‘My students’ most frequent comment after learning to draw is “Life seems much richer now that I am seeing more.” That may be reason enough to learn to draw.’ — Betty Edwards
Drawing has always come naturally to me.
For this gift I must thank my dad (he’s a better draughtsman than I am!), however, what has really helped me develop my ability is the fact that I have always loved drawing. And painting. Indeed, I have always found it pleasurable to just look at things. Plus, since I studied Architecture, I have the need to think with my hand, sketch thoughts and visualise them on paper. It helps me organise my ideas.
In reality, though, I’ve never learned to draw properly. Even in uni when we had a subject called ‘Analysis of Forms’, I would just cheekily cheat and intuitively draw, without using the pencil as a prop to measure the building as we were supposed to do. I called it drawing with my eye. My professor (bless her) once said to me: Ana, your drawings are perceptual orgasms! I knew there was something there in the process, but still, I didn’t fully understand what it was that was helping me draw.
This is why I took so much interest in the book I am reading by Betty Edwards: ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’. This book is teaching me to look in a clearer way, more like an artist, to take advantage of the visual side of my brain.
The principle of Edwards’ approach is the need to trick our brains into dropping the predominance of the left hemisphere of the brain, the verbal, logical, dominated-by-language side, in favour of the right hemisphere of the brain, the creative and visual side. The best thing of it all, according to Edwards, is that drawing is a basic skill that can be learned at the same level of ability as reading and writing.
‘We know that learning to draw, like learning to read, is not dependent on something called “talent”, and that, given proper instruction, every person is able to learn the skill.’
This is very good news for all of us.
Mastering the skill is definitely something else (we all know how to write but we are not all poets), but we can all learn this vital skill at a basic level.
The four fundamental perceptual skills that Edwards trains you in the book are:
The perception of edges (seeing where one thing ends and another starts)
The perception of spaces (seeing what lies beside and beyond)
The perception of relationship (seeing in perspective and in proportion)
The perception of light and shadows (seeing things in degrees of values)
The perception of the gestalt (seeing the whole and its parts)
I am still starting the book but I can tell her methods are already working. I am learning to draw what I see more accurately. Indeed, I am learning to look harder, paying more attention to edges, lines, colours, and shapes. However, I have also noticed something else, which might be the reason why I am making progress: I already tend to make a lot of use of the right side of my brain - I am an architect. I am trained in visualising spaces and looking at the relationship of things in space, looking at the overall (building, masterplan) whilst recognising the details at the same time. This is why I wasn’t surprised when I easily zoned out into right-side mode with some of the exercises, such as the one on the edges or drawing a horse upside down, it came instinctively because I am already unconsciously switching to my right brain daily.
‘The ability to draw depends on one’s ability to see the way an artist sees. This kind of seeing, for most people, requires teaching, because the artist’s way of seeing is very specific and very different from the ways we ordinarily use vision to navigate our lives.’
Edwards’ method is an interesting approach to learning to draw. One that is based on pure perception and looking. It is also interesting the way she links drawing and creativity:
‘Learning to see in a different way requires that you use your brain differently. (…) Learning to draw may uncover potentialities that are unkwnown to you right now. (…) you will enhance your ability to think more creatively in other areas of your life.’
In reality, perhaps I wasn’t that far off from understanding the process when in uni I drew with my eye:
‘The painter draws with his eyes, not with his hands. Whatever he sees, if he sees it clearly, he can put down. (…) Seeing clear is the important thing’ — Maurice Grosser
‘Seeing clear is the important thing’, and this book does help you in that process. A must-read for anybody learning to draw and see!
✏️✨
Happy sketching!
Ana
Have you been drawing recently? It would be great to hear about it! Leave a comment and share your thoughts :)