From 19bae04eaa1ef3f355e76b07cafc0c8e23888c82 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: James Pace Date: Thu, 16 May 2024 01:00:53 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add post on rigt side of brain book. --- posts/right-side-of-brain.md | 77 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 77 insertions(+) create mode 100644 posts/right-side-of-brain.md diff --git a/posts/right-side-of-brain.md b/posts/right-side-of-brain.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f77071e --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/right-side-of-brain.md @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +--- +title: "\"Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain\" Review" +author: "James Pace" +date: "2024/05/15" +--- + +A few weeks ago I visited the National Portrait Museum during a business trip to +DC and was inspired by the paintings at the museum. +While I've historically not been a huge fan of art museums, looking at the +portraits and reading about the individuals in the portraits and what they +accomplished or went through in life was inspiring, and after coming back +home, I felt inspired to learn to make portraits myself. +Particularly, I was interested in drawing with a pencil. +The minimal amount of equipment required to generate something cool +compared to other art forms interested me. + +I've never been an artist and wouldn't consider myself a good drawer +even when I was a little kid, so learning to draw was going to be a tall +order. +I did some research online on good books on drawing, and decided to pick up +two to get started. +The first one of those two that I read was "Drawing on the Right Side of the +Brain" by Betty Edwards. + +The book's main thesis is that most thinking in modern life is dominated +by the left side of the brain, while good drawing is dominated by the right +side. +Thus, to become good at drawing, we need to learn to silence the left side +of our brains and let the right side take over. +Good drawing can further be split between five basic skills: + +1. the perception of edges, +2. the perception of spaces, +3. the perception of relationships, +4. the perception of lights and shadows, and +5. the perception fo the "gestalt" + +which, again, are all done best by the right side of the brain. +The book contains a number of exercises all aimed at exercising that +side and each aimed at improving one of the five basic skills. + +I found the book did a good job of teaching the first three skills. +After the book, which I finished in approximately a week, I was much +better and more comfortable at generating contour drawings than I was +at the beginning. +For example, the weekend I finished the book, I drew the outline of an +empty Starbucks cup while sitting at Starbucks and generated something +that looked good, in my opinion, which I would not have been able to +do before I read the book. +I was also able to look at and the copy a cartoon of Snoopy into my sketchbook, +which would have been a struggle for me before I started the book. +(I said I was bad at drawing.) +The focus on "drawing what you see" I think is good, and something that I can +imagine I will keep using and having to remind myself to practice long term. + +I don't believe the book did a good job teaching the perception of lights and +shadows. +After I read the book, I had no confidence in my ability to shade a drawing. +The book's focus is also very heavy on drawing what you see, and did nothing +to teach drawing from your imagination. +While I can't say my skills got worse, I'm not sure how to apply most +of the tools from the book when drawing from my imagination. + +I found the book occassionally got a little too pseudo-scientific for my liking. +Particularly, there was a number of pages explaining how every kid goes through some +set of drawing growth, which didn't match my experience as a kid that really never drew +at all. +Further, the book spends a lot of time talking about brain sideness and going into +the "science" of brain sideness, while proof is building up that the reality of +how the brain works is not nearly that simple. +With that being said, the examples provided by the book were still seemingly beneficial. + +In conclusion, I think the book was a good purchase, both worth the time I put into it +and the money I spent on it. +While not perfect nor the end all be all, I do think this book is an excellent starting +point in learning how to draw, and would recommend any one else starting down that +journey to check the book out.