I've been having issues with drawing lately. Sometimes it comes easy to me, other times, it is more difficult. It has been the latter, more often than not, lately. So, I decided to take out my favorite and the most famous drawing book that I own, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards, and do one of the exercises from its pages. I have always had plans to make my way through the book in its entirety and do all the exercises, but have never had the discipline. It's always like "oh, I'll do this one--it's more fun. That one seems boring, etc..." I guess if I had had formal training, I would have had to do many exercises that I didn't like, so maybe I should force myself to go through the whole damn book. Or maybe not... Anyway, I chose the upside drawing exercise, which is one of the fun exercises, I think. What it forces you to do is look at the lines and shapes and to copy the drawing without having your brain be so concerned with the subject matter. Yes, it's a person (even though this particular drawing that you're copying is a Picasso, so it is a bit exaggerated or distorted person), but you're looking at it upside down, so it doesn't look as much like a person as it does a collection of lines and shapes. You want your brain to shift from that left mode way of looking at it as person, into the right mode way of looking at it as lines and shapes that connect with each other and fit together, etc... You're supposed to give yourself about 30 to 40 minutes to complete the drawing. Of course, being one that can never fully follow directions, I did it in about 10 minutes, so I don't think I gave myself time to fully make the shift. And there is such a temptation to turn it right side up, just to see if the drawing is looking correct. I resisted, but it drove me a bit crazy. I do think that my upside drawings always end up looking more expressive than my right side up drawings. I guess it's the whole letting go thing at work. Anyway, this is all I have for tonight. Not quite as cute as a rhino in pajamas...
3 comments:
what a great exercise and a very literal way to "look at something from a new perspective" Good for you for going back to the drawing book for some ideas. I hear you on not having the patience to go through a book and do all the exercises...but really doing any of the exercises is likely to help build new connections in your brain : ) and that is a good thing anytime---IMHO.
Keep up the good work although I think your drawing is beautiful already---i know how harsh are own inner critics can be.
any more upside down drawings to share?
I'm trying to catch up on your blog after being busy the last few days and I think this is so interesting. You did a beautiful job of drawing this exercise. I would have a very hard time doing something like this if I was an artist...it's good to try different things and bravo to you for trying it. Keep up the good work!
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