20
My art teacher told me I was drawing 'what I think I see' not what's actually there
She made me draw a crumpled paper bag upside down and it totally clicked. Now I squint at things or turn them around to actually look at the shapes instead of my brain filling in the blanks. Anyone else have a teacher moment that rewired how you see stuff?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
hugoj127d ago
Flip your reference or your paper upside down and trace the negative space around it.
6
bennett.evan21d ago
drew a bunch of those upside down drawings in my first figure drawing class. teacher had us trace photos of hands that were flipped upside down, she said our brains would try to draw a "hand" instead of the actual lines and shadows. it was wild how much better my drawings looked when i just focused on the weird shapes instead of what i knew it was supposed to be. still catch myself turning stuff upside down when i'm trying to sketch something tricky.
4
torres.thea7d ago
That method of drawing upside down really forces your brain to shut up for a second and just look. @bennett.evan I'm curious though, after you did those upside down hand tracings, did you ever go back and try drawing a hand right side up to see if the skill actually stuck? Because for me, it felt like a magic trick in the moment, but once the paper was flipped back I still had to fight my brain trying to draw a "nose" instead of a shadow. Did it actually rewire how you approach drawing subjects you already know, or was it just a temporary trick for that one assignment?
1