Monday, October 12, 2009

Reference : The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain


I made abstract art for two decades but it took this book, and a matching course I took at my local Ursuline College, to convince me that I could also learn realism. Today, I continue to improve in drawing recognizable people, a feat which used to be totally beyond me. This book shows you ways of tricking your brain into shifting sides so that you can "see" people and objects in the three dimensional world the way only a few "artistic" people otherwise seemed capable of seeing and then depicting.

I can't emphatize how good this book is. I used to consider myself absolutely useless at drawing. I barely managed to pass exams at art classes at school. Now I am drawing fairly decent portraits from almost everyone I know. The book focueses on seeing the things' real shapes and it is just this non rational, non mathematically based approach that makes it work. I used to have big problems with proportions and perspective, and Betty Edwards made me realise it's all a matter of looking at things with loving attention (and not attaching a name to the bit you are drawing). This book has made me realise I've lost many years of my life blocking myself as an artist. Drawing is a skill that everyone can learn. Do it with this book!

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