Drawing with your Right Brain

dance workshop

     A very important theory which became popular in the 70’s was that the brain worked in two quite separate ways – the left side dealt with logics and learning, the right side with creativity and intuition. More recent research has shown that we actually use different areas, left or right, depending on what information we need. Both sides of the brain communicate new abilities and then process the information in different ways to add to overall intelligence and efficiency. However, defining the tasks of the brain into ‘left’ and ‘right’ does help to explain many of our difficulties with learning to draw, and with creative thought in general.

   Our left brains are incredibly efficient at getting us through life as quickly and easily as possible, dealing with thousands of bits of information every second. The onslaught of today’s super fast technology means that we have to continually filter unnecessary ‘stuff’ all the time. The right brain has been more or less overridden in many people; apparently modern man’s left brain now actually weighs more than the right side! 

    A child’s repeated right-brained ’w’ questions “why, where, what, why, who?” slowly peter out as it learns the answers and files them away in its ‘hard drive’. Information is wired in with practice and repetition, and it then becomes unconscious reactions, such as walking, chewing, driving, speaking…….  It leaves us free to concentrate on the content. The brain’s natural urge is to create shortcuts, to save us time and to make life easier so that we don’t have to continually re-think everything. 

     The problem with learning to draw is that the brain cannot find anything to refer to other than our teenage drawings, stored away in the left brain, which – unless we were encouraged and helped to draw as a child, or had a natural aptitude – we developed in a symbolic way. Teenagers will often draw a repeated image of something that interests them, and it can become quite sophisticated, but a symbol is useless when we want to draw realistically. 

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Ink drawings from rehearsals of 'Akasha'

 To draw well, we need to find ways to activate the right brain, and encourage it to ask all those ‘w’ questions every time we want to ‘see’ anything as it really is, instead of the left brain’s superficial overview and dismissal. We need to be able to see everything anew every time, as everything we attempt to draw is a new problem. Every petal on a flower is different to every other petal, every leaf on a tree, every eye, every –well, everything! – is completely unique and fascinating. This is probably what Picasso meant when he said that he wanted to learn how to draw like a child; not that he wanted to draw in a child’s naïve and symbolic way, but that he wanted to see the world through a child’s eyes- a continually new experience.

conte crayon drawing

   There are many ways of activating the right brain and overriding the left; by drawing very, very slowly, by drawing very complicated subjects, by copying images we have turned upside-down, by using our non-dominant hand, by refusing to start a drawing with an outline and then ’filling-in’, by drawing from unusual angles, by trying not to name things...... It doesn’t matter what you draw, it’s how you draw it that counts.    At first this can be extremely irritating, as our left brains are very strong and want to ‘help’, but keep telling yourself that your left brain cannot draw at all  – it desperately wants to find  short cuts and symbols, to save time and move on to the next thing. It doesn’t want to slow down and really study anything with the intense interest it takes to draw something well.

 Research shows that everyone has the ability to learn how to use the right brain effectively, as long as they are trained to do it. When they are helped to strengthen areas they thought were weak, the ‘mental muscle’ also strengthened and improved in other areas. 
     Learning to draw in this way can help you become more creative in general – more skilled with words, able to manipulate numbers, more imaginative recipes! Life becomes more enjoyable if you are using both sides of the brain.

charcoal on canvas drawing

  So, to activate the right brain in other ways, and also to improve your drawing and creativity, try using both sides of your body more – combing your hair, brushing your teeth, dialling the phone, even writing and eating with cutlery in the ‘wrong’ hands. Doing this feels uncomfortable, but notice how your brain is trying to make new connections, and how much more interesting these tasks become! Release your right brain from its non- creative prison!

    Seminal books on the subject are “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” and “Drawing on the Artist Within”, both by Betty Edwards.