Drawing upside down is a common exercise wannabe-artists are asked to work on in order to improve observational skills and help switch from the logical mode (left-brain) to the creative mode (right brain).
In the Betty Edwards book 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,' the exercise is to sketch Picasso's 'Portrait of Igor Stravinsky' upside down. Here's my attempt:
The point of the exercise is to draw what we see and stop us from seeing recognizable shapes drawing our interpretation/stored concept of that shape. But it's difficult to switch off your logical mode completely so here are some tips to help you complete this exercise:
- Focus on the lines and how they relate to each other rather than look at the whole shape
- Look at negative space around the lines to get a more accurate placement of the lines
- If you cannot stop seeing recognizable shapes, focus on one part of the sketch and place a piece of paper over your original to cover parts that you aren't sketching. Once you are done with that section, move the paper to uncover the next section
Those are the tips that worked for me. Share your tips and techniques in the ArtisticWaves Group.
Nice job, Pooja, and good ideas.
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This turned out so well Pooja. I can't imagine drawing something upside down. The blood would rush to my head.:)
ReplyDeleteYou did it great! I made this same drawing last week and published in my blog too. I'm working in Betty Edwards book... It's hard but so interesting!
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