Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Exercises
Fifth and Sixth Graders are starting the year with exercises designed to help them learn how to draw better.
In her book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", Betty Edwards uses brain research to devise exercises that help switch off the left brain in order to allow the right brain to take over. The left brain is in charge of functions such as analysis, math, words, etc. The right brain is the creative, non-verbal side where drawing happens. People who have experienced being in the right brain mode describe a spiritual, meditative state of well-being.
For instance, the students started by drawing a human profile — naming the parts as they drew (a left brain function). They then drew a mirror image of the profile next to it — focusing on lines, shapes, angles, and spaces (a right brain function). The result is an optical illusion of seeing either two faces or a vase. They repeated the exercise with a monster face. Next, they tried a blind contour drawing of their hand. In a blind contour drawing, one does not look at the paper. This exercise teaches you to really see what you are looking at as opposed to what you think you see. Another exercise involved copying a famous drawing by Pablo Picasso upside-down! Drawing something upside-down is another way of switching off the left brain because instead of focusing on what you are drawing (an eye, an ear, etc.), you focus on lines and their relationships to one another. The results are astonishing good!
In her book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", Betty Edwards uses brain research to devise exercises that help switch off the left brain in order to allow the right brain to take over. The left brain is in charge of functions such as analysis, math, words, etc. The right brain is the creative, non-verbal side where drawing happens. People who have experienced being in the right brain mode describe a spiritual, meditative state of well-being.
For instance, the students started by drawing a human profile — naming the parts as they drew (a left brain function). They then drew a mirror image of the profile next to it — focusing on lines, shapes, angles, and spaces (a right brain function). The result is an optical illusion of seeing either two faces or a vase. They repeated the exercise with a monster face. Next, they tried a blind contour drawing of their hand. In a blind contour drawing, one does not look at the paper. This exercise teaches you to really see what you are looking at as opposed to what you think you see. Another exercise involved copying a famous drawing by Pablo Picasso upside-down! Drawing something upside-down is another way of switching off the left brain because instead of focusing on what you are drawing (an eye, an ear, etc.), you focus on lines and their relationships to one another. The results are astonishing good!