gRAPHICaNATOMY

It's all worthwhile if you learn something. What you don't know can and will  hurt you. So learn from your experiences. Pay attention. LISTEN. Always keep learning.

Try. Take action. Try again. Do what you know.Try again.  Do your best. Try again.
Stay. See it through to the end. Finish what you start.
Engage. Make connections. Relationships. Help others. Make a difference to others.

You can change what you are. You can change where you are. You are limited in changing what happens around you. You can change what goes through your mind.
You are not your circumstances. Your circumstances are things that happen to you, NOT who you are.
When in doubt, make Art about it.
To keep making art is to persevere.
Procrastinate is sometimes a fear of failure.
Perfectionism is sometimes a fear of failure.
Make the art anyway.
Make it imperfect. Make art. Learn things.
There will be a fear of failure. There will be fear.
There will be doubts, insecurites and resistance.
The emotional turbulance is the boundary between growth and the comfort zone.
It's the fence at the edge of the wilderness.
Venture out there anyway. The breakthroughs are out "there".
Don't back down. Don't give up. Keep going.
Make the art. Face the demons. Slay the dragons... better yet, make friends with them.
Make the art and in turn the art will make you.
Do it for what it makes of you to make it.
Do it for the skills you have to learn, for the person you have to become.
Someone smarter, less afraid. Someone who can manage time & resources.
Someone who can motivate and coordinate with others. Someone who can keep your ego in check.
You will learn how to overcome your own fears. How to talk to people. How to deal with success and rejection. How to ask for what you need.
In the end you learn to make you. You  become the masterpiece.

(the late night manifesto for 2013)

Labels: art, art therapy, motivation, psychology

 One of the big influences on my art education was was an early edition of Drawing on the Right side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Some of the lessons were very important to me because it didn't just teach me how to draw but how to think and to see.

When I teach drawing to beginners I often use an analogy of the Matrix.
At the end of the first movie, the Neo character finally sees the world as what it is…. In his case green code. But when you are able to switch over your vision and think to see the "code" that makes the figure; figure drawing becomes much easier to do.

You have to see what you see…. not what you think you see. Not what you expect to see. you have to really look. With out judgment or expectation and   without naming things.
(I still recommend the book. Get an early edition if you can. )

Anyway, turns out there's a bit more science to back this up.


Why are some people better at drawing?



"First, people who can't draw well aren't seeing the world as it really is. When we look at an object, our visual systems automatically misjudge such attributes as size, shape and color; research over the past three years shows at least some of these misperceptions translate into drawing errors."


Yep, they are looking at it without the left side of the brian. Using the skills embedded in the right side, gives you a more accurate, but less verbal view.

The article goes on to suggest memory is also a factory. You look at the model, look down at your paper, and then you've already forgotten what you have seen.
Technique can help with this. Proper set up and posture can help. memory can be improved with practice.

And practice is another vital step.
"Columbia University Press, Chamberlain and her colleagues found practicing drawing significantly improved people's abilities over time"
There's no shortcut to getting out of hard work. You get what you give.

Labels: drawing, psychology