Some of you already know this but when reading the brain doesn't see letters, it sees the entire word. Things as a whole, that's why even when you make a typo or misplace some letters within the word you can still read it... and even sometimes you don't realize it's misspelled. Your mind thinks is a full word. (See this article)
This happens often when we start drawing. We start drawing and we're swearing upon everything you wish to swear, that you are trying to make it so that your final product looks like the thing you are trying to draw... but let's be honest. Sometimes it ends up looking NOTHING like what we want to do.
That is because no matter how much you try if you haven't trained your brain to actually observe AND DRAW WHAT YOU ARE OBSERVING you will keep drawing the same lines over and over.
A face. Your brain sees a face but it doesn't see individual aspects of it, it sees: two eyes, a nose, mouth, eyebrows... etc it sees the whole and not what makes it all up (Unless it has a particular characteristic, then your mind focuses on that, because is not what the brain is used to see). And it's not that you can't draw, it's just that you already have a mental image of how these aspects needs to be when drawing that you keep repeating them over and OVER and OVER AGAIN. The so called comfort zone.
This next exercise will put you out of it in an extraordinary way. BECAUSE IT WILL CONFUSE THE BRAIN, what you're gonna do will make you see lines /LITERALLY/ instead of things as a whole and then the explanation I just gave WILL FINALLY DAWN ON YOU.
Please note that this will be the exercise that will pull you out of your comfort zone the most and IT WILL BE FRUSTRATING in various levels depending on the person. The more experienced you are at drawing the most frustrating it will get.
But s is how you will train your brain to see lines instead of a face, or a hand, or a mouth.
4. A drawing that's only lineart that's NOT your own. Color books WORK WONDERFULLY.
The drawing that you get can be downloaded from google, I'm gonna put one random here, you don't have to do that, you can pick another one. If you can print it, of have it physically, fantastic! If you have no way to print it, then okay, you can keep the image on your smartphone or computer screen.
This is mine (it's simple but interesting):
Please do this on paper, it's more comfortable than on the tablet, but if you have no other work tool than the tablet, then use that.
There is no limit time so don't rush.
You will draw, the drawing you picked, but you will keep your drawing like this:
YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO TURN IT THE DRAWING UPSIDE DOWN FOR ANY CIRCUMSTANCE
YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO TURN YOUR OWN DRAWING UPSIDE DOWN FOR ANY CIRCUMSTANCE
TAPE YOUR PAPER TO YOUR TABLE if you feel like you have no self control and will give up and turn it over.
YOUR FINAL DRAWING WILL BE UPSIDE DOWN TOO AS WELL, I am no evil overlord and meant for you to draw it the way it's supposed to be.
Whatever notion you may have of drawing, by doing squares or circles to create the base of the drawing... DON'T. LOOK AT THE LINES, OBSERVE AND TRACE THEM.
STOP THINKING "THIS IS A CHIN" IT'S NOT. IT'S A LINE THAT WILL CURVE IN CERTAIN DIRECTION AND WITH A CERTAIN DEPTH.
THAT IS HOW I WANT YOU TO THINK WHILE DRAWING.
If you used to do only stick figures or just eyes, or very basic things, once you finish and turn it over to see the final product you will see what you're really capable of and how much you can improve in so little time!
