Drawing Exercise Challenge

If you are into a challenge, copy this upside-down drawing. Try to see shapes and do not think of it as a thing.

Cool Mud Bath

Man, it is H * O * T outside! One thing this weather is good for is sketching inside. This little piggy image caught my attention sitting there on my computer screen this hot afternoon and I just started drawing it. I drew it upside-down and it really was a cinch. When I had the overall shapes down, which was accomplished holding my pencil like a wand, I turned the drawing and the photo right side-up and added a few details holding my pencil as I would to write. This really is a super easy one to draw. Why not give it a try? Strengthen your skills with a simple step by step tutorial on this pencil and wash technique here.

Window Box Challenge Drawing

I painted half of this upside-down and the other half right-side-up. Boy, a five minute sketch sure turned into an hour or so challenge. I just kept hearing watercolor mentor and airplane pilot, Tony Couch's voice saying; "When the going gets rough, just bare down and drive on!" This color rendition is definitely more of a drawing than a sketch!

Upside-Down Drawing Exercise

In Betty Edwards' book, "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain", the next exercise she has students do is draw a few pictures upside-down. This frees up the Right Brain to do its' thing without a whole lot of interference from the Left Brain. According to Betty, "The right brain perceives and processes visual information, in the way one needs to see in order to draw, and the left brain perceives in ways that seem to interfere with drawing. An individual's ability to draw is... the ability to shift to a different-from-ordinary way of processing visual information - to shift from verbal, analytic processing to spatial, global processing."

I did this quick sketch of last week's drawing challenge in less than five minutes, copying it from the photo upside-down. It probably would have taken me longer had I approached it right-side-up. This approach made it easier than ever to see the shapes and forget about what it actually was that I was drawing.

Tip Of The Day: There's no need to print these photos out. Just draw them from your computer screen. I rotated the image 180 degrees for this exercise with my image editing software.

Here also is this week's challenge photo. I hope a few of you will give it a try!



Have a great 4th Of July holiday. Thanks for reading, drawing and for your feedback!