DORS 02-14-2010

Chapter 4, Crossing Over: Experiencing the Shift from Left to Right. Chapter 4 goes right into a couple exercises designed to "help shift from your dominant left-hemisphere mode to your sub dominant R-mode." The first exercise is called Vase-Faces #1. The Idea is to draw a face in profile from your imagination, put a couple lines on it to give it the shape of the vase and see if you can duplicate it on the other side... Was harder than it sounded for me. There was some difficulty coming back down in reverse on the opposite side. Betty calls this comparative duplication process "scanning," and, as you can see I wasn't very good at it.

The second vase-faces exercise is called "The Baroque Vase and Monster Face." The instructions are similar excepting that I was to draw a profile of "the oddest face you can conjure up - a witch, a ghoul, a monster." The experience of drawing these vase-faces was interesting because you get a sense that there actually is a problem or buffer between what you see and what your hands want to do. Its as if I were using new circuit in my hand-eye apparatus. In the book she talks about a subtle shift in consciousness , these exercises were just a small taste of what she is trying to instill in the would be artist.

Up next, upside down drawings, Ive done one of them so far but am hoping to complete the three befor my next posting. The two vase-faces were done again at Thunderbird coffee house, I was drinking Earl Gray, mmhmmm.

DORS 02-11-2010

Chapter 3, Your Brain: The Left and Right of it. Chapter 3 is an in-depth review of right and left brain functions. It quotes several scientific studies and provides visualization exercises intent on activating the right brain for the student. I found it interesting and really enjoyed the visualization exercises, otherwise it had no instructions to draw anything. I started Chapter four and have been through a couple of the instructed drawings, will be posting soon.

DORS 02-11-2010

More from Monday the 8th, the first instructional assignment, "getting connected to the paper"...

"Nothing is more intimidating to a beginning drawing student - or to many experienced artist for that matter - than a clean, white, unmarred piece of drawing paper. One way to get around that is just to start drawing - boldly, freely, confidently. For an exercise in getting used to drawing materials and overcoming the intimidation of unmarked paper, lay out a sheet of pristine whiteness and take your pencil in hand."

She instructs to make lines and patters on the paper freely, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal, just play with the paper and make lines, get comfortable with the materials. I came up with this...

Just kinda lining in and squiggling around on the page. It was kinda nice just to dedicate a page to randomness and did help to ease the blank-paper-syndrome. This was the last project for chapter 1.

So then I start to read into chapter 2, Expressing Yourself in Drawing: The Nonverbal Language of Art, and much of what Betty is saying is clicking in my head. Shes giving different examples of signatures to look at and ways to think about them. I am not going to be posting the signature exercise she instructs but it was useful for getting a "feel for the expressive quality in lines." In fact, just after doing the project a lady sat down next to me and started reading a book, after receiving her permission I sketched this out, this was not part of the book instruction but is in the sketchbook I dedicated to DOTRSOTB.

That was all I got out of Chapter 2 of the book. The next Chapter, Your Brain: The Right and Left of it, is up next and I'll be posting on it soon.

DORS

Ok, so the last pre-instruction drawing, draw a chair..
"Draw a picture of a chair by looking at a real chair, not a photograph." It ain't much, but its a chair, was drawn Monday just after the hand. Now for the "instructed" drawings.

DORS 02-11-2010

The third per-instruction drawing is to draw your own hand, it reads..

"Draw a picture of your own hand, If you are right-handed, draw your left hand in whatever position you choose. If you are left-handed, draw your right hand".



So I made an attempt to draw my own hand, to be honest this has always been one of the most difficult things for me to draw, hands are tricky to capture. I chose to draw my left hand as it rested on my leg. The drawing was done Monday night at Thunderbird coffeehouse.
http://www.thunderbirdcoffee.com
A local shop. I have been doing a lot of my work at this location. They have a great staff and groovy happy-hour steals, err deals..

DORS 02-06-2010

The second pre-instruction exercise is to "Draw a picture of someone, the head only. Draw someone watching TV or sleeping, or draw yourself by looking in the mirror. Do not use a photograph."

So Im in Jackalope (an Austin pub) and Im to draw a persons head. So I get to looking around and see a couple sitting in a corner enjoying an afternoon libation and I purpose to draw them. Baker, Baker and Shay, a couple on vaction from Birmingham, Alabama. Good folk, was nice to meet you guys! Turns out Baker owns a pub up in Alabama...
(www.myspace.com/metrobistroandmarket)
So we got to drinking and talking about music, just haning out, was a great time. Thanks for letting me attempt to draw you! Gonna have to try again after I've finished the book.

Up next, a hand!

DORS 02-06-2010

So I was wandering around the city yesterday when this idea for the blog hit me. I bought a copy of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" from a Goodwill for 2.99, a 7 dollar sketchpad and a handfull of pencils from the art shop. Then I went to the Jackalope pub/resturaunt on W. 6th ordered a Guiness and started reading. Through the first chapter Betty talks alot about training the eyes to a special way of seeing that the artist must cultivate, "a shift to the artists mode of seeing - that is, the right hemisphere mode." She then says to make some "pre-instuction drawings" to have as comparisons. This exercise comes from page 10 of the first chapter titled "Drawing and the Art of Bicycle Riding," it says....

"Draw a picture of a person without looking at anyone. There are no specific directions for this drawing , only the general direction to "draw a person."

DORS 02-06-2010

So, I am Jim, currently an art student Austin Community College in Austin, Texas. I would by no means consider myself an artist though I do have an interest, specifically in drawings and sketch.

In this blog I will be reading and going through the exercises of Betty Edwards "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," as the book instructs. I will be posting my drawings as a means to gauge progress. It is my hope to achieve realistic drawings by the end of the book.

In my drawing 1 class at ACC we are mainly focusing on Nicolaides "The Natural Way to draw." I am doing this project as separate from my school drawings, I have purchased a sketch pad specifically for this purpose and will only be posting said images on this blog. For all practical purposes anything quoted, "...", in the blog will be directly from Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain unless stated otherwise.