“The theory and methods presented in my book have proven empirically successful. In short, the method works, regardless of the extent to which future science may eventually determine exact location and confirm the degree of separation of brain functions in the two hemispheres.” (pg. XXIV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That’s as future proof as this book can get!<\/p>\n
With that said, the rest of the book does a great job at doing what it should – teaching you how to draw what you actually see, not what you think you see! It’s designed for people who think they can’t draw, but really they’re just struggling to reach an “altered state of awareness” (R-mode, Flow, whatever you want to call it). Even for people who already know how to draw, many times they also start succumbing to using the “symbols” they’ve stored in their brain and muscle memory. I think this is why you often see a lot of drawings or paintings by an artist where the faces all look very similar (or they could be using the same models over and over).<\/p>\n This book is entirely dedicated to teaching you how to perceive things in real life (and record them via drawing) by telling you to hush your “left brain” (i.e. getting in the zone). Edwards does an awesome job teaching perception skills that give people a new perspective on their drawing abilities and is especially good for people who need a lot of logical explanations about what stops them from drawing well and how to get around that. It works for people whose flow mode might be a little more resistant. After this book, the more directly hands-on books that have less theory will become easier.<\/p>\n Honestly, this is one of the best how-to books I’ve ever read because she tries to be as clear as possible. The instructional steps are numbered and detailed and prior to every new exercise, there are demonstrations to show you the reasoning behind everything. These are things like having you measure (via sighting) your own head in front of a mirror while learning the proportions of a human head.<\/p>\n Edwards claims that drawing from life is made of only 5 basic skills, which are useful perceptual skills that are not specific only to drawing (there’s at least a chapter dedicated to each of these):<\/p>\n With two additional skills needed for imaginative\/expressive drawing:<\/p>\n The book doesn’t really cover the last two skills, sparing only a few pages for each.<\/p>\n I can attest, the methods she uses works. By the end of chapter 10 (doing all of the main exercises), I realized how much my brain actually hinders my view of what’s truly there. Something I’ve become more conscious of.<\/p>\n The portrait drawing I did at the end was miles better than the one I did at the beginning of the book! Sure enough, my pre-conceptions of myself (I thought I had wide-set eyes, huge nostrils, and an abnormally large lower lip, etc.) were preventing me from seeing what was actually there. Although my final self-portrait still needs improvement, the result was a lot closer to reality. From the measurements in the book and the ones done in the mirror, I realized that my eyes were not wide-set. They were, in fact, just average, among other things. It’s almost as if I could see myself objectively now.<\/p>\n Still, explanations on how to better see values would have been nice and the chapter on color was weak. The colored pages were not even in the right chapter.<\/p>\n Some additional lessons learned:<\/p>\n What we think is bigger or more important looks bigger, what we think is small or unimportant looks smaller than they actually are. Also, we draw what we think things look like, not what they actually are.<\/p>\n The General Proportions of the Human Head (in front view and 3\/4ths view) in Chapter 10 is gold!<\/p>\n TL;DR \u2013 The Bottom Line Hello, Friends! It’s time to dive into another book. This one’s a classic! Everyone knows The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I’ve had this book for a while, but I never actually did all the exercises, in order, cover to cover, until now. Here’s what I found: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[6,23],"tags":[24,27,11,10,25,26],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Kiminjoy_BookReview_DrawingOnTheRightSideOfTheBrain_BookReviewCover.jpg?fit=800%2C1067","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5gsQi-2W","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67,"url":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/blog\/art\/5-books-for-the-beginner-or-restarting-artist\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":0},"title":"5 Books for the Beginner (or Restarting) Artist","date":"January 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes we just need a kick-start in the right direction. Although the intention was always there, it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve drawn seriously. As such, I\u2019ve decided to\u00a0reboot! It\u2019s helpful to get back to basics\u00a0after a long period of not creating (or even during a really tough art block).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Kiminjoy-Reading-Web.jpg?fit=961%2C667&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84,"url":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/blog\/art\/book-review-the-creative-license-by-danny-gregory\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":1},"title":"Book Review: The Creative License by Danny Gregory","date":"February 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Though I've never met him, Danny Gregory isn't a stranger to me. I had come across his works of visual journaling a few times prior and was later given The Creative License by someone very special. During that time, many years ago, my creative-self was at an all-time low and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","img":{"alt_text":"Book Review - Cover of The Creative License","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Kiminjoy_BookReview_TheCreativeLicense_BookReviewCover_Sm.jpg?fit=450%2C600&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":112,"url":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/blog\/art\/book-review-sketchbook-confidential-secrets-from-the-private-sketches-of-over-40-master-artists\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":2},"title":"Book Review: Sketchbook Confidential: Secrets from the private sketches of over 40 master artists","date":"April 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I love (love!) looking at the sketchbooks of artists, almost more than looking at the finished works themselves. So, when I saw this book and recognized some of the artists on its list, I ordered it and waited impatiently. Sketchbook Confidential did not disappoint. I was also happy to discover\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","img":{"alt_text":"Book Review: Sketchbook Confidential: Secrets from the private sketches of over 40 artists - Cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Kiminjoy_BookReview_SketchbookConfidential_Cover.jpg?fit=450%2C600&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":202,"url":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/blog\/games\/game-review-artist-survival-simulator\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":3},"title":"Game Review: Artist Survival Simulator","date":"July 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 I recently replayed Artist Survival Simulator. It was the first game I ever played that was based on living the life of an artist. Unfortunately, most of those games seem to be a bit more on the depressing side and this one is\u00a0no different. Artist Survival Simulator is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Game Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"Featured Image: Game Review of Artists Survival Simulator","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Kiminjoy_BlogPost_ArtistSurvivalSimulatorFeaturedImage.jpg?fit=710%2C334&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":105,"url":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/blog\/life\/overcoming-the-hesitant-artist\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":4},"title":"Overcoming the Hesitant Artist","date":"March 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you call yourself an artist? Are you a little hesitant? Maybe even, reluctant? Look around and you'll find that many (dare I say, most?) people start out as hesitant artists. They're uncertain or lack confidence. Cue the self-doubt: \"Maybe, I'm not actually meant to be an artist? Where's my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","img":{"alt_text":"Overcoming the Hesitant Artist - Featured Image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Kiminjoy_BlogPost_OvercomingTheHesitantArtist.jpg?fit=800%2C600&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":130,"url":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/blog\/life\/art-studio-inspiration-plants-and-wood-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":5},"title":"Art Studio Inspiration: Plants and Wood Edition","date":"May 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had the luxury of commandeering part of my apartment's sunroom for an \"art studio,\" which has plenty of natural light and quickly became my favorite space. It's currently made up of a Ponderosa glass topped table (which I bought to utilize as a light table, a glass paint palette,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","img":{"alt_text":"Artist Studio Inspiration: Plants and Wood Edition - Featured Image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Kiminjoy_BlogPost_ArtistStudioInspirationPlantsAndWoodEdition.jpg?fit=800%2C600&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Pages](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kiminjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Kiminjoy_BookReview_DrawingOnTheRightSideOfTheBrain_PG128129.jpg?resize=697%2C471\")
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\n<\/b><\/span>4\/5<\/b>
\nThe New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
\n<\/b>Favorite Quote:<\/b>\u00a0\u201cKeeping the real goal in mind, let us begin to fashion the key.” Pg. 6
\nType of Book:<\/b>\u00a0Art Instruction \/ Education
\nAuthor:<\/b>\u00a0Betty Edwards
\nPublished:<\/b>\u00a01979-1999 (New Edition)
\nThe Good:<\/b>\u00a0Solid lessons and exercises on drawing. Well worth the time invested.
\nThe Bad:<\/b>\u00a0I’ll be honest, the writing can be a very dry sometimes. The walls of texts can be difficult to read because it’s kind of boring. Color and Value explanations were weaker than the rest of the book. Color pages were also in a random place (wrong chapter).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"