “if they had been given the full picture to copy, in our case the tiger line drawing, would they have done a better job? Remember how we learned that your dominating left-brain mode likes to do things quickly and easily? If given the full drawing of the tiger, your brain would have taken a shortcut by using a memory of a tiger you’ve seen or drawn in the past. By dividing the drawing, your left-mode steps back, your right-mode engages, and your eyes see abstract lines and shapes which become the pathway to drawing.
Exercise 2: VASES VS FACES
Have your students sign their name on a piece of paper. Their
signature is uniquely theirs; an original drawing that they express through line. When compared to the other students’ signatures they all will have their own different styles.
This lesson is about setting up the experience of feeling the shift to
Right-mode. Remember, the left-mode is dominant and always in a hurry, even taking over jobs it’s not good at. This challenge is designed to give the brain a task that the left-mode either can’t or won’t do so the right-mode will engage.
Show students the picture of a goblet or vase in chapter 4 of the book or find one on the internet by searching vases vs faces. If students have never done this exercise before it really blows their minds. We are used to looking at objects like the vase but not looking at the space around the object like the profiles facing each other that outline the vase. When the kids finally see the profiles its like watching them see something for the very first time. Vase vs Face. Begin by doing this exercise on the board while the kids watch and then hand out pencils so they can try it.
Assuming you are right-handed start on the left side of the board and draw a profile of a face, monster or creature, facing to the right. (If you are left-handed do the opposite) Start at the top and name the parts of the face as you draw... hair, forehead, a wart on the forehead, bushy eyebrows, curly eyelashes, eyeball, lower lashes, bridge of the nose, the part under the nose called angel’s kiss, or what I call the ‘booger catcher’, the top lip, the lower lip, the huge chin, and a downward slope of the neck with an adams apple.
Now, on the right side of the board, start at the top and copy the profile you drew facing the left so the profiles are facing each other. The left-mode hates mirror images. It will not recognise the first profile, and will only see abstract lines and shapes. Creating a mirror image is a job for the right-mode. Drawing the second profile should feel like a struggle since your left-mode tries to do the job but can’t and gives way to the right-mode. Let your students give it a try so they can experience that struggle.
Another method for a deeper shift into Right-mode, is to draw a familiar picture with it turned upside down. For example, a picture of an elephant turned 180 degrees becomes lines and shapes which the right-mode draws well. Even your own signature turned upside down becomes abstract and requires the right-mode to engage.
Exercise 3: BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING
When demonstrating this exercise on the board, explain the process as you go, even though it may become difficult to talk as your right-mode takes over.
Ask your students to remove one of their shoes and set it on their table. Have them place their dominant hand with their pencil and paper as far away from their shoe as possible so they are not tempted to take a peek what they are drawing. The challenge is to look only at their shoe and VERY SLOWLY draw it WITHOUT TAKING THEIR EYES OFF IT. They should focus their entire attention on the details of their shoe so the left-mode is not triggered to draw a shoe it has in its memory. The impulse to look at their paper is powerful but tell them not to give in to their left-mode or the exercise won’t work. Also, the room must be quiet and free from words. So no talking and no looking at your drawing.
Find a starting point on the shoe and start to draw as slowly as possible. Move the pencil along the paper as if your eyes and pencil are connected. Look along the edge of the shoe, then move inward at a wrinkle or seam and back to the outline, while your pencil matches every movement your eyes make. Your left-mode will not have words for the small details you are drawing and that helps the right-mode take over. The struggle to draw something quickly from memory or the temptation to draw a pretty picture of a shoe will be very strong. Don’t give in!
After five or ten minutes, ask the class: “How did that feel?” Students who successfully tapped into their right-mode will have a drawing that looks extremely loopy or with lots of dashes but it will look nothing like a shoe. Did time slip away? Did voices recede and give way to a calm, dreamy, state where you became entranced in the minute details of your shoe? For students who have a drawing of what looks like a shoe, have them move their paper and pencil further away so peeking is impossible.
This is really an exercise in seeing. By learning to engage your right-mode you are beginning to see like an artist sees.
After the class is comfortable with this lesson you may amend it by allowing them to take an occasional look at what they are drawing but keep the focus on seeing and concentrating on their shoe.
These strategies are used by artists for warming up to draw or to look for inaccuracies in their drawings. The hope is that students who want to become serious artists will learn to use them as well.
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