1. 1. Based on the work of BettyEdwards
2. 2. Alearnable skill Learning to see in a special way A special state of consciousness A path to creativity A risk. Becoming an artist will only workfor you if you are willing to try. Do not beconcerned or embarrassed about theearly outcomes. Every mistake becomessomething to learn from and gets youcloser to seeing like an artist.
3. 3. Drawa person without looking at anyone.There are no specific directions for this, onlythe general task of drawing a person. Draw a picture of your own hand. If you areright-handed, draw your left hand. If you areleft-handed, draw your right hand. Draw a picture of plant or flowers in a vase. Draw a picture of the house you grew up in.
4. 4. Thefunction of language is in the lefthemisphere for most people Scientists discovered this by observingpeople with brain injuries Left hemisphere is usually dominantbecause speech and language arerelated to thinking, reasoning and highermental functions.
5. 5. Scientists used to think that the righthemisphere was less-evolved. It is connected to the left brain by a thicknerve cable, the corpus callosum, whichallows communication between the two. Each half of the brain works in acomplementary fashion for differentmodes of thinking.
6. 6. In one test, two differentpictures were flashed for aninstant on the a screen, with asplit-brain persons eyes fixedon a midpoint so that scanningboth images was prevented. Each hemisphere receiveddifferent pictures. A picture of a spoon on the leftscreen went to the right brain;a picture of a knife on theright screen went to theverbal left brain. If asked to name what hadbeen flashed on the screen,the confident, articulate lefthemisphere caused thepatient to say, a knife.
7. 7. Then the patient was asked to reachbehind a curtain with his left hand (righthemisphere) and pick out what hadbeen flashed on the screen The patient picked out a spoon from thegroup of objects that had a knife and aspoon. If the experimenter asked the patient toidentify what he had in his hand, thepatient looked confused for a momentand said, a knife. The right hemisphere knew the answerwas wrong but did not have the words tocorrect the articulate left hemispherecausing the person to shake his headasking out loud,Why am I shaking myhead?
8. 8. Research suggests that ability to draw may depend onwhether you have access to the capabilities of theminor or sub-dominant right hemisphere andwhether you are able to turn off the dominant leftbrain and turn on the right. How does this help? The right brain perceives,processes visual information, in the way one needs tosee in order to draw, and the left brain perceives inways that seem to interfere with drawing. The key idea is that there are two ways of knowing.Think politics: people analyze good and bad pointsabout an issue and finally vote on their gut feelings.
9. 9. THE RIGHT HEMISPHERETHE LEFT HEMISPHERE Uses intuition and leaps of Uses logic, Very sequential,insight.a = b = c. Has moments when Analyzes and draws someeverything falls into place.conclusions It is intuitive, subjective, Categorizes and names.rational, holistic. Does not sequence but looks School is designed toat the whole problem. cultivate the verbal, rational Is a dreamer, an imagineerleft brain.and operates in a time-free The left brain attends tomode not valued by society. time management. Deals in spatial relationships.
10. 10. Imagine this R larger orImagine this L as smaller and attachlarge as a high-risefunctions of personsapartment buildingdrawing, painting, playingor the pyramids.melodies, sculpting andNow think of the L in dreaming with a sense ofthe context oftimelessness. Since theseletters, numbers, images are less concrete, itequations, diagrams,may tax the power of yourmaps, books, andimagination. How do youwith images ofattach an image to non-lawyers,time? Perhaps like Dalismathematicians andmelting clocks. How do youscientists. Touch the imagine Ah-Ha? Takeleft side of your time until you can call up ahead and imaginepicture, then touch thethat you are placingright side of your head andit inside your head.place the image inside.
11. 11. Now, shift the images to the opposite side. Themathmatician, the scientist can move across the corpuscallosum to the R-mode in order to imagine and dreamof new inventions; the artist and musician can migrateto the L-mode to analyze aesthetic problems. Do this shift several times. Practice making this mentalshift will help you during the drawing exercises. Imagine connections between your left and right brainas tubes or wires. Imagine the pathways in color goingfrom left to right. Now switch to the right brain and imagine connectionsgoing to the left. Now imagine the whole system and its crossoverpotential.
12. 12. Albert Einstein
13. 13. Speed is one consideration. Whichhemisphere gets the answer thequickest? Motivation is the other. Whichhemisphere cares the most or likes thetask, and conversely, which hemispherecares the least and like the job the least.
14. 14. Drawing is a right-brain function and to do itwell, one must keep the left-brain out. The left brain is dominant and speedy; it isquick to rush in with symbols and wordstaking over jobs it is not good at. It prefersnot to relinquish tasks to its dumb partnerunless it really dislikes the job, eitherbecause it takes too much time, is toodetailed, or slow. To learn to draw, we must find tasks that theleft-brain will turn down.
15. 15. Theleft brain has no patience for carefulobservation of stuff it already has a symbolfor. The left brain is impatient with carefulobservation and attending to the subtletiesand nuances of drawing a leaf, for instance,in the exact way you see it. It says, I have asymbol for a leaf. Here it is. Now lets get onwith it. Left brain symbols are like computer icons.
16. 16. Draw a profile of a personshead. Draw horizontal lines on thetop and the bottom of yourprofile Go back and trace over theprofile saying the names ofthe features to yourself.Name the forehead, nose,upper lip, lips, etc. Namingis an L-mode task
17. 17. Nextstart the drawing at the top and draw theprofile in reverse to complete the vase. Watch for faint signals from your brain that youare shifting modes of information processing. You may be confused but note how you solvethe problem. You will experience that you are doing thesecond profile differently. This is right-hemisphere-mode drawing. Now do the drawing.
18. 18. The first profile was probably drawn quickly then you wentover the drawing naming the parts to yourself. This was left-hemisphere processing, drawing symbolic shapes frommemory and naming them In drawing the second profile you may have experiencedsome confusion or conflict. In continuing this drawing youhad to find a different way or process. You probably lost thesense of drawing a profile and found yourself scanning backand forth in the space between the profiles, estimatingangles, curves, inward sweeping and outward curvingshapes and lengths of line in relation to the opposite shapes,which now become unnamed. You were drawing by checking where you were and whereyou were going; by scanning the space between the firstprofile and your copy in reverse. You were not drawing symbols from your left brain butactually seeing spacial relationships.
19. 19. Draw a profile of theoddest face you canimagine. Again name the parts ofthe face to yourselfincluding wrinkles,warts, moles, and doublechins. Add the horizontal linesat the top and bottom. Now draw the other sideto make a baroque vase.
20. 20. The complexity of the second form can best bedone, and maybe can only be done, by shifting toright-hemisphere mode. The point of this exercise is not the drawing somuch as feeling the shift from left-mode andright-mode. Trying to draw a form using the left-mode is liketrying to use your foot to thread a needle.Learning to draw means learning to block out thebehaviors of the left-brain especially if it issending interference signals like making youimpatient or prompting you to talk, or especially,to giggle. These are distraction tactics when yourdominant left brain tries to take over.
21. 21. Thefirst drawing by Tiepolo was soconfusing that it was almost impossible todecipher when it was upside-down. Themind just gives up on it. Frustrating the leftlogical brain like this will help with yourdrawing. It will force the wimpy right-braininto action. Now you will try to draw a complicatedimage upside-down. You will force yourright brain to notice all the lines and spaces.First, lets read all of the instructions.
22. 22. Get your head in a quiet place. You may listen to music but nothing withwords. As you shift into R-mode the music may fade out. Give yourself atleast 30-40 minutes but your goal is to forget about time. If you findyourself wanting to glance at the clock, it is your left brain trying to takeover. Do not turn the drawing right-side up until you have finished. That mayonly allow the left-brain to intrude. Look at the drawing for a minute to see all the angles, shapes, and linesand how they fit together. Look at the shapes between the lines and howthey fit together. When you start to draw, start at the top and copy each line, moving fromline to adjacent line. Dont name the parts that maybe you could name.Just think this is not a h-a-n-d it is just a line that curves this way; this otherline crosses over and is at that angle, compared to the edge of the paper.Think of it as a jigsaw puzzle. Once you start, youll find yourself very interested in how the lines fittogether. Your L-mode will have turned off because this is not the kind oftask it likes; its too slow and too hard to identify things. Remember that allyou need to know is in front of you. Dont make it complicated; just copythe lines and form the shapes. Begin your drawing now working from line to line.
23. 23. Once you are finished, you will probably be quitesurprised at how well your drawing came out. Compare it to your pre-instruction drawing of aperson from memory. Most of these will be at theten-to twelve-year-old level which is typical ofadults in our culture who have not studieddrawing. Two important things come from your upside-down drawing. First is becoming aware of the leftto right shift. The second is your awareness thatmaking this shift enables you to see in the way atrained artist sees.
24. 24. Did you notice that you were somewhat unaware of thepassage of time? Did you notice that you were so absorbed that you did notlisten to any whispers or chatter? The R-mode is pleasurable because it releases you for atime from the verbal, symbolic domination of the L-mode,and thats a welcome relief. The enjoyment may come fromresting the left hemisphere, stopping its chatter, andkeeping it quiet for a change. This may explain centuries-oldpractices such as meditation. It is a break from what you do in school most of the time. It iswhy art class can often fly by so fast when you are reallyengaged in your work. I think it is a right-brain vacation. Next, lets review your childhood drawings and how youlearned to make symbol drawings so we can set them asideand move on to the adult level of perception needed fordrawing. You are ready.
25. 25. In our culture, most adultsdraw like children. Check out these drawings thatwere completed by a young,professional man who had justcompleted his doctoraldegree at a major university. He drew a bit; got restless,tense, and frustrated. He saidhe hated drawing, period. We say students who cannotread have dyslexia. You mightsay this man has dyspictoria ordysartistica. Many adults would like tolearn to draw better but theystopped because they thoughtthey could not learn to draw.
26. 26. Adolescence often marks the end of artisticdevelopment. Children are confronted with an understandingof how they would like to be able to draw andtheir current ability level. People can make insensitive remarks about theirdrawing ability and sometimes children will justquit. They conclude, I cant draw, just becauseof someones insensitive remarks. If students do not learn to draw in the early ormiddle grades, they rarely try to learn later on.
27. 27. Making marks on paper,or walls, or in storybooks, begins at age oneand a half. Imagine the wonder of achild experiencing ablack line emerge fromthe end of a stick. Most drawings emergeas circular movements. Children discover that adrawn symbol can standfor something. It is a bigdiscovery. It is Mommyor Daddy or whatever.
28. 28. At 3 a body is attached to ahead. Arms may grow out ofthe head or from the body. At 4, children are aware ofdetails of clothing. They showthe number of toes or fingersas well. Children draw and re-drawthese images over and overuntil they develop a specialimage, a symbol, that stays thesame. In this image, the features arethe same for each figure. Thecat even has the same hands.
29. 29. Thisis the beginningof a family portraitdrawn by a shy five-year-old whose everywaking moment wasdominated by hisolder sister. Using his figuresystem, he drewhimself.
30. 30. Then he added his mother using the same configuration, or symbol, but making adjustments for long hair and a dress.
31. 31. Headded his father who was bald and had glasses.
32. 32. Then he added hissister. Even Picasso couldhardly have expresseda feeling with greaterpower than this. The child had givenform to a formlessemotion showing howhe copes with hisoverwhelming sister.
33. 33. At five or six a child hasdeveloped enough symbols tocreate a landscape. Perhapsyou can remember yours. Usually it had windows,maybe curtains, a door with adoorknob to get in. It had asun, maybe in the corner,flowers, and maybe a tree withmaybe a swing. Stop for a moment and drawthe home you used to draw. Recall the pleasure thisdrawing gave you and howyou needed all the symbols tobe part of it that nothingcould be left out or it wouldbe unfinished.
34. 34. THE STAGE OFCOMPLEXITY During this time you addmore details hoping tomake your drawings morerealistic. You care less about wherethings are and more abouthow things look. Girls draw sweet things flowers in vases.
35. 35. Girlsdraw fashion models with big hair, lots of eyelashes, and often hands behind their backs because they can t draw hands.
36. 36. When drawings dont come out right and look realistic, children become discouraged. Say a ten-year-old wants to draw a cube that looks real. The child knows in his left brain that the cube has square sides so he tries to draw like this.But what he knows is not what he sees. This is when the child decides that he cannot draw.
37. 37. Sometimes a teachersolves the problem byshowing the student howto make it look real. Some children stumbleupon how to make it lookreal. If you do not discover theR-mode of seeing things,the left brain takes over. It says, I have a symbolfor a box or a chair, dontbother looking, and itworks very well most ofthe time.
38. 38. Adult or adolescent students do not usually see what is infront of their eyes. By learning to recognize the right-hemisphere mode, youare beginning to know how to see more clearly. To review: In R-mode there is a seeming suspension of time. Second: You pay no attention to the spoken word. You hearsounds but do not decode words. If someone speaks to you,you have to come out of it to understand. Third: what you are doing is intensely interesting. You feelenergized, confident, and locked on to what you are doing.It is a pleasurable task that leaves you feeling refreshed nittired. Our next exercises will try to get you to increase yourcontrol over the cognitive shift so you can place yourself intoR-mode at will.
39. 39. Find a place where you can be alone anduninterrupted. Set a timer or let Mrs. Phillips tell youwhen 20 minutes is up. This is so youwont be trying to keep track of time, anL-mode function. Tape a piece of paper onto your table soit wont move. You are going to draw your hand.
40. 40. Face all the way aroundfrom your paper and lookat the hand you are going todraw. Be sure to supportyour hand against yourbody so you can hold thepose Focus your entire attentionon the visual information infront of you and remove allattention from the drawingwhich might trigger yourchildhoodsymbol=patterns of how todraw a hand. The impulse to look will bestrong so turn all the wayaround from your paper.
41. 41. Focus on some edge of your hand and very slowly, a millimeter ata time, begin to draw every variation and undulation of the edge. As your eyes move, also move your pencil at the same pace on thepaper. Be convinced in your mind that what you perceive with youreyes is simultaneously recorded by your pencil which registerseverything you are seeing. Dont turn around and look at your drawing. Dont be concernedwith how it looks; be concerned with the process of seeingsomething as it actually is in front of you. Match the movement of your pencil to the movement of your eye.Do not let either get ahead of the other. Do not pause but stay at asteady pace. If you panic, it may be your left brain sensing that thisis a serious threat to its dominance. It kind of says, Stop this stupidstuff right now. I dont need to look anymore. I already have asymbol for this. Ive already named everything, even smallthings like wrinkles. This is boring, if you dont stop. Ill give you aheadache. Persist and ignore. For most students, this produces a deep shift into R-mode. There isa loss of time and the slowness of the drawing pushes away the L-mode. If this did not happen, continue to try. Eventually you will beable to suppress the L-mode at will.
42. 42. Modified contour is just like contour, but you allowyourself to glance at the drawing for the purpose ofrepositioning your pencil or judging angles. This time look at your hand and imagine a horizontaland a vertical line next to your hand. Imagine theangle as though it was drawn on paper. Draw movingfrom contour to contour, form to form. Dont draw theoutside and move to the inside. Do not talk toyourself and name the parts. Just concentrate on whatyou see. Look at your paper only to locate a point or check arelationship. Ninety percent of your time you shouldbe looking at your hand. When you come to the f-i-n-g-e-r-n-a-i-l-s- draw theshapes around the nails. Sense and observe what is in front of you becauseeverything you need is there. Fit things together likea jigsaw puzzle.
43. 43. Atfirst when learning to drive, you learnto brake, accelerate, signal, watch ahead,behind and at the sides. It takes coordination and practice. Drawing is the same way. The more youdo it, the easier it gets. The next assignment will give you morepractice.