The new drawing on the right side of the brain workbook: guided practice in the five basic skills of drawing

161 Pages·2002·103.13 MB·English

by  Betty Edwards

ART/CREATT\rrfY
LnanNrNGT o DRAwis very much like mastering
a sport or a musicali nstrument:t o advancey our
ability,y ou must practice,p ractice,p ractice.B ut in
practicing,w hat, specificallys, hould you draw?
This convenientw orkbook containst he
answerf:o rty basica nd new exercisesth at reinforce
the fiveb asics killso f drawing.E achp rovides
appropriates ubjectm atter,b rief instruction,s ample
drawings,a ready-madef ormat in which to draw,a nd
helpful post-exercisep ointers.I n addition to portrait
drawing with pencil, you will exploren ew subject
matter-still life, landscapei,m aginatived rawing-
usinga lternativem ediumss ucha sp en andi nk,
charcoala, ndc ont6c rayon.
If you aret aking a drawing class,h avea lready
receivedi nstruction through a book or course,o r
just prefer to learn by doing,t his volume of guided
practicew ill be a permanentr ecordo f your work
that offerst he perfect opporrunity to hone your skills
and expandy our repertoire.
r s B N 1- 5 8 5 4 2 - 19 5 - 2
llillliiltlrltliltltirlitlilril ll
TbeI r'iew
Drawing
on the Right Side
of the Brain
Workbook
Tarcher/Penguinb ooksa rea vailablea t speciaql uantiryd iscountsfo r bulk'
,asfeo rsalesp romotionsp,r emiumsf,u nd-raisinga,n de ducationanle eds.
ial bookso r book excerptsa lsoc an be createdt o fit specificn eeds.F or
, details,w rite Putnam SpecialM arkets, 36 Hudson StreegN ew York, NY roor4.
P. Tancnrn/Penguin
Jrnruv
a membero f
PenguinG roup (USA) Inc.
Hudson Srreet
37y
New York, NY roor4
www.penguin.com
Copyright Ozciozb y Betty Edwards
All rights reserved.T his book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any
form without permission.P ublished simultaneouslyi n Canada.
Library of CongressC ataloging-in-Publication Data
Edwards, Betqr.
The new drawing on the right sideo f the brain workbook: guided
pracdce in the five basics kills of drawing Betry Edwards.
/
P.cm'
IsnNr -;8y42-r95:-z
r. Drawing-Technique. I. Edwards,B ecy. Drawing on the right side of
the brain. II. Title.
Nc73o.E324o o2
zoozoz8769
74t:-d,czr
Cover drawing and instructional drawingsb y Brian Bomeisler
Book designb yJoe Molloy
Typesetin MonorypeJansona nd Gill Sansb y Mondo Typo, Inc.
Printed in Canada
16 15 14
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
TbeI r'iew
Drawing
on the Right Side
of the Brain
Workbook
Contents
Foreword vll
List of Supplies lx
Glossary of Terms
The Exercises
Exerciser Pre-Instruction Self-Portrait t
Exercisez Pre-Instruction Drawing of Your Hand
+
Exercise3 Pre-Instruction Drawing of the Corner of a Room 6
Exercise4 Warm-up and Free Drawing
9
Exercise5 The "Vase/Faces"D rawing r3
Exercise6 Upside-DownD rawing 17
Exercise7 Pure Contour Drawing 27
Exercise8 DrawingY our Hand on the PlasticP ictureP lane
3o
Exercise9 Settinga Ground
t t
Exerciser o Transferring Your Hand Drawing from Picture Planet o Paper
36
Exerciser r Drawing Your Hand Holding an Object
39
Exerciser z Drawinga Flower
+3
Exercise1 3 Drawing an Orange
46
Exerciser 4 Drawing I eavesU sing Negative Spaces
+9
Exercise1 5 Drawing a Chair in Negative Space
tz
Exercise1 6 Drawing a HouseholdO bject
56
Exerciser 7 Negative-SpaceD rawing of a SportsP hotograph
59
Exerciser 8 Negative-SpaceD rawing of an Actual Chair 6z
Exercise1 9 Copying a Master Drawing: Man ReadingtbBe ibl,e, 66
by Vincentv an Gogh
,v
di
. -.*-**u,*=-:*dsifl
Part lll Exercisez o Sightinga n OpenD oorway
The Perception Exercisez r Sighting a Room Corner
t)
of Relationships Exercisez z The Knee/FootD rawing
7S
Exercisez 3 Sighting a Still Life of Bookso n a Table 8r.
Exercisez 4 A Srill Life wiih Eilipses 8+-
Exercisez 5 SightingR elationshipisn a Figure Drawing 87
Exercisez 6 Proportionso f the Headi n Profile
9t
Exercisez 7 Copyinga MasterD rawing of a ProfileP ortrait 96,
Exercisez 8 Drawing a Profile Portrait IOO
.
Exercisez 9 Still Life with AmericanF las I O
Jt: ,
Part lV Exercise
3 o Drawing an Egg Lighted from Above ro6
The Perception Exercise
3 r Charlie Chaplini n Light and Shadow r09
of Lights Exercise
3 z Proportionso f the Headi n Full-FaceV iew fiz
and Shadows Exercise
3 3 Copyinga Full-FaceP ortrait t6
Exercise
3 4 DrawingY our Self-Portraiti n Light and Shadow tzo
PartV Exercise
3 5 Usingl nk andB rush rz7
The Perception Exercise
3 6 An Urban LandscapeD rawing r30
of the Gestalt Exercise
3 7 Hatchinga ndC rosshatching r33
Exercise
3 8 A Figure Drawingi n Crosshatch \6
Exercise
3 9 An ImaginativeD rawing Basedo n Leonardod a Vinci'sA dvice r+o
Exercise
4 o A Four-by-FourD rawing r+3
Some Suggestionsf or Further Study r+6
Portfolio and Yideo Ordering r47
VI
. i
Foreword
This workbooki s designeda sa supplemento my book TheNewD rawing
ont beR ightS ideo f tbeB rarz.I ts purposei s to provide convenient,e ffective
guidedp racticef or the fiveb asics killso f drawing.T he exerciseisn this
workbooki ncludes omef amiliar kindso f drawings( upside-downd raw-
ing for example)a ndm anyn ew subjectsfo r practicinge achs kill.F or
your conveniencet,h e workbookc ontainsa n essentiadl rawingt ool, a
plasticP ictureP lane/Viewfinderw, hich will help you to maked rawings
that givet he illusion of beingt hree-dimensionailm agesa nds cenesT. he
workbooki s portables ot hat you canu sei t in thoseo dd momentso f use-
ful time, sucha sw hile waitingi n the dentist'so fficeo r at the airport.A s
you completet he exerciseisn thesep agesy, ou will be creatinga perma-
nent,b oundr ecordo f your progressin drawing.
Learningt o draw is very much like learninga sporto r learningh ow
to play a musicali nstrument.O ncey ou havel earnedt he fundamentals,
any advancein skillsi s basedo n practice,p ractice,p ractice.I n this work-
book,I will invite you to venftrrei nto working with new subjectm atter
andd rawingm ediumsb eyondt hosec overedin TbeN ewD rawingonth e
Rigltt Sideo f rheB rain.
The exerciseisn this workbooka reb asedo n the fivep erceptuals kills
of drawing that I havef ully describedi n TheN ewD rawingont heR ightS ide
of theB rain.D rawing is alwayst he samet ask,a lwaysr equiring the same
fives killst hat,w ith practice,b ecomei ntegratedi nto the whole skill-
calledt he "global"s kill-of drawing.I t is the subiectsa ndt he mediums
that changeB. ecauseth is is true, it really doesn ot matterw hat you
draw-any subjectw ill do, and any medium will do.T his is not surpris-
ing: all globals killsa rec omposedo f basicc omponents killst hat are
alwaysa ctivatedw hent he globals kill is beingu sed-think of driving an
automobileo r playingt ennis.
I havef ound,h owevert,h at many of my studentsw ho havel earned
the basics killsf ind it difficult to chooses ubjectsfo r drawing.O ften,f eel-
ing the urge to draw somethingt hat catchesth eir eye,t hey hesitatef or
feart hat the subjectm ay be too hard to draw or that they will not have
time to finish.T his workbooki s designedto solves uchp roblemsb y pro-
viding suitables ubjectsfo r practicinge achs kill, brief instructionsa, n
estimateo f the time required( thought his will vary somewhaat ccording
to your naturalp acei n drawing),a nds uitabled rawingp aper,w ith ready-
drawnf ormatsa ndg uiding crosshairsin correctp roportionsf or each
drawing.F or mosto f the exercisesI, h avea ddedp ost-exercisere marks
that providea dditionali nformation,s uggestionso,r helpful pointers.
I would guessth at the biggestd ifficulty you will experiencein work-
ing throught hesep agesis findingt he time to draw.T elling yourself that
you will draw for an hour eachd ay,o r evena n hour eachw eek,r arely
works.T he commitmento f event hat much time will probablys eemt oo
great.Y ou mustr emembert hat your brain'sl anguagem ode-the left-
hemispherev, erbal-analyticb rain mod-does not wanty ou to draw at
all, becauseit becomes" seta side"w hile you ared rawing.T he language
modei s very gooda t presentingr easonsw hy you shouldn ot draw:y ou
needt o pay your bills,y ou needt o call your mother,y ou needt o balance
your checkbooko, r you needt o tend to business.
Oncey ou actuallyg eti nto drawing,h owevert,i me passese amlessly
andp roductivelyT. herefore,I will recommendw hat hasw orkedf or me:
a versiono f the so-called" two-minute miracle,"a techniquep hysical
therapistsu set o enablep eoplet o exercisee venw hent hey do not want
to. They aret aughtt o sayt o themselves",I don't havet ime to takea walk
right now,b :utl willwalk for just two minutes."O ncet hey area ctually
walking of courset,h ey forgett heir objectionsa ndc ontinuew alking.
Here is my versiono f the two-minute miracle.K eept his drawing
workbooki n a convenientp lace,a longw ith your pencilsa nde raserS. it
down for a momenta ndt aket he workbooki n hand,s ayingt o yourself,
"I'm not really goingt o draw now,b ut I'11ju st turn to the pageo f the next
exercise.T" hen, taket he next step:" I'm not really goingt o draw,b ut I'll
just pick up the pencil andm akea few markst o startt his drawing."T hen,
Notet o tbe reader:
"I'm not really goingt o draw,b ut I'll just sketchi n someo f the main
Youw ill find morei nformationo n
edgesin thisd rawing..." ands oo n.Y ouw ill soonf indy ourselfw ith a
ther elationshipo f drawingt o the
completedd rawing-and unawareth att imeh asp assed.
braina ndc reativityi n my book
I realizet hat this may sound,w ell, stupid,b ut it doesw ork.I have
TbeNewD rawingont heR iglttS ide
completede ntire projectsu singt his technique-a techniqueo f (let's
of theB rain,whichis widely available
facei t) tricking the languagem odeo f the brain into letting one do cre-
in bookstoreas ndl ibraries.F or a
ativew ork. You may find this hard to believe,b ut the single most difficult
two-houri nstructionavl ideo on the
problemf or art studentsa nde venf or working artistsi s gettingt he work
fiveb asics killso f drawingc overed
done.O ne is alwaysf ightingt he delayingt acticso f the verbals ystem,
in thisw orkbook,s eet he video-
whosem antrai s "Not now."A t its moste xtreme,t he resulti s writer's
orderingi nstructionsin the back
block or artist'sb lock;a milder versioni s calledp rocrastination.
pageso f the workbook.
Thesed rawinge xercisesa red esignedfo r succesas t everys tep.
I know you will enjoyt he process.
VI I I
Supplies
The art materialsn eededf or the exercisesin this workbook are avaiiable
in any art supply store.T hey can alsob e purchasedb y mail orthrough the
Internet, by doing a searchf or "art materials"o r "art supplies."
#z yellow writing pencil with an erasert op
#4n drawing pencil, T\rrquoise,F aber
Castell,o r a similarb rand
Eraser A white plastice raser( Staedtler)
or a Pink Pearle raser
Pencils harpener
Graphite stick #4"
Charcoal 6 stickso f natural charcoal
z stickso f synthetic charcoal( CharKole
or a similarb rand)
#4n charcoapl encil
Conte crayons r black
r sanguine( reddishb rown)
Chalk r pale gray,o r r pastel. r"rort
!
Erasable felt-tip marker r black( Crayola,S harpieo, r a similarbrand)
lnk r smallb ottle of blackI ndia ink
r small bottle of brown writing ink
Brush #l or#Swatercolorbrush
Alarm clock or kitchen timer
Paper towels or tissues
White $ping paper About 6 sheets
Lightweight cardboard r piece, 8" x rott, to make a frame for the
Picture Plane /Viewfinder.
IX