Life Drawing and Figure Art

Books To Own: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Comment Written by Figure Drawing on September 8, 2009 – 12:33 pm

Do you think you can’t draw? Do you believe that it takes a natural born talent? Are these misconceptions about drawing holding you back from taking a Figure Drawing class? Then you need to read The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.

I have been drawing for a long time and there is a lot of “how to” books out there that will guide your training and help you to gain a technical insight. How many explain what drawing is really all about?

From The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, you will learn that drawing is about learning how to see. Betty Edwards has the ability to teach what to many artist’s, even instructors is seemingly unteachable.

I often explain to people that my job is to put myself in a somewhat meditative state, void of ideas, labels and language so that I could properly draw pictures. For along time they didn’t understand what I meant and it was very hard for me to come up with a grounded explanation.

Betty Edwards is straight-forward and clear in her instructions to have the artist disassociate themselves and what they think they know about the subject in terms of labels (“Left Brain”) and start breaking them down into what we perceive through our sight (“Right Brain”). The techniques and instructions in the book will have you thinking correctly when looking at your subject.

The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is not just for aspiring artists, but for anyone. The author devotes a lot of time to explaining how our left brain dominates all our thoughts and actions and that we must become accustomed to how it feels to use the right side of our brain, that the right side of our brain is where we see the world for what it is, while the left tries to label and organize it. Anybody can learn to see or hear and understand the creative side of their mind. Figure drawing is not the only benefit.

The exercises provided in the book will help you to eventually switch from left brain activity to right brain activity whenever you draw. The moment you start you will be able to turn off those parts of you mind that get in the way of truly seeing your subject and blocking your progress.

For further help and instruction you can also pick up New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook: Guided Practice in the Five Basic Skills of Drawing, designed to help you do more of  the exercises and get even more practice.

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