Course Highlights


Left Brain Vs. Right Brain

We've all heard people talk about left brain vs. right brain thinking and many people generally think of it as a genetic disposition. In fact, every human being has two modes of thinking, simply put, the logical, symbol oriented way of thinking (left) and the more visual, intuitive approach (right). Although it is true that individuals tend to develop a preference for one mode of thinking over the other, it is possible to train our minds to switch modes. For us left brain inclined types, what we need to do is hone in on the way we perceive the world around us, disable our instinctual need to attach labels and instead, focus on shapes, lines, colors and the relationships between them. This is the only way to accurately translate what is a three dimensional world into a two dimensional drawing.

The right side of the brain controls your unconscious instincts. Talking is an example of a right brain function. When you talk, you do not think in terms of article-subject-preposition-adjective-adverb-descriptive verb, however when most people draw, this is exactly how they think. To draw a person, you draw a head, a body, two arms and two legs, the hands, the feet, the hair, and the clothes, right? No, those are symbols that you have learned for these things. In short, you are drawing what you think these things are, not what they are. In order to draw well, you must think in terms of lines, shapes, angles and their relationship to other lines and shapes, which combine to create the whole. For instance, a head is an elongated circle and a leg is two long straight lines, bent midway and connected to a triangular-shaped structure, also known as the pelvis and hip bones.

Truth be told, we use both modes of thinking all the time, together and independently and we use each mode to interpret the other mode. Your logical mind (left brain) will not accurately portray an object on paper because it will assign a label to the object and attach a restrictive image of said object in your mind. Fortunately, your visual mind will see the very same subject as a series of shapes, lines, dark shading and light shading that intersect in ways and combine to create the whole. Tapping into the ¨right¨ mode of thinking takes a conscious effort, some technique, practice and patience, but once you get the hang of it, you're golden.

Most students begin with uncertainty and inaccuracy in their work, not only due to their lack of experience but also from an inability to transmit information from their eye to their hand. What is thought to be seen and what is actually seen is confused because they lack an awareness of the difference between the two and they have not yet honed their ability to identify what they are seeing.

Other pages of interest

Left side of the brain vs. the right side
More on art and the brain
Negative space and contour drawings
Fundamentals of structure
Drawing lines: The straight and curved line

 

 

 



 

 

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