1. The N e w
Drawing on the
Right Side of
the Brain
Betty Edwards
Jeremy P. T a r c h e r / P u t n a m
a member of
Penguin Putnam Inc.
N e w York

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Edwards, Betty.
T h e new d r a w i n g on the right side of the brain / Betty Edwards.—
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1. D r a w i n g — T e c h n i q u e . 2. Visual perception. 3. C e r e b r a l dominance.
I. Edwards, Betty. D r a w i n g on the right side of the brain. II. T i t l e . III. T i t l e :
D r a w i n g on the right side of the brain.
NC730.E34 1999 99-35809 C I P
741.2—dc2i
C o v e r drawing: Betty Edwards
Instructional drawings: Betty Edwards and Brian Bomeisler
Design: J o e M o l l o y
T y p e s e t in M o n o t y p e Janson by M o n d o T y p o , Inc.
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T h i s book is printed on acid-free paper. ©

3. To the memory of my father,
who sharpened my drawing pencils
with his pocketknife
when I was a child

4. Contents
Preface X
Introduction XVII
I. D r a w i n g and the Art of Bicycle Riding 1
2. T h e D r a w i n g Exercises: O n e Step at a T i m e 11
3. Your Brain: T h e Right and Left of It 27
4. Crossing Over: Experiencing the Shift from Left to Right 49
5. D r a w i n g on Memories: Your History as an Artist 67
6. G e t t i n g A r o u n d Your Symbol System: M e e t i n g Edges and Contours 87
7. Perceiving the Shape of a Space: T h e Positive Aspects of Negative Space 15

5. 8. Relationships in a N e w M o d e : Putting Sighting in Perspective 137
9. Facing Forward: Portrait Drawing with Ease 161
10. T h e Value of Logical Lights and Shadows 193
11. Drawing on the Beauty of C o l o r 229
12. T h e Z e n of Drawing: Drawing O u t the Artist Within 247
Afterword: Is Beautiful Handwriting a Lost Art? 253
Postscript 267
Glossary 275
Bibliography 279
Index 283

6. Acknowledgments
FIRST, I WISH T O WELCOME my new readers and to thank all those
w h o have read this book in the past. It is you who make this
t w e n t i e t h - y e a r edition possible by y o u r loyal support. O v e r the
past two decades, I have received many letters expressing appre-
ciation and even affection. T h i s shows, I think, that in this elec-
tronic age, books can still bring authors and readers together as
friends. I t r e a s u r e this t h o u g h t , b e c a u s e I l o v e b o o k s m y s e l f
and count as friends authors I have never met e x c e p t through
their books.
M a n y p e o p l e have contributed to this work. In the following
brief acknowledgment, I wish to thank at least a few.
Professor Roger W. Sperry, for his generosity and kindness in
discussing the original text with me.
Dr. J. W i l l i a m Bergquist, whose u n t i m e l y death in 1987 sad-
d e n e d his family, friends, and colleagues. Dr. Bergquist gave me
unfailingly good advice and generous assistance with the first edi-
tion of the book and with the research that preceded it.
My publisher,Jeremy Tarcher, for his enthusiastic support of
the first, second, and now the third edition of the book.
My son, Brian Bomeisler, who has so generously put his skills,
energy, and e x p e r i e n c e as a artist into revising, refining, and
adding to these lessons in drawing. His insights have truly moved
the work forward over the past ten years.
My daughter, A n n e Bomeisler Farrell, who has been my best
editor due to her understanding of my work and her superb lan-
guage skills.
M y closest c o l l e a g u e , Rachael B o w e r T h i e l e , who keeps
e v e r y t h i n g on track and in order, and w i t h o u t whose dedicated
help I'd have had to retire years ago.
VIII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

7. My esteemed designer, Joe Molloy, who makes superb design
seem effortless.
M y friend Professor D o n D a m e , for g e n e r o u s l y l e n d i n g m e
both his library of books on c o l o r and his time, thoughts, and
expertise on color.
My editor at T a r c h e r / P u t n a m , W e n d y Hubbert.
M y team o f teachers, Brian Bomeisler, M a r k a H i t t - B u r n s ,
A r l e n e C a r t o z i a n , Dana C r o w e , Lisbeth Firmin, L y n d a G r e e n -
berg, Elyse Klaidman, Suzanne Merritt, Kristin N e w t o n , Linda Jo
Russell, and Rachael T h i e l e , who have worked with me at various
sites around the nation, for their unfaltering d e v o t i o n to our
efforts. T h e s e fine instructors have added greatly to the scope of
the work by reaching out to new groups.
I am grateful to T h e Bingham T r u s t and to the Austin F o u n -
dation for their staunch support of my work.
And finally, my warmest thanks to the hundreds of students—
actually, thousands by n o w — I have been privileged to know over
the years, for making my work so rewarding, both personally and
professionally. I hope you go on drawing forever.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

8. Preface
T w e n t y years have passed since the first publication of Drawing on
the Right Side of the Brain in J u l y 1979. T e n years ago, in 1989,
I revised the book and published a second edition, bringing it up
to date with what I had learned during that decade. Now, in 1999,
I am revising the book one more time. T h i s latest revision repre-
sents a c u l m i n a t i o n of my lifelong engrossment in drawing as a
quintessentially human activity.
How I came to write this book
O v e r the years, many p e o p l e have asked me how I came to write
this book. As often happens, it was the result of numerous chance
events and s e e m i n g l y random choices. First, my training and
b a c k g r o u n d w e r e in fine arts—drawing and painting, not in art
education. T h i s point is important, I think, because I came to
teaching with a different set of expectations.
After a modest try at living the artist's life, I began giving pri-
vate lessons in painting and drawing in my studio to help pay the
bills. T h e n , n e e d i n g a steadier source of income, I returned to
U C L A to earn a t e a c h i n g credential. On c o m p l e t i o n , I began
t e a c h i n g at V e n i c e H i g h S c h o o l in L o s A n g e l e s . It was a mar-
v e l o u s job. We had a small art department of five teachers and
lively, bright, challenging, and difficult students. A r t was their
favorite subject, it seemed, and our students often swept up many
awards in the then-popular citywide art contests.
At V e n i c e H i g h , we tried to reach students in their first year,
q u i c k l y teach them to draw well, and then train them up, almost
like athletes, for the art competitions during their junior and
senior years. (I now have serious reservations about student con-
PREFACE

9. tests, but at the time they provided great motivation and, perhaps
because there were so many winners, apparently caused little
harm.)
T h o s e five years at Venice High started my p u z z l e m e n t about
drawing. As the newest teacher of the group, I was assigned the
job of bringing the students up to speed in drawing. Unlike many
art educators w h o believe that ability to draw w e l l is d e p e n d e n t
on inborn talent, I expected that all of the students would learn to
draw. I was astonished by how difficult they found drawing, no
matter how hard I tried to teach them and they tried to learn.
I would often ask myself, " W h y is it that these students, w h o
I know are learning other skills, have so m u c h trouble learning to
draw something that is right in front of their eyes?" I would some-
times quiz them, asking a student who was having difficulty draw-
ing a still-life setup, " C a n you see in the still-life here on the table
that the orange is in front of the vase?" "Yes," replied the student,
"I see that." "Well," I said, "in your drawing, y o u have the orange
and the vase o c c u p y i n g the same space." T h e student answered,
"Yes, I know. I didn't know how to draw that." "Well," I w o u l d say
carefully, "you look at the still-life and y o u draw it as y o u see it."
"I was looking at it," the student replied. "I just didn't k n o w h o w
to draw that." " W e l l , " I w o u l d say, v o i c e rising, " y o u just look at
i t . . . " T h e response would come, "I am looking at it," and so on.
Another p u z z l e m e n t was that students often seemed to "get"
how to draw suddenly rather than acquiring skills gradually.
Again, I questioned them: " H o w c o m e y o u can draw this w e e k
when y o u couldn't draw last week?" Often the reply w o u l d be, "I
don't know. I'm just seeing things differently." "In what way differ-
ently?" I would ask. "I can't say—just differently." I would pursue
the point, u r g i n g students to put it into words, w i t h o u t success.
Usually students ended by saying, "I just can't describe it."
In frustration, I began to observe myself: W h a t was I d o i n g
when I was drawing? S o m e things q u i c k l y showed u p — t h a t I
couldn't talk and draw at the same time, for e x a m p l e , and that
I lost track of time while drawing. My puzzlement continued.
PREFACE XI

10. O n e day, on impulse, I asked the students to copy a Picasso
d r a w i n g upside down. T h a t small experiment, more than any-
thing else I had tried, showed that s o m e t h i n g very different is
g o i n g on d u r i n g the act of drawing. To my surprise, and to the
students' surprise, the finished drawings were so extremely well
d o n e that I asked the class, " H o w c o m e y o u can draw upside
d o w n w h e n y o u can't draw right-side up?" T h e students
responded, " U p s i d e d o w n , we didn't know what we were draw-
ing." T h i s was the greatest p u z z l e m e n t of all and left me simply
baffled.
D u r i n g the following year, 1968, first reports of psychobiolo-
gist R o g e r W. Sperry's research on human brain-hemisphere
functions, for which he later received a N o b e l Prize, appeared in
the press. R e a d i n g Sperry's work caused in me something of an
A h - h a ! e x p e r i e n c e . His stunning finding, that the human brain
uses t w o fundamentally different modes of thinking, one verbal,
analytic, and sequential and one visual, perceptual, and simulta-
neous, s e e m e d to cast light on my questions about drawing. T h e
idea that one is shifting to a different-from-usual way of think-
i n g / s e e i n g fitted my o w n experience of drawing and illuminated
my observation of my students.
Avidly, I read everything I could find about Sperry's work and
did my best to explain to my students its possible relationship to
drawing. T h e y too became interested in the problems of drawing
and soon they w e r e a c h i e v i n g great advances in their drawing
skills.
I was w o r k i n g on my master's d e g r e e in A r t at the time and
realized that if I wanted to seriously search for an educational
application of Sperry's work in the field of drawing, I would need
further study. Even though by that time I was teaching full time at
Los A n g e l e s T r a d e T e c h n i c a l C o l l e g e , I d e c i d e d to return yet
again to U C L A for a doctoral degree. For the following three
years, I attended e v e n i n g classes that c o m b i n e d the fields of art,
psychology, and education. T h e subject of my doctoral disserta-
tion was "Perceptual Skills in D r a w i n g , " using u p s i d e - d o w n
drawing as an experimental variable. After receiving my doctoral
degree in 1976, I began teaching drawing in the art department of
XII PREFACE

11. California State University, L o n g Beach. I needed a drawing text-
book that included Sperry's research. D u r i n g the next three years
I wrote Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
Since the book was first published in 1979, the ideas I e x p r e s -
sed about learning to draw have become surprisingly widespread,
much to my amazement and delight. I feel honored by the m a n y
foreign language translations of Drawing on the Right Side of the
Brain. E v e n more surprising, individuals and groups w o r k i n g in
fields not remotely c o n n e c t e d with d r a w i n g have found ways to
use the ideas in my book. A few examples will indicate the diver-
sity: nursing schools, drama workshops, corporate training semi-
nars, sports-coaching schools, real-estate marketing associations,
psychologists, counselors of delinquent youths, writers, hair styl-
ists, even a school for training private investigators. C o l l e g e and
university art teachers across the nation also have i n c o r p o r a t e d
many of the techniques into their teaching repertoires.
Public-school teachers are also using my book. After t w e n t y -
five years of budget cuts in schools' arts programs, I am happy to
report that state departments of e d u c a t i o n and public school
boards of education are starting to turn to the arts as one way to
help repair our failing educational systems. Educational adminis-
trators, however, tend to be ambivalent about the purpose of
including the arts, often still relegating arts education to "enrich-
ment." This term's hidden meaning is "valuable but not essential."
My view, in contrast, is that the arts are essential for training
specific, visual, perceptual ways of thinking, just as the "3 R's" are
essential for training specific, verbal, numerical, analytical ways
of thinking. I believe that both thinking m o d e s — o n e to c o m p r e - 3- W O R K I N G D R A W I N G FROM
WHICH THE ORIGINAL
hend the details and the other to "see" the w h o l e picture, for PHONOGRAPH WAS B U I L T
example, are vital for critical-thinking skills, extrapolation of In the history of inventions, many
meaning, and problem solving. creative ideas began with small
sketches. T h e examples above are
To help p u b l i c - s c h o o l administrators see the utility of arts
by Galileo, Jefferson, Faraday, and
education, I believe we must find new ways to teach students how Edison.
to transfer skills learned through the arts to a c a d e m i c subjects
Henning Nelms, Thinking With a
and problem solving. Transfer of learning is traditionally Pencil, N e w York: T e n Speed Press,
regarded as a most difficult kind of instruction and, unfortunately, 1981, p. xiv.
transfer is often left to chance. T e a c h e r s hope that students will
PREFACE XIII

12. "get" the connection, say, b e t w e e n learning to draw and "seeing"
solutions to problems, or between learning English grammar and
logical, sequential thinking.
Corporate training seminars
My w o r k with various corporations represents, I believe, one
aspect of transfer of learning, in this instance, from drawing skills
to a specific kind of problem solving sought by corporate e x e c u -
tives. D e p e n d i n g on h o w m u c h corporate time is available, a
t y p i c a l seminar takes three days: a day and a half focused on
d e v e l o p i n g d r a w i n g skills and the remaining time devoted to
using drawing for problem solving.
G r o u p s vary in size but most often number about twenty-five.
P r o b l e m s can be v e r y specific ("What is ?"—
a specific c h e m i c a l problem that had troubled a particular c o m -
pany for several years) or very general ("What is our relationship
with our customers?") or something in between specific and gen-
eral ("How can members of our special unit work together more
productively?").
T h e first day and a half of d r a w i n g exercises includes the
"Analog" drawings are purely lessons in this book through the drawing of the hand. T h e t w o -
expressive drawings, with no nam-
fold objective of the drawing lessons is to present the five percep-
able objects depicted, using only the
expressive quality of line—or lines. tual strategies emphasized in the book and to demonstrate each
Unexpectedly, persons untrained in participant's potential artistic capabilities, given effective instruc-
art are able to use this language— tion.
that is, produce expressive draw-
T h e p r o b l e m - s o l v i n g segment begins with exercises in using
ings—and are also able to read the
drawings for meaning. T h e drawing d r a w i n g to think with. T h e s e exercises, called analog drawings,
lessons of the seminar's first seg- are described in my book Drawing on the Artist Within. Participants
ment are used mainly to increase use the so-called "language of line," first to draw out the problem
artistic self-confidence and confi-
and then to make visible possible solutions. T h e s e expressive
dence in the efficacy of analog
drawing. drawings b e c o m e the v e h i c l e for g r o u p discussion and analysis,
guided, but not led, by me. Participants use the concepts of edges
(boundaries), negative spaces (often called "white spaces" in busi-
ness parlance), relationships (parts of the problem v i e w e d pro-
portionally and "in perspective"), lights and shadows (extra-
polation from the k n o w n to the as-yet unknown), and the gestalt
xiv PREFACE

13. of the problem (how the parts fit—or don't fit—together).
T h e p r o b l e m - s o l v i n g s e g m e n t c o n c l u d e s with a n e x t e n d e d
small drawing of an object, different for each participant, w h i c h
has been chosen as somehow related to the problem at hand. T h i s
drawing, c o m b i n i n g perceptual skills with p r o b l e m solving,
evokes an extended shift to an alternate mode of thinking which I
have termed " R - m o d e , " during which the participant focuses on
the problem under discussion while also c o n c e n t r a t i n g on the
drawing. T h e g r o u p then explores insights derived from this
process.
T h e results of the seminars have been s o m e t i m e s startling,
sometimes almost amusing in terms of the obviousness of e n g e n -
dered solutions. An example of a startling result was a surprising
revelation e x p e r i e n c e d by the g r o u p w o r k i n g on the c h e m i c a l
problem. It turned out that the group had so enjoyed their special
status and favored position and they were so intrigued by the fas-
cinating problem that they were in no hurry to solve it. Also, solv-
ing the problem w o u l d mean b r e a k i n g up the g r o u p and
returning to more h u m d r u m work. A l l of this showed up c l e a r l y
in their drawings. T h e curious thing was that the g r o u p leader
exclaimed, "I thought that might be what was g o i n g on, but I just
didn't believe it!" T h e solution? T h e g r o u p realized that they
needed—and w e l c o m e d — a serious deadline and assurance that
other, equally interesting problems awaited them.
A n o t h e r surprising result c a m e in response to the question
about customer relations. Participants' drawings in that seminar
were consistently c o m p l e x and detailed. N e a r l y e v e r y d r a w i n g
represented customers as small objects floating in large e m p t y
spaces. Areas of great c o m p l e x i t y e x c l u d e d these small objects.
T h e ensuing discussion clarified the group's (unconscious) indif-
ference toward and inattention to customers. T h a t raised other
questions: W h a t was in all of that e m p t y negative space, and how
could the complex areas (identified in discussion as aspects of the
work that were more interesting to the group) make c o n n e c t i o n
with customer concerns? T h i s g r o u p planned to e x p l o r e the
problem further.
PREFACE XV

14. Krishnamurti: "So where does T h e group seeking more productive ways of working
silence begin? Does it begin when
t o g e t h e r c a m e to a c o n c l u s i o n that was so obvious the group
thought ends? Have you ever tried
to end thought?"
a c t u a l l y l a u g h e d about it. T h e i r c o n c l u s i o n was that they
needed to improve communication within the group. Members
Questioner: "How do you do it?"
w e r e n e a r l y all scientists h o l d i n g advanced degrees in c h e m -
Krishnamurti: "I don't know, but
istry and physics. Apparently, each person had a specific
have you ever tried it? First of all,
assignment for one part of the w h o l e task, but they worked in
who is the entity who is trying to
stop thought?" different buildings w i t h different groups of associates and on
i n d i v i d u a l time schedules. For m o r e than twenty-five years
Questioner: "The thinker."
they had n e v e r m e t t o g e t h e r as a g r o u p until we held our
Krishnamurti: "It's another thought,
three-day seminar.
isn't it? Thought is trying to stop
itself, so there is a battle between I h o p e these e x a m p l e s give-at least some flavor of the c o r -
the thinker and the thought.... porate seminars. Participants, of course, are highly educated,
Thought says, 'I must stop thinking
successful professionals. Working as I do with a different way of
because then I shall experience a
marvelous s t a t e . ' . . . One thought is
thinking, the seminars seem to enable these highly trained
trying to suppress another thought, people to see things differently. Because the participants them-
so there is conflict. When I see this selves generate the drawings, they provide real e v i d e n c e to
as a fact, see it totally, understand
refer to. T h u s , insights are hard to dismiss and the discussions
it completely, have an insight into
stay very focused.
i t . . . then the mind is quiet. This
comes about naturally and easily I can o n l y s p e c u l a t e w h y this process works effectively to
when the mind is quiet to watch, to get at information that is often hidden or ignored or "explained
look, to see."
away" by the l a n g u a g e m o d e of thinking. I think it's possible
— J . Krishnamurti that the language system ( L - m o d e , in my terminology) regards
You Are the World, 1972 drawing—especially analog drawing—as unimportant, even as
just a form of doodling. Perhaps, L - m o d e drops out of the task,
p u t t i n g its c e n s o r i n g function on hold. Apparently, what the
person k n o w s but doesn't k n o w at a verbal, conscious level
therefore comes pouring out in the drawings. Traditional exec-
utives, of course, m a y regard this information as "soft," but
I suspect that these unspoken reactions do have some effect on
the u l t i m a t e success and failure of corporations. Broadly
speaking, a glimpse of u n d e r l y i n g affective dynamics probably
helps more than it hinders.

15. Introduction
T h e subject of how people learn to draw has never lost its charm
and fascination for me. Just w h e n I begin to think I have a grasp
on the subject, a w h o l e new vista or p u z z l e m e n t opens up. T h i s
book, therefore, is a work in progress, d o c u m e n t i n g my u n d e r -
standing at this time.
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, I believe, was one of the
first practical educational applications of Roger Sperry's pioneer-
ing insight into the dual nature of human thinking—verbal, ana-
lytic thinking mainly located in the left hemisphere, and visual,
perceptual thinking mainly located in the right hemisphere.
Since 1979, many writers in other fields have p r o p o s e d applica-
tions of the research, each in turn suggesting n e w ways to
enhance both thinking modes, thereby increasing potential for
personal growth.
During the past ten years, my colleagues and I have polished
and expanded the techniques described in the original book. We
have changed some procedures, added some, and d e l e t e d some.
My main purpose in revising the book and presenting this third
edition is to bring the work up-to-date again for my readers.
As you will see, much of the original work is retained, having
withstood the test of time. But one important organizing princi-
ple was missing in the original text, for the curious reason that
I c o u l d n ' t see it u n t i l after the b o o k was p u b l i s h e d . I w a n t to
reemphasize it here, because it forms the overall structure within
which the reader can see how the parts of the book fit together to
form a w h o l e . T h i s k e y p r i n c i p l e is: D r a w i n g is a g l o b a l or
"whole" skill requiring only a limited set of basic components.
T h i s insight came to me about six months after the book was
published, right in the middle of a sentence while t e a c h i n g a
INTRODUCTION XVII

16. Please note that I am referring to g r o u p of students. It was the classic A h - h a ! experience, with the
the learning stage of basic realistic
strange physical sensations of rapid heartbeat, caught breath, and
drawing of a perceived image.
T h e r e are many other kinds of
a sense of joyful excitement at seeing everything fall into place. I
drawing: abstraction, nonobjective had been reviewing with the students the set of skills described in
drawing, imaginative drawing, my book w h e n it hit me that this was it, there were no more, and
mechanical drawing, and so forth.
that the book had a hidden content of which I had been unaware.
Also, drawing can be defined in
I c h e c k e d the insight with my c o l l e a g u e s and drawing experts.
many other ways—by mediums,
historic styles, or the artist's intent. T h e y agreed.
Like other global skills—for example, reading, driving, skiing,
and w a l k i n g — d r a w i n g is made up of c o m p o n e n t skills that
b e c o m e integrated into a w h o l e skill. O n c e you have learned the
c o m p o n e n t s and have integrated them, y o u can draw—just as
o n c e y o u have learned to read, y o u know how to read for life;
once you have learned to walk, you know how to walk for life. You
don't have to go on forever adding additional basic skills. Progress
takes the form of practice, refinement of technique, and learning
what to use the skills for.
T h i s was an exciting discovery because it meant that a person
can learn to draw within a reasonably short time. And, in fact, my
c o l l e a g u e s and I now teach a five-day seminar, fondly known as
our " K i l l e r C l a s s , " w h i c h enables students to acquire the basic
component skills of realistic drawing in five days of intense learn-
ing.
Five basic skills of drawing
T h e global skill of drawing a perceived object, person, landscape
(something that you see "out there") requires only five basic c o m -
p o n e n t skills, no more. T h e s e skills are not drawing skills. T h e y
are perceptual skills, listed as follows:
One: the perception of edges
Two: the perception of spaces
T h r e e : the perception of relationships
Four: the perception of lights and shadows
Five: the perception of the whole, or gestalt
XVIII INTRODUCTION

17. I am aware, of course, that additional basic skills are required
for imaginative, expressive drawing leading to "Art with a capital
A." Of these, I have found two and o n l y two additional skills:
drawing from m e m o r y and drawing from imagination. A n d there
remain, naturally, many techniques of d r a w i n g — m a n y ways of
manipulating drawing m e d i u m s and endless subject matter, for
example. But, to repeat, for skillful realistic drawing of one's per-
ceptions, using pencil on paper, the five skills I will teach y o u in
this book provide the required perceptual training.
T h o s e five basic skills are the prerequisites for effective use of
the two additional "advanced" skills, and the set of seven m a y
constitute the entire basic global skill of drawing. M a n y books on
drawing actually focus mainly on the two advanced skills. T h e r e -
fore, after you c o m p l e t e the lessons in this book, y o u will find
ample instruction available to continue learning.
I need to emphasize a further point: G l o b a l or w h o l e skills,
such as reading, driving, and drawing, in time b e c o m e automatic.
As I mentioned above, basic component skills b e c o m e completely
integrated into the smooth flow of the global skill. But in acquir-
ing any new global skill, the initial learning is often a struggle,
first with each component skill, then with the smooth integration
of components. Each of my students goes through this process,
and so will you. As each new skill is learned, y o u will m e r g e it
with those previously learned until, one day, y o u are simply
drawing—just as, one day, y o u found y o u r s e l f simply d r i v i n g
without thinking about how to do it. Later, one almost forgets
about having learned to read, learned to drive, learned to draw.
In order to attain this smooth integration in drawing, all five T h e global skill of drawing
component skills must be in place. I'm happy to say that the fifth
skill, the perception of the whole, or gestalt, is neither taught nor
learned but instead seems to e m e r g e as a result of acquiring the
other four skills. But of the first four, none can be omitted, just as
learning how to brake or steer cannot be omitted w h e n learning
to drive.
In the original book, I believe I explained sufficiently well the
first two skills, the perception of edges and the p e r c e p t i o n of
spaces. T h e importance of sighting (the third skill of p e r c e i v i n g
INTRODUCTION XIX

18. relationships) however, n e e d e d greater emphasis and clearer
explanation, b e c a u s e students often tend to give up too quickly
on this c o m p l i c a t e d skill. A n d the fourth skill, the perception of
lights and shadows, also n e e d e d expanding. M o s t of the content
changes for this new edition, therefore, are in the last chapters.
A basic strategy for accessing R-mode
In this edition, I again reiterate a basic strategy for gaining access
at conscious level to R - m o d e , my term for the visual, perceptual
"You have two brains: a left and a
m o d e of the brain. I continue to believe that this strategy is prob-
right. Modern brain scientists now
know that your left brain is your ably my main contribution to educational aspects of the "right-
verbal and rational brain; it thinks h e m i s p h e r e story" that began with R o g e r Sperry's celebrated
serially and reduces its thoughts to scientific work. T h e strategy is stated as follows:
numbers, letters, and words
In order to gain access to the subdominant visual, perceptual
Your right brain is your non-verbal
and intuitive brain; it thinks in pat- R - m o d e of the brain, it is necessary to present the brain with a job
terns, or pictures, composed of that the verbal, analytic L - m o d e will turn down.
'whole things,' and does not com- For most of us, L - m o d e t h i n k i n g seems easy, normal, and
prehend reductions, either num-
familiar (though perhaps not for m a n y children and dyslexic
bers, letters, or words."
individuals). T h e p e r v e r s e R - m o d e strategy, in contrast, may
From The Fabric of Mind, by the
s e e m difficult and u n f a m i l i a r — e v e n "off-the-wall." It must be
eminent scientist and neurosur-
geon Richard Bergland. N e w York: learned in o p p o s i t i o n to the "natural" t e n d e n c y of the brain to
Viking Penguin, Inc., 1985, p. 1. favor L - m o d e because, in general, language dominates. By learn-
i n g to control this t e n d e n c y for specific tasks, one gains access to
powerful brain functions often obscured by language.
A l l of the exercises in this book, therefore, are based on two
o r g a n i z i n g principles and major aims. First, to teach the reader
five basic c o m p o n e n t skills of d r a w i n g and, second, to provide
conditions that facilitate m a k i n g cognitive shifts to R - m o d e , the
thinking/seeing m o d e specialized for drawing.
In short, in the process of learning to draw, one also learns to
control (at least to s o m e d e g r e e ) the m o d e by w h i c h one's own
brain handles information. Perhaps this explains in part w h y my
book appeals to individuals from such diverse fields. Intuitively,
t h e y see the link to other activities and the possibility of seeing
things differently by learning to access R - m o d e at conscious
level.
xx INTRODUCTION

19. Color in drawing
C h a p t e r E l e v e n , " D r a w i n g on the B e a u t y of C o l o r , " was a new
chapter in the 1989 edition, written in response to many requests
from my readers. T h e chapter focuses on using c o l o r in d r a w -
i n g — a fine transitional step toward painting. O v e r the past
decade, my teaching staff and I have d e v e l o p e d a five-day inten-
sive course on basic c o l o r theory, a course that is still a "work in
progress." I am still using the concepts in the chapter on color, so
I have not revised it for this edition.
I believe the logical progression for a person starting out in
artistic expression should be as follows:
From L i n e to V a l u e to C o l o r to Painting
First, a person learns the basic skills of drawing, w h i c h p r o -
vide k n o w l e d g e of line (learned through c o n t o u r d r a w i n g of
edges, spaces, and relationships) and knowledge of value (learned
through rendering lights and shadows). Skillful use of c o l o r
requires first of all the ability to perceive color as value. T h i s abil-
ity is difficult, perhaps impossible, to acquire unless one has
learned to perceive the relationships of lights and shadows
through drawing. I hope that my chapter i n t r o d u c i n g c o l o r in
drawing will provide an effective bridge for those w h o want to
progress from drawing to painting.
Handwriting
Finally, I am retaining the brief section on handwriting. In many
cultures, w r i t i n g is r e g a r d e d as an art form. A m e r i c a n s often
deplore their handwriting but are at a loss as to how to improve it.
Handwriting, however, is a form of drawing and can be improved.
I r e g r e t t o say that m a n y C a l i f o r n i a s c h o o l s are s t i l l u s i n g
handwriting-instructional methods that w e r e failing in 1989 and
are still failing today. My suggestions in this regard appear in the
Afterword.
INTRODUCTION XXI

20. An empirical basis for my theory
T h e u n d e r l y i n g t h e o r y of this revised edition remains the same:
to explain in basic terms the relationship of d r a w i n g to visual,
p e r c e p t u a l brain processes and to provide methods of accessing
and c o n t r o l l i n g these processes. As a n u m b e r of scientists have
noted, research on the human brain is c o m p l i c a t e d by the fact
that the brain is struggling to understand itself. This three-pound
organ is perhaps the only bit of matter in the universe—at least as
far as we k n o w — t h a t is o b s e r v i n g itself, w o n d e r i n g about itself,
t r y i n g to analyze itself, and attempting to gain better control of
its o w n capabilities. T h i s paradoxical situation no doubt con-
tributes—at least in part—to the deep mysteries that still remain,
despite rapidly expanding scientific knowledge about the brain.
O n e question scientists are studying intensely is where the
two major thinking m o d e s are specifically located in the human
brain and how the organization of modes can vary from individ-
ual to individual. W h i l e the so-called location controversy c o n -
tinues to engage scientists, along with myriad other areas of brain
research, the existence in e v e r y brain of two fundamentally dif-
ferent cognitive modes is no longer controversial. Corroborating
research since Sperry's original work is overwhelming. Moreover,
even in the midst of the argument about location, most scientists
agree that for a majority of individuals, information-processing
based primarily on linear, sequential data is mainly located in the
left h e m i s p h e r e , w h i l e g l o b a l , p e r c e p t u a l data is m a i n l y
processed in the right hemisphere.
C l e a r l y , for educators like myself, the precise location of
these m o d e s in the individual brain is not an important issue.
W h a t is important is that incoming information can be handled in
two fundamentally different ways and that the two modes can
apparently w o r k together in a vast array of combinations. Since
the late 1970s, I have used the terms L - m o d e and R - m o d e to try to
avoid the location controversy. T h e terms are intended to differ-
entiate the major m o d e s of cognition, regardless of where they
are located in the individual brain.
O v e r the past d e c a d e or so, a n e w interdisciplinary field of
XXII INTRODUCTION

21. brain-function study has b e c o m e formally k n o w n as cognitive In a conversation with his friend
Andre Marchand, the French artist
neuroscience. In addition to the traditional discipline of n e u r o l -
Henri Matisse described the
ogy, cognitive neuroscience encompasses study of other higher process of passing perceptions
cognitive processes such as language, memory, and perception. from one way of looking to
C o m p u t e r scientists, linguists, neuroimaging scientists, cognitive another:
psychologists, and neurobiologists are all contributing to a g r o w - "Do you know that a man has only
ing understanding of how the human brain functions. one eye which sees and registers
everything; this eye, like a superb
Interest in "right brain, left brain" research has subsided
camera which takes minute pic-
somewhat among educators and the general public since R o g e r tures, very sharp, tiny—and with
Sperry first published his research findings. Nevertheless, the fact that picture man tells himself:
of the profound a s y m m e t r y of human brain functions remains, 'This time I know the reality of
things,' and he is calm for a
becoming ever more central, for e x a m p l e , a m o n g c o m p u t e r s c i -
moment. Then, slowly superim-
entists trying to emulate human mental processes. Facial recogni- posing itself on the picture,
tion, a function ascribed to the right hemisphere, has been sought another eye makes its appearance,
for decades and is still beyond the capabilities of most computers. invisibly, which makes an entirely
different picture for him.
Ray Kurzweil, in his recent book The Age of Spiritual Machines
(Viking, 1999) contrasted human and c o m p u t e r capability in pat- "Then our man no longer sees
tern seeking (as in facial recognition) and sequential processing clearly, a struggle begins between
the first and second eye, the fight is
(as in calculation):
fierce, finally the second eye has
T h e h u m a n brain has a b o u t 100 b i l l i o n n e u r o n s . W i t h a n e s t i m a t e d the upper hand, takes over and
a v e r a g e o f o n e t h o u s a n d c o n n e c t i o n s b e t w e e n e a c h n e u r o n and its that's the end of it. N o w it has
command of the situation, the sec-
n e i g h b o r s , w e h a v e a b o u t 100 t r i l l i o n c o n n e c t i o n s , e a c h c a p a b l e o f a
ond eye can then continue its work
simultaneous calculation. That's rather massive parallel processing,
alone and elaborate its own picture
and o n e key to the strength of h u m a n t h i n k i n g . A p r o f o u n d w e a k n e s s , according to the laws of interior
however, is the e x c r u c i a t i n g l y s l o w s p e e d of n e u r a l circuitry, o n l y 200 vision. This very special eye is
found here," says Matisse, pointing
c a l c u l a t i o n s p e r s e c o n d . F o r p r o b l e m s that benefit from m a s s i v e p a r -
to his brain.
allelism, such a neural-net-based pattern recognition, the h u m a n
brain d o e s a g r e a t job. F o r p r o b l e m s that r e q u i r e e x t e n s i v e s e q u e n t i a l Marchand didn't mention which
side of his brain Matisse pointed
thinking, the h u m a n brain is o n l y m e d i o c r e , (p. 103)
to.
In 1979, I proposed that d r a w i n g required a cognitive shift to — J . Flam
R-mode, now postulated to be a massively parallel m o d e of p r o - Matisse on Art, 1973
cessing, and away from L - m o d e , postulated to be a sequential
processing mode. I had no hard evidence to support my proposal,
only my e x p e r i e n c e as an artist and a teacher. O v e r the years, I
have been criticized occasionally by various neuroscientists for
overstepping the boundaries of my o w n field—though not by
INTRODUCTION XXIII

22. A recent article in an educational R o g e r Sperry, w h o b e l i e v e d that my application of his research
journal summarizes neuroscien-
was reasonable.
tists' objections to "brain-based
education."
W h a t kept me w o r k i n g at my "folk" theory (see the margin
excerpt) was that, when put into practice, the results were inspir-
"The fundamental problem with the
right-brain versus left-brain claims
ing. Students of all ages made significant gains in drawing ability
that one finds in educational litera- and, by extension, in p e r c e p t u a l abilities, since drawing well
ture is that they rely on our intu- d e p e n d s on s e e i n g well. D r a w i n g ability has always been
itions and folk theories about the
regarded as difficult to acquire, and has nearly always been addi-
brain, rather than on what brain
tionally burdened by the notion that it is an extraordinary, not an
science is actually able to tell us.
Our folk theories are too crude ordinary, skill. If my method of teaching enables people to gain a
and imprecise to have any scien- skill they p r e v i o u s l y t h o u g h t closed off to them, is it the neuro-
tific predictive or instructional
l o g i c a l explanation that makes the m e t h o d work, or is it some-
value. What modern brain science
thing else that I may not be aware of?
is telling us—and what brain-based
educators fail to appreciate—is I k n o w that it is not s i m p l y my style of t e a c h i n g that causes
that it makes no scientific sense to the m e t h o d to work, since the hundreds of teachers w h o have
map gross, unanalyzed behaviors
reported equal success using my methods obviously have widely
and skills—reading, arithmetic,
spatial reasoning—onto one brain
differing t e a c h i n g styles. W o u l d the exercises work w i t h o u t the
hemisphere or another." neurological rationale? It's possible, but it would be very difficult
to p e r s u a d e p e o p l e to a c c e d e to such unlikely exercises as
But the author also states:
"Whether or not [brain-based] u p s i d e - d o w n drawing without some reasonable explanation. Is it,
educational practices should be then, just the fact of giving people a rationale—that any rationale
adopted must be determined on
w o u l d do? Perhaps, but I have always been struck by the fact that
the basis of the impact on student
my e x p l a n a t i o n seems to make sense to p e o p l e at a subjective
learning."
level. T h e theory seems to fit their e x p e r i e n c e , and certainly the
—John T. Bruer
ideas derive from my own subjective experience with drawing.
"In Search o f . . .
Brain-Based Education," In each edition of this book I have made the following state-
Phi Delta Kappan, May ment:
1999, p. 603
T h e t h e o r y and methods presented in my book have proven
e m p i r i c a l l y successful. In short, the method works, regardless of
the e x t e n t to w h i c h future s c i e n c e may e v e n t u a l l y determine
exact location and confirm the degree of separation of brain func-
tions in the two hemispheres.
I h o p e that e v e n t u a l l y scholars using traditional research
methods will help answer the many questions I have myself about
this work. It does appear that recent research tends to corroborate
my basic ideas. For example, new findings on the function of the
huge bundle of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres, the
xxiv INTRODUCTION

23. corpus callosum, indicate that the corpus callosum can inhibit the
passage of information from hemisphere to hemisphere when the
task requires noninterference from one or the other hemisphere.
M e a n w h i l e , the work appears to bring a great deal of joy to
my students, whether or not we fully understand the u n d e r l y i n g
process.
A further complication
O n e further complication o f seeing needs mentioning. T h e eyes
gather visual information by constantly scanning the e n v i r o n -
ment. But visual data from "out there," gathered by sight, is not
the end of the story. At least part, and perhaps m u c h of what we
see is changed, interpreted, or c o n c e p t u a l i z e d in ways that
depend on a person's training, mind-set, and past experiences. We
tend to see what we expect to see or what we decide we have seen.
T h i s expectation or decision, however, often is not a c o n s c i o u s
process. Instead, the brain frequently does the e x p e c t i n g and the
deciding, w i t h o u t our conscious awareness, and then alters or
rearranges—or even simply disregards—the raw data of vision
that hits the retina. L e a r n i n g perception through d r a w i n g seems "The artist is the confidant of
to change this process and to allow a different, more direct kind of nature. Flowers carry on dialogues
seeing. T h e brain's editing is s o m e h o w put on hold, thereby per- with him through the graceful
bending of their stems and the har-
mitting one to see more fully and perhaps more realistically.
moniously tinted nuances of their
T h i s e x p e r i e n c e is often m o v i n g and d e e p l y affecting. My blossoms. Every flower has a cor-
students' most frequent c o m m e n t s after learning to draw are dial word which nature directs
towards him."
"Life seems so much richer now" and "I didn't realize how m u c h
there is to see and how beautiful things are." T h i s new way of see- — Auguste Rodin
ing may alone be reason enough to learn to draw.
INTRODUCTION XXV

26. D RAWING is A CURIOUS PROCESS, so i n t e r t w i n e d with s e e -
i n g that the t w o can hardly be separated. A b i l i t y to draw
d e p e n d s on ability to see the way an artist sees, and this kind of
seeing can marvelously enrich your life.
In m a n y ways, t e a c h i n g d r a w i n g is s o m e w h a t like teaching
s o m e o n e to ride a b i c y c l e . It is v e r y difficult to explain in words.
In t e a c h i n g s o m e o n e to ride a b i c y c l e , y o u might say, "Well, you
just get on, push the pedals, balance yourself, and off you'll go."
Of course, that doesn't explain it at all, and you are likely
finally to say, "I'll get on and show y o u how. Watch and see how 1
do it."
A n d so it is with drawing. M o s t art teachers and drawing text-
book authors exhort beginners to "change their ways of looking at
things" and to "learn how to see." T h e problem is that this differ-
ent way of seeing is as hard to explain as how to balance a bicycle,
and the t e a c h e r often ends by saying, in effect, " L o o k at these
e x a m p l e s and just keep trying. If y o u practice a lot, eventually
y o u may get it." W h i l e nearly e v e r y o n e learns to ride a bicycle,
many individuals never solve the problems of drawing. To put it
m o r e precisely, most p e o p l e never learn to see well e n o u g h to
draw.
Drawing as a magical ability
B e c a u s e o n l y a few individuals seem to possess the ability to see
and draw, artists are often regarded as persons with a rare G o d -
given talent. To many people, the process of drawing seems mys-
terious and somehow beyond human understanding.
Artists themselves often do little to dispel the mystery. If you
ask an artist (that is, s o m e o n e w h o draws well as a result of either
l o n g training or c h a n c e d i s c o v e r y of the artist's way of seeing),
" H o w do y o u draw something so that it looks real—say a portrait
or a landscape?" the artist is likely to reply, "Well, I just have a gift
for it, I guess," or "I really don't know. I just start in and work
Fig. I - I . Bellowing Bison. Paleolithic
things out as I go along," or "Well, I just look at the person (or the
cave painting from Altamira, Spain.
Drawing by Brevil. Prehistoric landscape) and I draw what I see." T h e last reply seems like a
artists were probably thought to logical and straightforward answer. Yet, on reflection, it clearly
have magic powers.
T H E N E W D R A W I N G O N T H E R I G H T SIDE O F T H E BRAIN

27. doesn't explain the process at all, and the sense that the skill of Roger N. Shepard, professor of
psychology at Stanford University,
drawing is a vaguely magical ability persists (Figure I - I ) .
recently described his personal
W h i l e this attitude of wonder at artistic skill causes p e o p l e to mode of creative thought during
appreciate artists and their work, it does little to e n c o u r a g e indi- which research ideas emerged in
viduals to try to learn to draw, and it doesn't h e l p teachers his mind as unverbalized, essen-
tially complete, long-sought solu-
explain to students the process of drawing. Often, in fact, p e o p l e
tions to problems.
even feel that they shouldn't take a d r a w i n g course because they
"That in all of these sudden illumi-
don't know already h o w to draw. T h i s is like d e c i d i n g that y o u
nations my ideas took shape in a
shouldn't take a French class b e c a u s e y o u don't already speak
primarily visual-spatial form with-
French, or that y o u shouldn't sign up for a c o u r s e in c a r p e n t r y out, so far as I can introspect, any
because you don't know how to build a house. verbal intervention is in accor-
dance with what has always been
my preferred mode of thinking....
Drawing as a learnable, teachable skill Many of my happiest hours have
since childhood been spent
You will soon discover that d r a w i n g is a skill that can be learned absorbed in drawing, in tinkering,
by e v e r y normal person with average eyesight and average e y e - or in exercises of purely mental
hand coordination—with sufficient ability, for example, to thread visualization."
a needle or catch a baseball. Contrary to popular opinion, manual — Roger N . Shepard
skill is not a primary factor in drawing. If y o u r h a n d w r i t i n g is Visual Learning, Thinking,
readable, or if you can print legibly, y o u have ample dexterity to and Communication, 1978
draw well.
"Learning to draw is really a
We need say no more here about hands, but about eyes we
matter of learning to see—to see
cannot say enough. L e a r n i n g to draw is m o r e than l e a r n i n g the correctly—and that means a good
skill itself; by studying this book you will learn how to see. T h a t is, deal more than merely looking
you will learn how to process visual information in the special with the eye."
way used by artists. T h a t way is different from the way you usually — Kimon Nicolaides
process visual information and seems to require that you use your The Natural Way to Draw,
1941
brain in a different way than you ordinarily use it.
You will be learning, therefore, s o m e t h i n g about h o w y o u r
brain handles visual information. R e c e n t research has b e g u n to
throw new scientific light on that marvel of capability and c o m -
plexity, the human brain. A n d one of the things we are learning is
how the special properties of o u r brains enable us to draw p i c -
tures of our perceptions.
DRAWING AND THE ART OF BICYCLE RIDING
3

28. Gertrude Stein asked the French
Drawing and seeing
artist Henri Matisse whether, when
eating a tomato, he looked at it the T h e magical m y s t e r y of d r a w i n g ability seems to be, in part at
way an artist would. Matisse
least, an ability to make a shift in brain state to a different mode of
replied:
s e e i n g / p e r c e i v i n g . When you see in the special way in which experi-
"No, when I eat a tomato I look at it
enced artists see, then you can draw. T h i s is not to say that the draw-
the way anyone else would. But
ings of great artists such as L e o n a r d o da V i n c i or Rembrandt are
when I paint a tomato, then I see it
differently." not still w o n d r o u s because we may know something about the
cerebral process that w e n t into their creation. Indeed, scientific
— Gertrude Stein
Picasso, 1938 research makes master drawings seem even more remarkable
because they seem to cause a viewer to shift to the artist's mode of
"The painter draws with his eyes, perceiving. But the basic skill of d r a w i n g is also accessible to
not with his hands. Whatever he e v e r y o n e who can learn to make the shift to the artist's mode and
sees, if he sees it clear, he can put see in the artist's way.
down. T h e putting of it down
requires, perhaps, much care and
labor, but no more muscular agility The artist's way of seeing: A twofold process
than it takes for him to write his
name. Seeing clear is the important D r a w i n g is not really very difficult. S e e i n g is the problem, or, to
thing." be more specific, shifting to a particular way of seeing. You may
— Maurice Grosser not b e l i e v e me at this moment. You may feel that you are seeing
The Painter's Eye, 1951 things just fine and that it's the drawing that is hard. But the oppo-
site is true, and the exercises in this book are designed to help you
"It is in order to really see, to see make the mental shift and gain a twofold advantage. First, to open
ever deeper, ever more intensely, access by conscious volition to the visual, perceptual mode of think-
hence to be fully aware and alive,
ing in order to experience a focus in your awareness, and second,
that I draw what the Chinese call
' T h e Ten Thousand Things' to see things in a different way. Both will enable you to draw well.
around me. Drawing is the disci- M a n y artists have spoken of seeing things differently while
pline by which I constantly redis-
drawing and have often mentioned that drawing puts them into a
cover the world.
s o m e w h a t altered state of awareness. In that different subjective
"I have learned that what I have not state, artists speak of feeling transported, "at one with the work,"
drawn, I have never really seen,
able to grasp relationships that they ordinarily cannot grasp.
and that when I start drawing an
ordinary thing, I realize how extra- Awareness of the passage of time fades away and words recede
ordinary it is, sheer miracle." from consciousness. Artists say that they feel alert and aware yet
— Frederick Franck are relaxed and free of anxiety, e x p e r i e n c i n g a pleasurable,
The Zen of Seeing, 1973 almost mystical activation of the mind.
4 T H E N E W D R A W I N G O N T H E R I G H T SIDE O F T H E BRAIN

29. "If a certain kind of activity, such as
Drawing attention to states of consciousness
painting, becomes the habitual
T h e slightly altered consciousness state of f e e l i n g transported, mode of expression, it may follow
that taking up the painting materi-
which most artists experience while drawing, painting, sculpting,
als and beginning work with them
or doing any kind of art work, is a state p r o b a b l y not altogether
will act suggestively and so
unfamiliar to you. You may have observed in y o u r s e l f slight shifts presently evoke a flight into the
in your state of consciousness while engaged in m u c h more ordi- higher state."
nary activities than artwork. — Robert Henri
For example, most p e o p l e are aware that they o c c a s i o n a l l y The Art Spirit, 1923
slip from ordinary waking consciousness into the slightly altered
state of daydreaming. As another example, p e o p l e often say that
reading takes them "out of themselves." A n d other kinds of activ-
ities which apparently p r o d u c e a shift in consciousness state are
meditation, jogging, needlework, typing, listening to music, and,
of course, drawing itself.
Also, I believe that driving on the freeway probably induces a
slightly different subjective state that is similar to the d r a w i n g
state. After all, in freeway d r i v i n g we deal w i t h visual images,
keeping track of relational, spatial information, sensing c o m p l e x
components of the overall traffic configuration. M a n y people find
that they do a lot of creative thinking w h i l e driving, often losing
track of time and e x p e r i e n c i n g a pleasurable sense of f r e e d o m
from anxiety. T h e s e mental operations may activate the same
parts of the brain used in drawing. Of course, if d r i v i n g c o n d i -
tions are difficult, if we are late or if s o m e o n e sharing the ride
talks with us, the shift to the alternative state doesn't occur. T h e
reasons for this we'll take up in C h a p t e r T h r e e .
T h e key to learning to draw, therefore, is to set up conditions
that cause you to make a mental shift to a different mode of infor-
mation processing—the slightly altered state of consciousness—
that enables y o u to see well. In this d r a w i n g m o d e , y o u w i l l be
able to draw y o u r p e r c e p t i o n s even t h o u g h y o u may never have
studied drawing. O n c e the d r a w i n g m o d e is familiar to y o u , y o u
will be able to consciously control the mental shift.
DRAWING AND THE ART OF BICYCLE RIDING
5

30. My students often report that Drawing on your creative self
learning to draw makes them feel
more creative. Obviously, many I see you as an individual with creative potential for expressing
roads lead to creative endeavor:
y o u r s e l f through drawing. My aim is to provide the means for
Drawing is only one route. Howard
releasing that potential, for gaining access at a conscious level to
Gardner, Harvard professor of
psychology and education, refers y o u r inventive, intuitive, imaginative powers that may have been
to this linkage: largely untapped by our verbal, technological culture and educa-
"By a curious twist, the words art tional system. I am going to teach you how to draw, but drawing is
and creativity have become closely only the means, not the end. D r a w i n g will tap the special abilities
linked in our society." that are right for drawing. By learning to draw you will learn to
From Gardner's book Creating see differently and, as the artist Rodin lyrically states, to become a
Minds, 1993. confidant of the natural world, to awaken y o u r eye to the lovely
language of forms, to express yourself in that language.
In drawing, you will delve deeply into a part of your mind too
often obscured by endless details of daily life. From this experi-
e n c e y o u will d e v e l o p y o u r ability to perceive things freshly in
their totality, to see u n d e r l y i n g patterns and possibilities for new
combinations. C r e a t i v e solutions to problems, whether personal
or professional, will be accessible through new modes of thinking
and new ways of using the power of your whole brain.
D r a w i n g , pleasurable and rewarding though it is, is but a key
to o p e n the d o o r to other goals. My hope is that Drawing on the
Right Side of the Brain will help y o u expand your powers as an
individual through increased awareness of your own mind and its
workings. T h e multiple effects of the exercises in this book are
intended to enhance y o u r confidence in decision making and
problem solving. T h e potential force of the creative, imaginative
human brain seems almost limitless. Drawing may help you come
to know this p o w e r and make it known to others. T h r o u g h draw-
ing, y o u are made visible. T h e G e r m a n artist A l b r e c h t Durer
said, "From this, the treasure secretly gathered in your heart will
Samuel Goldwyn once said: become evident through your creative work."
"Don't pay any attention to the
Keeping the real goal in mind, let us begin to fashion the key.
critics. Don't even ignore them."
Quoted in Being Digital by Nicolas
Negroponte, 1995.
6 T H E N E W D R A W I N G O N T H E R I G H T SIDE O F T H E BRAIN

31. "To be shaken out of the ruts of
My approach: A path to creativity
ordinary perception, to be shown
T h e exercises and instructions in this book have been designed for a few timeless hours the outer
and the inner world, not as they
specifically for people who cannot draw at all, w h o may feel that
appear to an animal obsessed with
they have little or no talent for drawing, and who may feel doubt- words and notions, but as they are
ful that they could ever learn to draw—but who think they might apprehended, directly and uncon-
like to learn. T h e approach of this book is different from other ditionally, by Mind at Large—this
is an experience of inestimable
drawing instruction books in that the exercises are aimed at
value to everyone."
opening access to skills you already have but that are simply waiting
to be released. — Aldous Huxley
The Doors of Perception,
Creative persons from fields other than art w h o want to get
1954
their working skills u n d e r better control and learn to o v e r c o m e
blocks to creativity will benefit from working with the techniques
presented here. T e a c h e r s and parents will find the t h e o r y and
exercises useful in helping children to develop their creative abil-
ities. At the end of the book, I have supplied a brief postscript that
offers some general suggestions for adapting my methods and
materials to children. A second postscript is addressed to art stu-
dents.
T h i s book is based on the five-day workshop that I have been
teaching for about fifteen years to individuals of w i d e l y ranging
ages and occupations. N e a r l y all of the students begin the course
with very few drawing skills and with high a n x i e t y about their
potential drawing ability. Almost without exception, the students
achieve a high level of skill in drawing and gain confidence to go
on d e v e l o p i n g their expressive d r a w i n g skills in further art
courses or by practice on their own.
An intriguing aspect of the often-remarkable gains most stu-
dents achieve is the rapid rate of improvement in d r a w i n g skills.
It's my belief that if persons untrained in art can learn to make
the shift to the artist's m o d e of s e e i n g — t h a t is, the r i g h t - h e m i -
sphere m o d e — t h o s e individuals are then able to draw w i t h o u t
further instruction. To put it another way, you already know how
to draw, but old habits of seeing interfere with that ability and
block it. T h e exercises in this book are designed to remove the
interference and unblock the ability.
DRAWING AND THE ART OF BICYCLE RIDING 7

32. "When the artist is alive in any per- W h i l e you may have no interest whatever in becoming a full-
son, whatever his kind of work may
time w o r k i n g artist, the exercises will provide insights into the
be, he becomes an inventive,
searching, daring, self-expressive
way your mind works, or your two minds work—singly, coopera-
creature. He becomes interesting tively, one against the other. A n d , as many of my students have
to other people. He disturbs, told me, their lives seem richer because they are seeing better and
upsets, enlightens, and opens ways
seeing more. It's helpful to r e m e m b e r that we don't teach reading
for a better understanding. Where
those who are not artists are trying
and w r i t i n g to p r o d u c e only poets and writers, but rather to
to close the book, he opens it and improve thinking.
shows there are still more pages
possible."
Realism as a means to an end
— Robert Henri
The Art Spirit, 1923 Why faces?
A n u m b e r of the exercises and instructional sequences in this
book are designed to enable you to draw recognizable portraits.
L e t me explain why I think portrait drawing is useful as a subject
for beginners in art. B r o a d l y speaking, e x c e p t for the degree of
complexity, all drawing is the same. O n e drawing task is no harder
than any other. T h e same skills and ways of seeing are involved in
d r a w i n g still-life setups, landscapes, the figure, random objects,
even imaginary subjects, and portrait drawing. It's all the same thing:
Y o u see what's out there (imaginary subjects are "seen" in the
mind's eye) and you draw what you see.
W h y , then, have I selected portrait drawing for some of the
exercises? For three reasons. First, beginning students of drawing
often think that drawing human faces is the hardest of all kinds of
drawing. T h u s , w h e n students see that they can draw portraits,
they feel confident and their confidence enhances progress. A
second, more important, reason is that the right hemisphere of
the human brain is specialized for recognition of faces. Since the
right brain is the one we will be trying to gain access to, it makes
sense to choose a subject that the right brain is used to working
with. A n d third, faces are fascinating! O n c e you have drawn a per-
son, you will really have seen that individual's face. As one of my
students said, "I don't think I ever actually looked at anyone's face
before I started drawing. N o w , the oddest thing is that everyone
looks beautiful to me."
8 T H E N E W D R A W I N G O N T H E R I G H T SIDE O F T H E BRAIN

33. " . . . at the time when you spoke of
Summing up
my becoming a painter, I thought it
I have described to you the basic p r e m i s e of this b o o k — t h a t very impractical and would not
hear of it. What made me stop
drawing is a teachable, learnable skill that can provide a twofold
doubting was reading a clear book
advantage. By gaining access to the part of y o u r mind that works
on perspective, Cassange's Guide to
in a style conducive to creative, intuitive thought, you will learn a the ABC of Drawing: and a week
fundamental skill of the visual arts: h o w to put d o w n on p a p e r later I drew the interior of a
what y o u see in front of y o u r eyes. S e c o n d , t h r o u g h l e a r n i n g to kitchen with stove, chair, table and
window—in their places and on
draw by the m e t h o d presented in this book, y o u w i l l e n h a n c e
their legs—whereas before it had
your ability to think more creatively in other areas of your life. seemed to me that getting depth
H o w far y o u go with these skills after y o u c o m p l e t e the and the right perspective into a
drawing was witchcraft or pure
course will d e p e n d on other traits such as e n e r g y and curiosity.
chance."
But first things first! T h e potential is there. It's sometimes n e c e s -
— Vincent Van Gogh,
sary to remind ourselves that Shakespeare at some point learned
in a letter to his brother,
to write a line of prose, Beethoven learned the musical scales, and
Theo, who had suggested
as you see in the margin quotation, V i n c e n t Van G o g h learned that Vincent become a
how to draw. painter. Letter 184, p. 331.
DRAWING AND THE ART OF BICYCLE RIDING
9

36. O VER THE YEARS OF TEACHING, I have e x p e r i m e n t e d
w i t h v a r i o u s p r o g r e s s i o n s , s e q u e n c e s , and c o m b -
nations of exercises. T h e s e q u e n c e set out in this book has
proved to be the most effective in terms of student progress.
W e ' l l take the first step, the all-important preinstruction draw-
ings, in this chapter.
W h e n y o u begin the d r a w i n g exercises in C h a p t e r Four,
y o u ' l l have some b a c k g r o u n d in the u n d e r l y i n g theory, how the
exercises have been set up, and w h y they work. T h e sequence is
designed to enhance success at every step of the way and to pro-
v i d e access to a new m o d e of information processing with as lit-
tle upset to the old mode as possible. Therefore, I ask you to read
the chapters in the order presented and to do the exercises as
they appear.
I have limited the r e c o m m e n d e d exercises to a minimum
number, but if time permits, do more drawings than are sug-
gested: Seek y o u r o w n subjects and devise your o w n exercises.
T h e m o r e practice y o u provide for yourself, the faster y o u will
progress. To this end, in addition to the exercises that appear in
the text, s u p p l e m e n t a r y exercises often appear in the margin.
D o i n g these exercises will reinforce both y o u r skills and your
confidence.
For most of the exercises, I r e c o m m e n d that you read
through all of the directions before you start drawing and, where
directed, v i e w the examples of students' drawings before begin-
ning. K e e p all of y o u r drawings together in a folder or large
envelope, so that by the time y o u ' v e c o m e to the end of the book
y o u can review your own progress.
Definitions of terms
A glossary of terms appears at the end of the book. Certain terms
are defined fairly extensively in the text, and the glossary c o n -
tains other terms not so extensively defined. Words that are c o m -
m o n l y used in e v e r y d a y language, such as "value" and
"composition," have very specific, and often different, meanings
in art terminology. I suggest that you glance through the glossary
before starting to read the chapters.
12 T H E N E W D R A W I N G O N T H E R I G H T SIDE O F T H E BRAIN

37. Drawing materials
T h e materials list for the first two editions was v e r y simple: some
inexpensive bond t y p i n g paper or a pad of inexpensive d r a w i n g
paper, a pencil, and an eraser. I m e n t i o n e d that a # 4 B d r a w i n g
pencil is pleasant to use, as the lead is smooth and makes a clear,
dark line, but an ordinary number 2 writing pencil is nearly as
good. For this edition, y o u still need these basic materials, but I
wish to suggest a few additional aids that will help y o u learn to
draw quickly.
• You will need a piece of clear plastic, about 8" x 10" and about
1/16" thick. A piece of glass is fine, but the edges must be taped.
Use a permanent marker to draw two crosshairs on the plastic,
a horizontal line and a vertical line crossing at the center of
the plane. (See the sketch in the margin.)
• Also, you will need two "viewfinders," made of black card-
board about 8" x 10". From one, cut a rectangular opening of
4 1/4" x 5 1/4" and from the other, cut out a larger opening of 6" x
7 5/8". See Figure 2-1.
• A nonpermanent black felt-tip marker
• T w o clips to fasten your viewfinders to the plastic picture
plane
• A "graphite stick," # 4 B , available at most art supply stores
• Some masking tape
• A pencil sharpener—a small, hand-held sharpener is fine
• An eraser, such a "Pink Pearl" or a white plastic eraser
G a t h e r i n g these materials requires a bit of effort, but they w i l l
truly help you to learn rapidly. You can buy them at any art mate-
rials or crafts store. My staff of teachers and I no longer attempt
to teach our students without using viewfinders and the plastic
picture plane, and they will help you just as much. Because these
items are so essential to students' understanding of the basic
nature of drawing, for years now we have put t o g e t h e r — b y
hand!—portfolios containing the special learning tools that we
have developed for our five-day intensive workshops. T h e portfo-
lios also contained all of the necessary d r a w i n g materials and a
lightweight drawing board. N o w I have made our Portfolio avail-
T H E DRAWING EXERCISES: O N E STEP AT A T I M E

38. Construct a viewfinder as follows: able for purchase. It includes as w e l l a t w o - h o u r instructional
1. Take a sheet of paper or use thin video of the lessons in this book.
cardboard of the same size as the If y o u are interested in purchasing a Portfolio, y o u will find
paper you use for drawing. T h e
an order slip at the end of the book, or y o u can contact my w e b -
viewfinder must be the same for-
mat, that is, the same proportional
site at www.drawright.com. But the few items listed above will be
shape, as the paper you are using sufficient if y o u would rather put together your own set of mate-
to draw on. rials.
2. Draw diagonal lines from oppo-
site corners, crossing in the center. Pre-instruction drawings: A valuable record of your
In the center of the paper, draw a
small rectangle by connecting hor-
art skills
izontal and vertical lines at points
N o w , let's get started. First, y o u need to make a record of your
on the diagonals. T h e rectangle
should be about I x I 1/4". (See Fig- present d r a w i n g skills. T h i s is important! You don't want to miss
ure 2-1.) Constructed this way, the the pleasure of h a v i n g a real m e m e n t o of y o u r starting point to
inner rectangle has the same pro- c o m p a r e with y o u r later drawings. I'm fully aware how difficult
portion of length to width as the
this is, but just do it! As the great D u t c h artist Vincent Van G o g h
outer edges of the paper.
wrote (in a letter to his brother, T h e o ) :
3. N e x t , cut the small rectangle out
"Just dash something down if you see a blank canvas staring at
of the center with scissors. Hold
the paper up and compare the y o u with a certain imbecility. You do not know how paralyzing it
shape of the small opening with the is, that staring of a blank canvas which says to a painter, 'You don't
shape of the whole format. You can know a n y t h i n g ' "
see that the two shapes are the
Soon, y o u will "know something," I promise. Just gear y o u r -
same, and only the size is different.
This perceptual aid is called a self up and do these drawings. Later, you'll be very happy that
viewfinder. It will help you to per- you did. T h e drawings have proved to be invaluable in aiding stu-
ceive negative spaces by establish- dents to see and recognize their o w n progress. A kind of amnesia
ing an edge to the space around
seems to set in as d r a w i n g skills improve. Students forget what
forms.
their drawing was like before instruction. M o r e o v e r the degree of
criticism keeps p a c e w i t h progress. E v e n after considerable
i m p r o v e m e n t , students are sometimes critical of their latest
d r a w i n g because it's "not as good as da Vinci's." T h e before draw-
ings provide a realistic gauge of progress. After you do the draw-
ings, put them away and we will look at them again later on in the
light of your newly acquired skills.
Fig. 2-1.
T H E N E W D R A W I N G O N T H E R I G H T SIDE O F T H E BRAIN
14

39. What you'll need:
• Paper to draw on—plain white bond paper is fine
• Your #2 writing pencil
• Your pencil sharpener
• Your masking tape
• A small mirror, about 5" x 7", that could be attached to a wall,
or any available wall or door mirror
• Something to use as a drawing board—a breadboard or a
sturdy piece of cardboard, about 15" x 18"
• An hour to an hour and a quarter of uninterrupted time
What you'll do:
You will do three drawings. T h i s usually takes our students about
an hour or so, but feel free to take as long as y o u wish for each of
them. I will first list the drawing titles. Instruction for each draw-
ing follows.
• "Self-Portrait"
• "A Person, Drawn from M e m o r y "
• " M y Hand"
Pre-instruction drawing #1: Your "Self-Portrait"
1. T a p e a stack of two or three sheets of paper to y o u r d r a w i n g
board or work in your pad of paper. (Stacking the sheets p r o -
vides a "padded" surface to draw o n — m u c h better than the
rather hard surface of the drawing board.)
2. Sit at arm's length (about 2 to 2 1/2 feet) from a mirror. L e a n
your board up against the wall, resting the b o t t o m of the
board on your lap.
3. L o o k at the reflection of your head and face in the mirror and
draw your "Self-Portrait."
4. W h e n y o u have finished, title, date, and sign the d r a w i n g in
the lower right-hand or lower left-hand corner.
T H E D R A W I N G EXERCISES: O N E STEP AT A T I M E