Learning to draw, learning to see

Why can some of us draw more realistically than others? A lot of us stop becoming better at drawing and our level remains the same as it was when we were young children. When we draw an eye, for example, we do not draw what an eye actually looks like – we draw the childhood symbol for an eye.

L mode and R mode Some of us don’t exercise the visual side of our brains enough– we train the L mode every day…with language, math problems etc… The R mode is neglected! Of course if you get a good education you should be using as much of your brain as possible…that’s why exercising the right hand side of your brain by learning to draw, can make you a smarter person in general!

Learning to make a mental shift You can force your brain to shift from one mode to the other. This will help you draw what you see, just as you see it.

Exercise 1 Draw the profile of a face. Include a forehead, nose, lips, chin and neck. As you draw the face, say the body part that you are drawing. Draw over the line a few times, repeating the words to yourself. Now try to draw the exact opposite side. What problems do you have? How can you solve the challenge?

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This is a drawing by Pablo Picasso. If I asked you to copy this drawing now, you might find it a little challenging. It is quite complex, with lots of lines. However if we turn the drawing upside down….

Then we are only using the right hand side of our brains. We are learning to see more carefully, because the image is no longer a coherent picture, it is just a collection of lines, and our brain has no problem processing these. Exercise 2 Section of an area in your sketchbooks. Get an HB pencil, an eraser, and a sharpener. Start to copy the drawing. Keep it upside down at all times, and don’t look at anyone else’s work Only turn your picture over once you are done. Allow one hour to complete this task