The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards Page A
Authors: Betty Edwards
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brain-modes. The purpose of this exercise is just the reverse of the previous one.
Upside-down drawing: Making the shift to R-mode
Familiar things do not look the same when they are upside down. We automatically assign a top, a bottom, and sides to the things we perceive, and we expect to see things oriented in the usual way—that is, right side up. For, in upright orientation, we can recognize familiar things, name them, and categorize them by matching what we see with our stored memories and concepts.
When an image is upside down, the visual clues don’t match.
“The object of painting a picture is not to make a picture—however unreasonable that may sound . . . The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being [Henri’s emphasis], a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. [The picture] is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state.”
From The Art Spirit by American artist and teacher Robert Henri, B. Lippincott Company, 1923.
The message is strange, and the brain becomes confused. We see the shapes and the areas of light and shadow. We don’t particularly object to looking at upside-down pictures unless we are called on to name the image. Then the task becomes exasperating.
Seen upside down, even well-known faces are difficult to recognize and name. For example, the photograph in Figure 4-4 is of a famous person. Do you recognize who it is?
You may have had to turn the photograph right side up to see that it is Albert Einstein, the famous scientist. Even after you know who the person is, the upside-down image probably continues to look strange.
Fig. 4-4. Photograph by Philippe Halsman.
Inverted orientation causes recognition problems with other images (see Figure 4-5). Your own handwriting, turned upside down, is probably difficult for you to figure out, although you’ve been reading it for years. To test this, find an old shopping list or letter in your handwriting and try to read it upside down.
A complex drawing, such as the one shown upside down in the Tiepolo drawing, Figure 4-6, is almost indecipherable. The (left) mind just gives up on it.
Upside-down drawing
An exercise that reduces mental conflict
We shall use this gap in the abilities of the left hemisphere to allow R-mode to have a chance to take over for a while.
Figure 4-7 is a reproduction of a line drawing by Picasso of the composer Igor Stravinsky. The image is upside down. You will be copying the upside-down image. Your drawing, therefore, will be done also upside down. In other words, you will copy the Picasso drawing just as you see it. See Figures 4-8 and 4-9.
What you’ll need:
• The reproduction of the Picasso drawing, Fig. 4-7, p. 58.
• Your #2 writing pencil, sharpened.
• Your drawing board and masking tape.
• Forty minutes to an hour of uninterrupted time.
What you’ll do:
Before you begin: Read all of the following instructions.
1. Play music if you like. As you shift into R-mode, you may find that the music fades out. Finish the drawing in one sitting, allowing yourself at least forty minutes—more if possible. And more important, do not turn the drawing right side up until you have finished. Turning the drawing would cause a shift back to L-mode, which we want to avoid while you are learning to experience the focused R-mode state of awareness.
Fig. 4-5. In copying signatures, forgers turn the originals upside down to see the exact shapes of the letters more clearly—to see, in fact, in the artist’s mode.
Fig. 4-6. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770), The Death of Seneca. Courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph and Helen Regenstein Collection.
Photograph by Philippe Halsman, 1947. © Yvonne Halsman, 1989. This is the full photograph shown upside down on the page 56. We are indebted to Yvonne Halsman for allowing this unorthodox presentation of Philippe Halsman’s famous image of Einstein.
2. You
Upside-down drawing: Making the shift to R-mode
Familiar things do not look the same when they are upside down. We automatically assign a top, a bottom, and sides to the things we perceive, and we expect to see things oriented in the usual way—that is, right side up. For, in upright orientation, we can recognize familiar things, name them, and categorize them by matching what we see with our stored memories and concepts.
When an image is upside down, the visual clues don’t match.
“The object of painting a picture is not to make a picture—however unreasonable that may sound . . . The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being [Henri’s emphasis], a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. [The picture] is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state.”
From The Art Spirit by American artist and teacher Robert Henri, B. Lippincott Company, 1923.
The message is strange, and the brain becomes confused. We see the shapes and the areas of light and shadow. We don’t particularly object to looking at upside-down pictures unless we are called on to name the image. Then the task becomes exasperating.
Seen upside down, even well-known faces are difficult to recognize and name. For example, the photograph in Figure 4-4 is of a famous person. Do you recognize who it is?
You may have had to turn the photograph right side up to see that it is Albert Einstein, the famous scientist. Even after you know who the person is, the upside-down image probably continues to look strange.
Fig. 4-4. Photograph by Philippe Halsman.
Inverted orientation causes recognition problems with other images (see Figure 4-5). Your own handwriting, turned upside down, is probably difficult for you to figure out, although you’ve been reading it for years. To test this, find an old shopping list or letter in your handwriting and try to read it upside down.
A complex drawing, such as the one shown upside down in the Tiepolo drawing, Figure 4-6, is almost indecipherable. The (left) mind just gives up on it.
Upside-down drawing
An exercise that reduces mental conflict
We shall use this gap in the abilities of the left hemisphere to allow R-mode to have a chance to take over for a while.
Figure 4-7 is a reproduction of a line drawing by Picasso of the composer Igor Stravinsky. The image is upside down. You will be copying the upside-down image. Your drawing, therefore, will be done also upside down. In other words, you will copy the Picasso drawing just as you see it. See Figures 4-8 and 4-9.
What you’ll need:
• The reproduction of the Picasso drawing, Fig. 4-7, p. 58.
• Your #2 writing pencil, sharpened.
• Your drawing board and masking tape.
• Forty minutes to an hour of uninterrupted time.
What you’ll do:
Before you begin: Read all of the following instructions.
1. Play music if you like. As you shift into R-mode, you may find that the music fades out. Finish the drawing in one sitting, allowing yourself at least forty minutes—more if possible. And more important, do not turn the drawing right side up until you have finished. Turning the drawing would cause a shift back to L-mode, which we want to avoid while you are learning to experience the focused R-mode state of awareness.
Fig. 4-5. In copying signatures, forgers turn the originals upside down to see the exact shapes of the letters more clearly—to see, in fact, in the artist’s mode.
Fig. 4-6. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770), The Death of Seneca. Courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph and Helen Regenstein Collection.
Photograph by Philippe Halsman, 1947. © Yvonne Halsman, 1989. This is the full photograph shown upside down on the page 56. We are indebted to Yvonne Halsman for allowing this unorthodox presentation of Philippe Halsman’s famous image of Einstein.
2. You
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