Drawing Right

   

For years I’ve seen the book plastered on bookshelves and tables. I ignored it. After all, the cover of “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” was ugly and everybody knows you judge a book by its cover. (If we couldn’t judge a book by its cover it would be infinitely impossible, eh?) Anywho, I got a hold of the DVD from my local Library and, let me tell you, I was impressed. You can spend four years in art school at $40,000 and up or you can spend a couple of hours drawing with Betty Edwards. The tricks you’d get piecemeal in college over years, Betty distills into an hour-and-a-half DVD. Also, it’s fun. And her manner of speaking, hilarious. (Betty, you know it’s true.) Three morsels I learned:

1. Everyone can learn to draw. Every. One. Just like everyone can learn to read. Drawing is like reading in another big way, too: it must be taught. We learn to draw from others.
2. Why draw? Because it helps us think better. The human brain is split into a verbal side and a visual side. Drawing helps the visual. And since most of us have a less developed visual side, it helps the brain become more balanced.
3. Why does drawing feel good? When drawing, there comes a point when you’re so engrossed in it that it is no longer hard. It becomes fascinating. That means your brain has switched over to the visual side and it feels good to body and mind.

It is never too late to learn to draw. Maybe when you were eight you gave up drawing because you “didn’t do it well enough.” But, as hinted at above, your inability to draw is not your fault — you simply lacked a helpful drawing teacher. Why not allow yourself to release a limiting belief held since childhood? You will be surprised by what a good drawing teacher can unlock within you, and by the skill you have that you didn’t even know you had. So, like the cowboys out West used to say at High Noon, draw!

DVD - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Seven Lessons to Enhance Creativity and Artistic Self Confidence