#drawingupsidedown is an easy exercise to help you develop your ability to recognize shapes and lines in a picture and draw them as they are and not as you know them.
Drawing upside down
“When we draw, often we don’t draw what we see. We draw what we think we are seeing. We all carry around in our heads for what an eye looks like, a mouth, the base of an object etc. By turning the source drawing upside down, we get rid of these preconceived ideas. We are no longer drawing what we “know” but what we see… an abstract series of lines, shapes and angles." Sheldon Mojelski
When you draw without a lot of practice or knowledge, you experience a conflict in your mind: a mental "crunch" can occur.
This conflict can be observed when you: start talking with yourself and naming what you are drawing; turn the paper to right or left, looking for a better position; start drawing from the bottom rather than from the top; or even when you start drawing a helping grid.
The above strategies show a mental conflict inside your brain that turns more difficult to make that mental shift to drawing mode, and causes a feeling of conflict and confusion, and even a momentary mental paralysis.
Also, in this situation, you feel the need to use your eraser to "fix up" your drawing and usually feel guilty about it.
In conclusion, you are using the "wrong" part of your brain to draw.
“The artist's way of seeing is different from ordinary seeing and requires an ability to make mental shifts at a conscious level.” Betty Edwards
Upside-down drawing
Familiar things do not look the same when they are upside down.
In this kind of exercise, designed by #BettyEdwards, the purpose is to reduce conflict between the two brain modes and start using the right area of your brain to observe and draw what you see (not what you know).
What can help you to know before you start?
1. Play music if you like. If the drawing mode is working well, you may find that the music fades out.
2. Finish the drawing in one sitting, allowing yourself at least forty minutes (more if possible).
3. And more important, do not turn the drawing right side up until you have finished. Turning the drawing would cause a shift back to the "wrong" drawing mode, losing concentration, and drawing with errors (proportion or size).
4. You may want to cover most of the reproduced drawing with another piece of paper, slowly uncovering new areas as you work your way down through the picture.
Remember that everything you need to know to learn how to draw is right in front of your eyes. All of the information is right there, making it easy for you. Don't make it complicated. It is as simple as that.
Give yourself a chance to learn or improve your drawings by following the instructions.
Other recommendations
That you do not try to draw the entire outline of the form and then "fill in" the parts. The reason is that if you make any small error in the outline, the components inside won't fit.
Therefore, it is recommended that you move from line to adjacent line, space to adjacent shape, working your way through the drawing, fitting the parts together as you go.
If you talk to yourself at all, avoid at all cost name the parts.
Instead, use only the "language of vision", such as: "This line bends this way," or, "That shape has a curve there," or "Compared to the edge of the paper (vertical or horizontal), this line angles like that," and so on.
Try not to think about it as the H-A-N-D-S and the F-A-C-E—try to focus on these parts, just like shapes.
At some point, the drawing may begin to seem like an interesting, even fascinating, puzzle. When this happens, you will be "really drawing,"
This state is easily broken. For example, if someone were to come into the room and ask, "How are you doing?" your focus and concentration would be over. Is kinda "meditative state" that can be easily "lost".
After you have finished
Turn both of the drawings—the reproduction and your drawing—right-side up.
I can confidently predict that you will be pleased with your drawing, especially if you have followed the instructions.
I can also confidently predict that the "difficult" parts will be beautifully drawn. Usually, the "abstract forms" are better than the "this is supposed to be a face" forms.
One last note
Now, it's evident that we can't always be turning things upside down.
Your models are not going to stand on their heads for you, nor is the landscape going to turn itself upside down or inside out.
Our goal, then, is to teach you how to make the cognitive shift when perceiving things in their normal right-side-up positions. You will learn the artist's "gambit": direct your attention toward visual information.
Give it a try and send me some feedback and/or a picture on how it went. 🙃
I'm curious to see your upside down drawings.