Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

When my wife, an artist, received this book recently as a gift, we both had a good laugh over it, for Emma is self-taught and extremely talented in many areas of artistic expression. Good-natured and a voracious reader, she cracked open the book and was pleasantly surprised by what she learned about herself and the way humans visually perceive things. Drawing On The Right...can't turn no-talents into featured artists at big-city galleries, but it can open the doorway between the creative mind and worried hands and allow those who "can't draw a straight line" to find delight in doing simple portraits or design where there was little aptitude for these things before. Emma thoroughly enjoyed the simple exercises and her work underwent an immediate leap towards the refinement of her style. It also helped her experiment artistically with styles she'd never explored before. I relented and read it myself, amazed at my own progress with simple line drawings and determining the placement of shadow. She'll always remain the artist, but now I can better express my own ideas on paper with brushes or graphite, sketching for my own enjoyment or giving her outlines she can flesh out for me with colors and shadows. Not entirely an instructional guide, Drawing...reads nothing like a boring textbook and ventures into fascinating studies of people who've suffered brain injury and how this affects perception. A fantastic and highly recommended book for artists (even great ones), art therapists, art teachers, beginning artists, or anyone who ever thought they had no talent or couldn't accomplish anything. This book gives hope where there was none before, can boost self-esteem, and improves near-perfection in art.

An acquaintance who is gainfully employed in the graphic arts commented on the sudden improvement in my drawing from scrawls to something distantly resembling art. He asked what I had been doing to improve and I told him that I had been following the course of instruction in the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards.

"Oh", he replied. "That b**ch."

Apparently, Dr. Edwards is attaining a status among some professional artists similar to TV's infamous Masked Magician. She has DARED to lay open for all to see the very process by which the artistic eye and mind can dissasemble something (a face, a landscape, a still life) and reassemble it on paper. She has opened up the world of drawing to all of us. She has given all of us the means to express ourselves in a way that we had all believed belonged to a privileged few. And for that, her work is admired by millions and reviled, understandably, by a few.

Inspiring so much passion at BOTH ends of the scale is quite an accomplishment.

For many of us, drawing a picture can be an extremely frustrating experience. The pencil just won't record what we see without much effort. There is a fundamental reason for this. In Betty Edward's groundbreaking book, she demonstrates how a great struggle is waged within our brains between the left and right hemispheres. We've become so accustomed to using the analytical left-side most of the time throughout the day, that we have difficulty shutting it down, and letting the more spontaneous right-side express itself. This book is all about excersizing that other half.

I read this book, and later took a course based on this book. In fact, the book was really all I needed. For anyone who thinks drawing is a talent you have to be born with-check out the drawings by Van Gogh included in this book. It seems Vincent was in despair and was going to give up art, until he read a book on drawing (but not this one!). The author gives a before and after example of Van Gogh drawings. The difference was amazing, and clearly shows that drawing is a skill you can learn, no matter how inept your drawing is at first. Do the tasks in this book, and while you may not draw as well as Vincent (or you may), you will be pleased with the improvement you make.

I bought this book years ago, and it taught me how to dramatically improve my drawing skills.

I believe people who are blocked from drawing well will get the most from this book. More accomplished artists may benefit as well by understanding better how the process works.

It shows you how to look at things differently, and uses different techniques to enable you to bypass your left (logical) brain, and access your right brain, (your subconscious mind), hence the title.

Instead of using left brain- right brain theory to describe this, in my view the more correct description would be to learn to access your subconscious mind which functions at a deeper level, while reducing the way in which your conscious mind interferes with the creative process.

Your brain has four levels of consciousness, beta which is normal waking state, alpha which is a relaxed meditative state such as when you are about to go to sleep, theta which is a deeper state associated with creativity and light sleep, and delta which is deep sleep.

Normally, your brain shows shows some activity at all these levels. Artists and other creative people are able to access the creative mental state more easily.

Here is an example of how the process works.

If you try to draw a chair you may have a definite idea in your logical mind of how a chair should be, so when you draw you are thinking 4 legs, a seat and a back. You know all the legs are the same length, and therefore you may draw that way.

This can interfere with you doing a good drawing, because each leg from an artistic viewpoint is longer or shorter depending on the distance from your eye, so you have to learn how to use your vision to see it differently.

This can interfere with you doing a good drawing, because each leg from an artistic viewpoint is longer or shorter depending on the distance from your eye, so you have to learn how to use your imagination instead.

In this book there is a picture of something such as a chair or a person's face, and you may draw it as it is. You can also use a picture from a newspaper or magazine. This represents your current skill level.

Now, turn the picture upside down and draw the picture upside down. As you do this drawing, you may notice that you are producing a more accurate copy of the picture. This is because you are now using different skills. I was amazed at the results. This is so simple to do. Try it yourself and discover how easy it is.

There are other examples and illustrations to show you how to see pictures differently, and use space, light and shade, optical illusions and so forth.

As you become more experienced you will learn how to use your new skills automatically. I particularly enjoyed using pictures of movie stars, turning them upside down, copying them, and then doing it again right side up.

I have referred several people who would love to draw well to this book. If you are not as artistic as you would like to be, and were to follow the exercises in this book there is no reason your skill level should not improve dramatically. Naturally, the more you practice, the more you improve. If it worked for me, it can work for you. This is pretty easy.

Imagine drawing anything you want to draw completely accurately, and with incredible detail, subtlety and nuance just like a professional artist. This potential is just a few clicks away. If it worked for me, it can work for you, as my natural drawing was ability not good.

If you find this review helpful, please click yes.