He added that the rational mind was a faithful servant. “ Albert Einstein called the intuitive or metaphoric mind a sacred gift. This allowed us to read, write, summarise and analyse text and to carry out calculations. For example, we learned that symbols like words and numbers can stand for something else. Most of them required us to think analytically. We entered school and had a whole range of subjects to study. Skills other than drawing became more important. Unfortunately, for most of us, this is where it stopped. Draw Dad? Circle, circle, circle, line, line. It’s also useful when you’re trying to draw someone’s face from memory. In less dramatic terms, forming abstractions is great because it’s linked to complexity reduction, conceptual thinking and problem solving³. Rather than thinking about what things mean or what they look like exactly, we can use fast short cuts: if you see that there is a big red object on 4 wheels quickly approaching, you might want to think “car!” instead of standing on the street appreciating the interplay of light & shadow on the bonnet. Similarly, eyes, torsos, faces are expressions of the abstract concept of a circle.īeing able to form abstractions is incredibly useful. For example we can group together things like fingers, sun rays and tree trunks because they can all be represented by the abstract concept of a line. Maybe they even taught us how to draw a face like this: 1 big round circle, 2 small circles for the eyes, 1 line for the nose, and 1 more for the mouth.Īt a young age, we learned to build abstractions of what we saw in the real world. ![]() Our parents loved it, encouraged us to go on. Soon we got the handle on how to draw different shapes and make use of different colours. Nevertheless, as kids most of us learned the basics: pick up a pen, put it down on a piece of paper and move it around.Īs kids we progressed quickly. We all know how to drawĭrawing doesn’t come naturally to all of us. It contains a lot more theory and practical tips, which greatly improved my drawing ability after I read it some years ago. This article is inspired by the book Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards², which I highly recommend reading. ![]() In this article I want to give you one piece of advice if you want to become better at drawing: learn how to draw negative spaces. But the good news is that no matter your current skill level, with some practice you’ll be able to improve your drawing skills substantially. Not everyone can become the next van Gogh of course. ![]() I picked this quote because it really sums up what this article is about: whatever your age or background or what your Arts Teachers told you, learning to draw is independent of talent and everyone can learn it. The above quote is taken from a letter written by Vincent van Gogh to his younger brother Theo in 1880.¹ 1880 marked the year when van Gogh started his (short) painting career - he was 27 years old at the time. I had been thinking about it for a long time, but always considered it impossible and beyond my abilities” “I cannot tell you how happy I am that I have taken up drawing again.
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