Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence

by Betty Edwards

Book Overview

A revised edition of the classic bestselling how to draw book. A life-changing book, this fully revised and updated edition of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is destined to inspire generations... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874775132
• ISBN13: 9780874775136
• Release Date: May 1989
• Publisher: Tarcher
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful illustrations

The text is wonderful! Like actually having a nice teacher walk you through the steps.

It really makes a difference!

I have always been a pretty good artist, especially at drawing so when I signed up for a drawing course that used this title as it's text, I really expected to coast through! No way! The instructor (Pat Whyte, bless her soul) used many exercises in this book and really educated me about what drawing really was. My technique improved immensely and the book was a wonderful resource that was easy to use and understand, plus it really showed some amazing examples of what people had done using her exercises. If you can't draw a straight line THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU BECOME AN ARTIST. If you are already a pretty good artist, this book will make you BETTER! I am not joking! If you follow Betty's book and do the exercises, you will not believe the difference! I saw people in my class who came in drawing stick people get immeasureably better as the term went on. Just doing the "upside down" exercise properly will help you gain confidence and understanding about drawing NOT being a "talent" but a skill that can be learned!

Unlocking your creative abilities.

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

It took me from stick men to portraits in three days.

I can't emphatize how good this book is. I used to consider myself absolutely useless at drawing. I barely managed to pass exams at art classes at school. Now I am drawing fairly decent portraits from almost everyone I know. The book focueses on seeing the things' real shapes and it is just this non rational, non mathematically based approach that makes it work. I used to have big problems with proportions and perspective, and Betty Edwards made me realise it's all a matter of looking at things with loving attention (and not attaching a name to the bit you are drawing). This book has made me realise I've lost many years of my life blocking myself as an artist. Drawing is a skill that everyone can learn. Do it with this book!