- Watch a short botany explainer video.
- Develop your interest in plants by reading books and taking courses like Coursera’s “Understanding Plants” online course.
- Read an introductory botany textbook.
- Study plant identification and terminology.
- Grab a field guide and go explore the outdoors.
- Start growing your own plants.
- Narrow your scope based on your curiosity.
For general ID of common wildflowers, Newcombs Wildflower guide is a good starter.
Online botany courses offer a convenient and flexible way to enhance existing knowledge or learn new skills. With a wide range of classes, you can read academic papers, pay attention to citations, and use a field guide.
To learn how to positively identify, sustainably harvest, process, and utilize local medicinal plants from the Rocky Mountain bioregion, consider going on a guided forest walking tour or checking out community centers, botanical gardens, or arboretums.
Start with identifying the most common plants in your area, especially weeds. Learn family, genus, and species before moving on to plant systematics by Michael Simpson.
Explore botanical gardens or herbaria, as many offer beginning botany classes. Take books about wildflowers and local flora with you during walks.
In summary, this comprehensive guide offers an 8-step roadmap for self-study in botany, providing a foundation for many certificated courses. By following these steps, you can gain a better understanding of the science of plants and become a more knowledgeable botanist.
📹 Master Gardener Course: Eight Basic Rules of Botany
Today’s lecture is going to be basic botany and there is so much information about botney that we could share today that it would …
Is botany harder than microbiology?
The disciplines of microbiology and botany are inherently challenging, requiring a high level of interest and a substantial foundation of knowledge.
Does botany require a lot of math?
The college program of study varies depending on the college’s curriculum and individual interests. To prepare for the job market, a broad general education in language, arts, humanities, and social sciences, along with a specializing in plant biology, is recommended. Most curricula require math, calculus, statistics, chemistry, and physics. Computer skills are also essential. Some schools recommend or require a foreign language, especially for tropical work.
Many colleges require a core program in biology before enrolling in specialized botany courses. Faculty advisors can help decide courses, and visiting botany professors can provide suggestions. If possible, arrange an undergraduate research project under a professor, which can help you decide which area of botany you like best and provide valuable insight into science. This experience is also beneficial if you decide to pursue graduate work.
How do you memorize botany?
Learning the botanical names of plants can be a challenging task, but it is essential for those studying horticulture. To begin, students can create a story from sound bites, differentiate similar plants, and encourage others to adopt a botanical name. Other methods include creating flashcards, using apps, and researching the meaning of botanical names. Although it may seem overwhelming at first, it becomes easier over time. Getting through the first list of names is the hardest part.
Can botany be a hobby?
Our hobby or expedition botany is a significant activity, with vast libraries of photographs, floras, maps, and notebooks. We enjoy reliving expeditions through lectures to botanical societies and prepare a calendar of alpine plants from specific areas each year. To save this book to your Kindle, add coreplatform@cambridge. org to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under Personal Document Settings on Amazon’s Manage Your Content and Devices page. You can select to save to either the @free. kindle. com or @kindle. com variations, with service fees applicable.
How to learn botany on your own?
The text provides an 8-step guide on self-studying botany, including reading books, taking Coursera’s “Understanding Plants” online course, reading an introductory botany textbook, studying plant identification and terminology, and using a field guide to explore the outdoors. The author shares their favorite hobby of backpacking through the mountains, which is reenergized by spending time in the woods surrounded by plants and trees. They believe that a deeper understanding of the still and silent life forms around them would enhance their experience.
What is the difference between a botanist and a horticulturist?
Horticulture and botany are distinct fields of study, with botanists studying plants in nature and horticulturists focusing on cultivating them for various purposes. Horticulturists work in greenhouses, nursery businesses, or gardens, focusing on agricultural food or ornamental plants. They identify and discover plant uses, while botanists study various plant types. Horticulturists’ job descriptions vary, ranging from working in farm, nursery, or garden settings to laboratories or conducting lab and field work. Both fields aim to improve the quality and diversity of plants for various purposes.
Are botanists in high demand?
The demand for botanists and botany professionals is expected to grow in the future, with universities finding that demand exceeds supply. Businesses, industry, and research centers are also seeking botanists to enhance plant productivity and improve global agriculture. The Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis employs many botanists to increase understanding of basic plant biology, benefit human nutrition and health, and improve sustainability.
The S. R. Noble Foundation in Oklahoma employs botanists to investigate how to enhance plant productivity through fundamental research and applied biotechnology. As the population of people on Earth continues to grow, the need for more productive crops and nutritious foods will depend on the talents of botanists. Additionally, botanists will be needed to solve problems with air, water, and soil pollution and preserve global ecosystems.
The need for future botanists remains strong, with various institutions, such as colleges, universities, museums, botanical gardens, and federal agencies, employing botanists to address environmental issues and promote sustainable practices.
Where to begin with botany?
One should commence with non-vascular plants and subsequently progress to the principal angiosperm families, with a particular focus on flower anatomy, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of plant taxonomy.
Is it easy to learn botany?
To become proficient in the field of botany, it is recommended that one should initially undertake the collection of dried, pressed, or photographic specimens of wild plants native to the region in which one resides. This will facilitate the development of the ability to identify each plant using herbal methods, thereby introducing the student to all technical aspects of botany.
Can I become a botanist without a degree?
To become a botanist, one needs a bachelor’s degree in botany, plant science, plant ecology, biology, or conservation biology. Depending on their focus, a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, forestry, environmental science, or a related field can also be pursued. To excel in botany, one needs a diverse range of practical experience, including internships and volunteer work. These experiences provide valuable learning opportunities and build a strong foundation for a successful career. While a bachelor’s degree may qualify for entry-level positions, pursuing advanced degrees can enhance career prospects, especially for research-oriented roles and academia.
📹 The Drawing Exercise that Changed My Life
Video courses, ebooks, live art instruction, lesson plans and more…https://thevirtualinstructor.com/members *** Free course …
When I was going to school to become a graphic artist I had to take a course based on the book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”. I already considered myself an accomplished artist so I was a bit annoyed that I had to take the class since the description seemed fairly rudimentary. The first day of class we entered the room to find a number of still life scenes staged around the room. The instructor told us to select one and draw it. A number of people immediately panicked. What do you mean draw it? I don’t know how to draw, that’s why I’m here! The instructor persisted and eventually everyone did what they were told and at the end of the class the teacher collected the drawings and put them away without comment. As I looked at the drawings before they were collected I could see that I was one of two or three that seemed to have any talent. Fast forward to the final day of the course, we walk in and the same still life scenes that were in class that first day are there again. The teacher gives us the same instructions as the first day. At the end of class the drawings are collected and put up on the wall next to the first day drawings. The progress was staggering. Without exception, every single person in that class had improved their skill to the level that most friends and family members would be very impressed with their talent. I’m talking about people who came into class drawing stick figures and by the end had a firm grasp of perspective, texture and shading. At the beginning I would have argued that there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot that I could gain from the class but I was truly humbled by the progress my own work had made by the end of the course.
I bought that book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” in the 1980’s and I did every exercise in it, cover to cover. When I started I couldn’t draw a stick figure. By the time I was done, I was doing realistic portraits of my family. It’s an amazing book and you can actually FEEL the “switch” when the right brain takes over. I gave the book to my mother, and at the age of 60, she discovered she was a VERY talented artist.
I’m a retired art teacher. When I taught this exercise to my middle schoolers, they were astonished how well their drawings turned out. It really does help you observe shapes and negative spaces that you wouldn’t otherwise “see.” Once they got familiar with this exercise, whenever they were drawing realistically and it just wasn’t looking right, they’d immediately turn the reference photo and their work upside down and could see what needed to be corrected! Great exercise!
Ahhhh!! I learnt this exercise as a kid by accident. I wanted to draw something I saw in a book that someone else was using so it was upside down. That drawing turned out so much better than anything else I did so I did it more on purpose. It’s quite fun and really helpful to this day when I struggle with proportions.
The best exercise i had in my life drawing class was the “blind contour” where you draw without looking at the paper and using only one line, not lifting your pen/pencil/etc from the paper. Definitely trained my eye to see the details of what i was drawing. I used it to teach my students and still use elements of it to draw.
I’ve done this a few times before, and even though it feels weird at first, it does actually work. I also learned that drawing out of the comfort zone and drawing what you’re not used to, boosts creativity and learning, and helps improvement. Always sharpen the skill, and do not worry about the mistakes!
holy- i never, ever, could draw anything right. it always looked aweful and just not normal, and i wanted to draw for YEARS but i thought i was just bad at it and will never be able to, I JUST DREW A SHOE AND IT LOOKED LIKE A GOD DAMN SHOE. dude THANK YOU this way is just too good to be true i swear!
I remember doing an upside down drawing maybe decade ago. Good exercise and it does teach you to look at lines and shapes and angles etc. Whenever someone says they can’t draw eyes, I tell them, you’re not drawing an eye, you’re drawing lines and shapes that just so happen to end up looking like an eye. 😀
I only have the exercise version of that book and did a few exercises, including drawing the horse upside down, which was revolutionary to me as soon as I turned the drawing upside down, I was gobsmacked. I think I stopped continuing with the the rest of the exercises because this book taught that most important thing very early on, “draw what you see not what you think you see”. It just hit me and I went from not knowing how to draw, to drawing anything I really wanted. Magic 🙂
Many years ago I was given the opportunity to teach art classes to 6th graders. I had zero training in this area, but I loved drawing! After finding the Betty Edwards book, I asked my students do this exercise. They were given the Picasso sketch in the book of the man sitting in a chair with hands folded. They had already had a few lessons using the grid method, but when I showed them this sketch some were excited while others looked horrified. Then, when I told them they would be drawing the man upside down, ALL of them looked horrified! Every drawing turned out great. The hands were the only exception because their left brains were screaming at them to “just do those hands we’ve always done since we were 5-years-old”! This exercise is amazing. Each and every student gained the confidence they needed to move forward. Ok, so there was this one student that misunderstood my instructions. He dutifully turned the reference handout upside down. However, he then proceeded to draw the man in an upright position! Now THAT IS AMAZING!
I have drawn almost my entire life. I’ve always been extremely passionate about art, but as I grew up I forgot about that passion somewhere along the way. I’ve recently rediscovered this passion and really taking art, my skills and techniques seriously to become the best I can be. This was extremely helpful and has me excited for the next time I draw. Thank you so much.
Thank you for that lesson. It definitely gave me hope that I actually can learn to draw. I am excited to begin. I did subscribe to your website and hit the notification bell. I wish I had been given this lesson at 12. Still, at 63, my love of art has only grown and desire to get to work is great. When the student is ready, the teacher appears!
This exercise was like a light in a dark room for me when I was a teen. From there I even proceeded to collaborations with my best friend on large sheets of paper. She would draw/paint right side up and I would work upside down to meet her in the middle. It was a wonderful way to learn together. I still use this technique to study new subjects or when I need to iron out recurring mistakes on an all too familiar subject.
My sixth grade art instructor had us do this one day & it totally changed my perspective after that. It has been one of the most helpful tools for me as an artist. If you are learning how to draw & have not tried this, it will be a game changer. I very often change the position of the picture I’m drawing to trick my brain into drawing what I’m seeing instead of what I think I’m seeing, not just upside down but also to each side… I have a poster with at least 6 faces on it, so when I’m drawing a face I can use that to kind of reset my brain back to what is vs what I think is…you can also hold your drawing up to a mirror to spot things you may have missed or to just see the drawing with a fresh perspective. If you are new to these methods try them out, I hope they will help you as much as they did me. 🙂
I have been painting since I was 13, and today I am 74. But lately I noticed how difficult it was becoming to paint someone with oil, I never had that problem, so definitely I am going to start this painting again upsidedown like you though us today. Thank you for you kindness in teaching us this fantastic skill.
I read this book almost 20 years ago. Drawing upside down really works. The drawing I did upside down, did look closer to the picture, than the one I did right side up. Interestingly, I drew more accurate details that matched the pictures, because I was drawing only what I saw, amazing. In the book I drew the example of an armoured knight on a horse, and a well known person sitting in a chair with he’s knees crossed. It was someone like Eisenstein, or Mark Twain. The resemblance was surprisingly accurate. My book is packed away, along with the practice drawings. Unfortunately, they are out of state, but I’m going to dig them out next trip. Yes, the premise of the book, does work.
When I was young and studied spacial geometry at school, my father taught me to think of the object and visualise it in 3d, to rotate it and see how the lines change along with my perspective and how my drawing change. With a little practice I began doing it subconsciously, in my mind, not having the need to actually have the physical object in front of me. This made me visualise the space around me more analytically and see the geometry behind every object that I’m focusing on. This was the greatest exercise for me in reproducing shapes, and understanding more complex forms of drawing: such as how light influence the mood of a drawing, how different textures and shapes absorb light and so on.
I was fortunate to be able to take a weekend seminar given by one of the author’s instructors. Going into that weekend I had NO expectations that I would see any improvement in my drawing abilities…but I was astounded by what was accomplished. That book is amazing. The exercise you demonstrated in this article is the one that I remember most from that weekend. So helpful!
I know I’m posting this 2 yrs after this was uploaded so you may not see this, but on the off chance that you do, I just want to THANK YOU so, so much!! I haven’t drawn since I was a kid, and always have loved art but drawing wasn’t really my forte. I’ve always wanted to learn, but the few times I’ve tried since childhood I just got frustrated and quit. I came across your article and decided to try it, and you are not kidding when you call this exercise life changing!! I’ve always wondered why some ppl can see the lines and shapes and pull them out of anything so easily, and my drawings always look like your shoe in the 1st part😂. This absolutely blew my mind and it just clicked!! My drawing is nowhere near perfect, but it’s honestly the best human I’ve ever drawn–and after yrs of not doing it! I’m so excited to try this with more things! I just looked at it for like 15 min after and different lines kept jumping out at me that didn’t make a lot of sense to me as I was drawing, but I “trusted the process,” as they say, and I’m thrilled. Will certainly be checking out the book you recommended! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for bringing joy back to drawing for me!❤❤❤
I started drawing again a couple of years ago; nearly 50 years since previously doing any art work. When drawing portraits I soon realised that I was drawing what I thought I saw rather than what was really there. I often now turn the reference and drawing upside down to check that I am drawing the reference correctly. I have also learned that accuracy requires patience. 🙂
When I taught 4th grade, the students were struggling to draw people, objects, and scenes for the books they were making and illustrating. I had them do this exercise with photos and drawings they found that represented what they wanted to show, and they were absolutely astounded at how wonderful their drawings came out. After that, every time a student wanted to draw something, they would either find a picture or take a photo themselves and use the “upside down” method to draw it.
I had never drawn much in my life except for an art class in high school until about a year ago, I’m 41 now but I was in my second rehab for drugs after an overdose. Met another in recovery that was a true artist, so I watched him draw then I mimicked his work. After finishing a few I showed him and he was impressed but he showed me this technique too! It is an amazing way to draw
Thank you very much much for this article 2 yrs ago I gave up drawing and drafting i didn’t what I was good at so I started to learn how to cook but I’m not good at cooking either then a month ago I started to draw again but now I can’t draw like I used to but after perusal your articles u made me realize that drawing is a skill anyone can learn and it inspired me so thank you very much for this.
This is a brilliant exercise. I did both examples in the book and the results were amazing. I also play some instrumental music in the background, no singing, just acoustic guitar. Time seems to just drift away. You certainly can feel the “shift” after awhile. Thanks for the reminder. And love the courses, long time member 🙂
Starting when I was 6 years old, I could look at a map and draw it as if it was traced. That was 60 years ago. Now my perception is slightly off. I am left handed and a financial analyst and church organist and music teacher. I love photography. For relaxation and therapy I want to start sketching again. In elementary and junior high school I sketched house plans, landscapes, and cityscapes. It’s hard to know where to begin but I’m looking forward to it. Thank you for this fascinating article.
ive been drawing for as long as I can remember, and still practice it professionally as well as casually. from graphite to charcoal to oils and water colors, i’ve been through it at one point or the other. i’ve also tutored some amazing individuals and I always explain how the brain wants you to draw something they way it remembers and not from the observation. one way to counter this exact thing, and i’ve been doing that because its just a seamless integration into your drawing process. and thats to give more time in observing the subject rather than drawing. spent more time looking at the object and then putting a line or two to create the markers and landmarks of the right proportions and form. but this here is another very amazing exercise that you can do directly to address this issue… and it may actually change your life. Good stuff
As soon as I came across your article, I just knew that the exercise was going to be turning the drawing upside down! Yes, I’ve been familiar with the book for a very long time. I’m at the time in my life that I am kind of looking for another avenue to pursue and you have sparked an ember that has been dormant for some time. Thanks for rekindling the fire.
So grateful for your encapsulating for me the difference between the right and left brains. I have two of this book, gifts from my mom and later from my boss. I’ve never done but one or two of the exercises. I will dust it off and maybe do every exercise as some here. Your article has been inspirational. Thank you.
The other exercise from her book was about blind contour drawing – not looking at your drawing instead of focusing on the object. It was so wonderful to see the organic shapes I could draw when logical/symbolic brain wasn’t involved so much. BTW it is no longer considered to be a split in hemisphere, more a part of our brain that is focused on speed over accuracy but Betty Edwards’ exercises were perfect for overriding it whatever we call it.
What you said in this I came to the conclusion and tell everybody how I got good at painting fast. I start by thinking about things as objects and light interacting with objects. I start with large broad shapes a light side and a dark side. Then I add slightly smaller shapes, then I move to smaller shapes, then even smaller. At some point I start to see the subject. This is when I can now start associating the painting with the objects. I still hold back putting the details as sometimes it’s best to keep adding smaller and smaller shapes. Then the details just are tiny suggestions here and there.
Thank you for your article. Last saturday, I had my very first drawing lesson by an artist. I never knew how to draw. The artist teaching the class said the same thing you just did in your article. To draw lines and by segment. At first, I didn’t fully understand what that meant, so my first drawing was not so good, but your explanation completed what my teacher said and I think I’ll practice just that. so thank you.
Very interesting! I will try this, Teacher! You are my chosen teacher, but I just haven’t gotten the time cleared yet to know that I will be able to commit to actually doing the course in a reasonable amount of time. I am learning so much from you. (yes, I admit I listen and watch several other articles by different artists. You, however, make the most sense.) Your partner on the sketchy articles is a good teacher also. I will be 74 soon, and I am a true beginner with a ton of desire to learn as much as I can.
OMG!!!! I have been doing this on my owns since I was 8 years old. I am 55 and just finally enrolling in University for Batchelor of Fine Arts. This was going to be my Major of choice, until parents decided it wasn’t. Never to late to follow your dreams. Looking at my art and drawings from different angles, up side down, from the left side or right side, always enhances my perspective of my drawings. I can correct, improve, contrast, light, reflections, shading and shapes by looking at my drawing from different angles. Up side down is the number 1. Looking at your drawing horizontally and vertically occasionally is also very helpful. That circle or sphere may not be as round as you thought it was…😀, untill you see it from a different perspective. 🤗 Just an amateur, sharing her novice experiences. My left brain is very weak. My right brain is dominant and carries the weight of thought. I have the joy of living with ADHD and Bi Polar disorders, with a side order of borderline personally disorder. I am no longer really disfunctional. I recognized my brain opperators differently than “normal people”. My right brain is dominant, and that is quite ok with me. My left brain can take a long walk off a short pier for all I care now. It has held my life up by over thinking and holding on to the past. What I thought life should be I have given my future to my awesome, free spirited right brain. I haven’t been this happy in a very long time. Art on my friends. Let the creativity take you to where you deserve to be.
When I was a lot younger, I used to doodle a lot, and improved to larger ventures when received good feedback. When I did a lot of hand-drawing (now it’s mostly photography with whatever skills are required to provide the message I want to convey with what I’ve (or I think that I’ve managed to convey)) I used to be able to look at the paper and see what sort of picture I wanted to ‘pull’ out of the two-dimensions of a sheet of paper. So, I am convinced that art, or at least visual art, is a measure of one’s skill and ability to be able to see and translate to the medium what is ‘seen in one’s minds’ eye’.
If only Teacher’s in school used this amazing tactic of psychological,learning & Teaching would change the whole system and relationship one every student and Tutor making Education more of a need and like for concentration leading to less anxiety happier students and giving every student a chance to move up into a more academic environment and not give up so easily. Thankyou sir. This will change my life.x
My first art class in college was taught by Irina Gronberg, a Botanical Illustrator. The first day she had each of us take off our shoe and draw it. I was wearing suede fringed boots, which made it harder, but as she walked from table to table making comments like “I see you’re familiar with contouring” to the other students as she walked past me she only commented on the difficulty. She then introduced us to “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” to serve as our textbook along with her guidance. I loved experiencing that shift you talked about, it’s meditative, calm, focused in the here & now. I went from a zero that first day to getting a A+++ in her class thanks to that book. Ever since I always recommend that book to aspiring artists, my kids, and the older grandkids.
You’re absolutely right. You reminded of the most illuminating moment I had when learning to draw. I hope everyone who watched this article tries this. Now here’s another surprise to this technique. I mastered this at one point and went on to study a master named Titian I believe. It was a morose scene depicting a person holding another who passed on. The book I was using must have made an exquisite copy and I was enlarging the drawing to 18″ by 24″ by hand. As I was following the line all of sudden a wave of grief overcame me. I had detected right-sidedly the grief of the artist who did the original drawing. I was in a wordless moment and there was no logical way nor is there a way I can explain where it came from or how and why I sensed it. I totally didn’t expect it and it was like I got some kind of message. It came quickly but gently yet passionately but very very unexpectedly. It hit with such power I spent the rest of my drawing time examining the line I was drawing, the lines I drew and what I was going to draw next. I stopped drawing that evening to absorb the moment. I would say savor, but it was grief caused by death that I was overwhelmed with. Has anyone out there experienced this or am I some kind of oddity?
I have this book and I can agree, this is one of the most helpful tricks to training your ‘eye’ instead of letting your mind fill in the gaps, I jumped leaps and bounds after using this to practice, and even used it while checking my actual work against other references by turning it upside down or rotating it to view from another angle, forcing myself to slow down and pay attention. I noticed how many times he looks to the reference before even drawing one more centimeter, he’s not trying to remember anything, just drawing what is there, little by little. It’s amazing stuff
I remember doing this when I was in middle school. It was so much fun. And for the students that couldn’t wrap their head around it just being lines, the teacher put a piece of paper over the reference and had them pull it down bit by bit as they worked, so they couldn’t see the full drawing anymore and could focus on just the lines 😀
Best description of how to master this skill! I’ve had several people say, how do you do that? But, I couldn’t really explain it well. I just say it’s a God-given talent. I am an artist, crafter and diy’er. Lucky for me, I’ve been able to draw or, should I say, copy what I look at from the tender age of 5…mostly cartoons. At age 5, I drew a cartoon of Yogi bear and it was exactly like the picture! Mom & Dad were astonished! I still have that drawing today. I knew then that I had an artistic talent and couldn’t stop drawing. I’ve gotten away from it now that I’m older but I pick it back up every now and then. I often wonder, after a long dry spell, do I still have “it”? Yes, I do! It never really goes away once you understand how to really see lines, space, angles, the distance between point a to b, etc. Thank you for this great explanation! Maybe now I can better explain it to others. Happy drawing! ❤🥰🖍️🖊️📋
y mom gave me before she passed. Thanks to that precious gift, I have painted a few very realistic animal portraits and am eager to continue. I have left brain TBI so drawing the upside down knight on his horse was a lot of fun!”Deawing on the Right Side of the Brain” was the last Birthday present m
I did this during my 1st illustration class 4yrs aga! It was absolutely amazing to me,I mean,I could barely draw a human looking shape lol. I forgot all about it. Omg,as I get back into art,I’ve only been doing abstract because the idea is deeply rooted that I can’t do representational art…..bet if I try this and train,that idea will disappear and be proved wrong. Thanks for this!
I am a self taught and I did discover this method, experiencing different perspectives of drawing by myself. While drawing using normal way, I did notice mistakes in my drawing but couldn’t actually adjust it correctly. And using the upside down image, I was able to identify the actual spacing & lines.
I never had an art class really unless ya count the free for all in HS that guaranteed😅 an easy A. My older sister told me to turn my drawings upside down to find errors in my drawings. It never occurred to do this from the beginning..thanks I appreciate the tip. At 60 yrs old and still learning new things ..love it.
“Deawing on the Right Side of the Brain” was the last Birthday present my mom gave me before she passed. Thanks to that precious gift, I have painted a few very realistic animal portraits and am eager to continue. I have left brain TBI so drawing the upside down knight on his horse was a lot of fun!
4:22 An art teacher i had in school who actually cared for his students taught me this way. This teacher would go through and teach many different ways and styles and would let everyone build a portfolio according to what they wanted. This teacher was incredible. A trick to help is to add a piece of paper on top of your reference and slowly move the paper down as you draw.
I’m so excited that you offer affordable courses. I was feeling sad because many of the other artists were offering $1000 + courses which I can’t afford. I am trying to get into writing and illustrating children’s books, but I am not very skilled yet. Hopefully your courses can help me to become a better illustrator for my books :). It is my childhood dream to write and illustrate children’s books.
I actually had to do something like that for one of my art projects in art class. I’ll never forget. My art professor made us do a drawing of Hokosai’s “Mad Poet” upside-down and to my surprise, I actually was able to pull it off. I still have that drawing and whenever I look at it I remind myself of how I was able to overcome that obstacle.
“Drawing on the right side of the brain” is a great book, the important thing is to synchronize what we see (first with the eye and in more advanced excercises with the mind) with the arm and the hand, there are other exercises to stimulate the right side of the brain that can help, such as listening to music, playing an instrument, and using the left hand for calligraphy and other common task. Greetings!
That’s a really interesting approach….I’ll definitely give it a go since I have this conversation in my head, quite exactly as described at the beginning. Almost every time I have that one mental me, that encourages me “come on try drawing it on your own. You’ve got a good reference, you have the right tools. Just start. It hasn’t to be perfect first try.” And that other mental me that keeps yelling at me “no, no you ain’t doing that right. Can’t you see? That does look quite off, man! Maybe you should go back to something easier….a smiley maybe”. Me and the others…..it’s complicated. And I can’t tell them to just leave me alone or walk away myself.
I’m not sure how your article popped up when I was researching “learning to draw animals using circles” but regardless from the moment I hit play I was mesmerized by how beautiful your deep blue eyes are!!!! I’m not even sure I heard what you where saying! LOL However when you flipped the picture over and began to draw that definitely got my attention back as I had never seen that done before. I will certainly give this technique a try. I’m not a great artist just dabbing in it to keep my mind occupied as I get my health back and learning to live again. Thanks for the lesson!
Aside from the name of the book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, I enjoy that book. The exercises have value for sure. Though, the book name is no longer prescient. The two hemispheres of the brain do not serve two different functions. They are connected and both hemispheres support the same mental and physical functions.
I can say that this also method worked the best for me. You really do feel the shift in your brain. However, if your new to this idea or drawing in general, may I suggest that covering the original image with another piece of paper, and slowly slide it down uncovering some of the image as you go. I found it less daunting when doing a more detailed image and concentrates the mind on a specific line or shape not the whole image. Now, I simply draw without doing this as I’ve taught myself to think lines and shapes and not identify or name parts of an image … worked for me!
When I took my first art class (in high school) I had a teacher who was very hands off. She would give us assignments, but there was very little instruction. I for the most part had no trouble drawing what I saw . There were some things I had trouble with though. E.g. hands. I think my left brain asserted itself there because it thought “Hands can’t be hard … I’ll just draw what I know!” 😂
When I was in art school 99% of the students were left handed. When I was in English literature 99% were right handed I thought that was very interesting. Also, when my daughter was in 1st grade we were coloring. I said, “Let’s color with our other hand.” So we did and sge said, “Mommy this tickles mu brain!” Pretty cool!
To me, the best thing about that book turned out to be gaining what seems to be a lifelong ability to “switch on” a different kind of perception. It’s not just a way of seeing pictures, it’s a way of switching off (mostly negative – because we see exceptions, I suppose) judgement. When you stop “sifting” the strangers you’re among, you start to truly see the Individuals. We’re always filtering, which means throwing away most of what we perceive (and probably have to do this most of the time), but once you’ve forced your brain to accept this other way when you ask it to, you gain that way of seeing what the filters make invisible, but is there in plain sight in front of you. And the funny thing is that when you look this way, you tend to be done with the “important/significant” – looking people quite quickly, while the “little insignificant” people stand out, and are the most interesting. One of the things it gave me was an ability to wait. I don’t start losing my mind if forced to queue. Being stuck in a situation like that will normally remind me to start “seeing”; and when you’re seeing/ actually looking/ not skimming or scanning, there’s plenty to engage your mind – whether it be interesting previously invisible people, or reflections in some glass, or any of the innumerable little “pictures” that are in most environments. It’s calming and it warms you up inside.
Maybe it’s because I’m majorly using my right brainside naturally cause I’m left handed, but- I always drew that way since childhood. I’ve always been SO insecure about it because every time I saw another artist drawing they seemed to use a completely different approach than me (and all the people who asked me how I made an artwork said my view was very weird!) Thanks for showing that this is totally normal too 🙈
I «invented» this when I was a little kid, to be able to copy correctly. 🙂 I still use horisontal flipping to get a fresh look at what ever I’m creating. It’s very helpful and I’m so used to it now that I can edit the original picture in correspondance with changes I see fit on the flipped version, if that makes sence.
As a physicist, I object to the notion that mathematics only use the Left Hemisphere (LH), and not the Right Hemisphere (RH). For standard mathematics, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, this might be true. It might be only centered in the LH, because it is standard. But more advanced mathematics only become available through forms of thinking that are relate to the RH. Because there the problems are novel, and the RH is needed for that. In addition, the LH-RH differences are quite subtle, and I would recommend reading two books that go into this quite extensively, written by Iain McGilchrist (The master and his emissary, The matter with things).
I spent HOURS and hours doing this exercise in art school. Another great exercise is to only draw when you are looking at your subject, never when you are looking at your drawing. Try putting a sheet of paper over your hand and the drawing so you can’t see what you’re drawing. This forces you to focus on lines, shapes, positive and negative space, etc. The finished product of this exercise will probably look abstract but you’ll be surprised and how accurate small bits of your illustration will be.
I use portions of this book and associated workbook teaching Freehand Drawing. Getting my students to let go of the fact that no singular object has lines (a profile) at its boundaries, only surface textures and tonalities that visually cease and the surrounding background surfaces, textures and tonalities further define the environment. The upside-down drawing exercise is the only assignment where linework per se is allowed as the purpose of the assignment is an exercise in powers of observation and focus on the relationship of one geometric linear segment to others- a spatial and relational exercise. I take it a step further by using a blind that reveal’s only one quadrant of the image at a time (folding or cutting the paper into quadrants works as well). The expectation is an imperfect image where work produced in each quadrant is obvious- and relative elation occurs where linework from each quadrant matches up or nearly matches up.
I’m a psychologist and an artist. The whole Left v Right Brain “theory” is oversimplified nonsense and has been discredited a long time ago. That book is filled with simplistic and inaccurate information about perception and cognition. Ignore all that and do the exercises; they are helpful. However, note that she wasn’t the first author to present those exercises. Also, if you look at the before and after drawings, you can see more accurate drawings but the artists still display some of the same problems they had to begin with. For example, using harsh lines. So, these exercises will help you see but you need to also learn drawing and shading skills.
The right brain/left brain theory has been pretty thoroughly debunked in the Neuro and psych fields. However, where the interference you’re talking about overcoming comes from is irrelevant, and this is a fantastic article, with really great tips and good practical lessons to learn, so we can focus on drawing what we see, and not drawing an interpretation of what we see.
The left brain, right brain stuff has been debunked for a while. You’re basically using all of your brain, all the time. The exercise still works, since it forces you to look at your subject differently. The thought process is still really helpful obviously. It just has nothing to do with “separate hemispheres” of the brain.
I’m 45 years old and have just recently became actively interested in drawing. and the only experience i have is- the art classes in primary school, a few acrylic paint pours, my bedroom, and the occasional lil raunchy doodle on the edge of a phone message. BUT I’ve always wanted to have the best lil raunchy doodle of all my friends and family.❓ANY SUGGESTIONS❓ obvi I’ve taken good first steps by perusal this article. but, aside from reading the original book, what other easily accessable materials would yal recommend for a TRUE beginner? articles? articles? books? tutorials? all advise appreciated! 🙂
I remember doing this exercise in high school with a photo of a rabbit sitting in tall grass. I was one of the only people to do it properly like this. Everyone else was so concerned with getting it “wrong” that they started flipping it back and drawing it that way. Our teacher told them that wasn’t the point and I’m happy I did the exercise properly. I could feel the shifting in my brain and it was sooooo liberating. I was drawing for the sake of drawing, enjoying and seeing the beauty in each and every line, instead of trying to get from a blank page to the finished product.
OMG! I knew it, I was literally telling my son about upsidedown drawing yesterday and how it’s something that really helped me and stuck with me since being taught this in grade school by my art teacher. Art class then isn’t like it is now where they are shown articles of something being drawn. Amazing
Yes! thank you for sharing this, this confirms my theory of trying to draw my references upside down, i’m a graphic designer and I’m re teaching myself how to draw illustration, but one technique we use in typography at work is to KERN the letters by flipping the word upside-down so you can see the shapes instead of the letters as words. Your special tip just confirmed my hypothesis! thank you thank you!
Lol! I came here out of curiosity but I am currently working through this book as a refresher even though i have been drawing for over ten years! Istrongly recommend it no matter WHAT level you are at. My partner is learning from scratch and Iam habing fun revisiting basics as well as learning new things!
At first I found this TRICK (for it is no exercise but a trick) brillant too, but after a while i realised how wrong Betty Ed. was. This cuts the access to the area where the ‘soul’ sits. I need soul for drawing. Or else its just a produced drawing. And THIS Trick is about is PRODUCING drawings. So many other things which Mrs.E. tells us are simply not true I found. Perhaps its different when she TEACHES person to person. But all the book did, was to help me dare to try to draw. Luckily I found that I am talented and this finding out was thanks to Betty Edwards. All else I did on my own and I am loving it. I love to draw and I don’t NEED any TRICKS for
I don’t know why but when you turned the picture upside down and thinking about trying to draw it like that made me have anxiety. I am an artist and have to do this for drawing eyes and lips but not the whole picture. I will try this to help my brain. Thank you for the info. I had no idea this can help us. I just draw and paint just because I love it and never had my classes for it. I like listening to other artist talk about what they know.
I clicked this to see if you flipped your reference drawing upside down and hah! You did! I remember seeing this mentioned somewhere over 20 years back when I was little and it instantly elevated my doodles to something that actually looked like what I wanted to draw. It’s been… Wow, a long time since I thought about this. The left brain, right brain thing has been debunked for ages, but this technique is 100% legit.
(I’m not a very good artist.) I used to think that an artist’s hands moved magically on their own. Indeed I have seen sketch artists who don’t even look at the paper while they’re drawing. Then I found that I could draw the outline of a shape if I knew exactly what shape I wanted to draw. You put into words what I was vaguely thinking and I am working on what you said right now.
It depends what you mean by being an artist and and accomplished artist actually. Here he is showing observation drawing, but an artist who tranforms reality maybe more creative wether he does it on purpose or not, the shoe exercise is a good example of that, any experienced artist could draw out of what he knows (a shoe shape) and not perfectly from the shape he actually sees, lol. I am the type of artist that would try to draw something accurate to the sample, because I am patient enough to do that, and I have no style anyway, lol. Said so all exercises are fun ((I also have done contour drawings without looking down on my paper) and useful to do, so big thumb up to this article.
Very interesting, I’ll try it. One similar exercise that I remember doing in school (and found very “eye-opening”) was to draw from a live reference, with the following constraints: 1/only draw the silhouette of the subject, 2/ draw it in one single line, without lifting your pen, 3/ do NOT look at your sheet of paper while doing it. Of course the end result was… not good, but it was a good exercise to really learn to look at the shapes that your eyes _see_, and ignore what your brain _expects_.
What a neat little idea! I remember when I was young and I would struggle so much with proportions and I realized why. Instead of drawing something as a whole, I would draw the individual parts one at a time. As in, when I would draw a portrait I wouldn’t sketch the whole thing out then slowly work in the details, I would draw the shape of the head and only focus on the lips, then I would only focus on the nose, then each of the eyes. It always came out super janky and wonky. Then I realized I needed to observe things as they relate to their surroundings. Where are the lips in proportion to the eyes? How much space is in between each feature? How big or small is that space compared to the features themselves? How close are the eyes to the edge of the face? Once I started I seeing how things relate to their surroundings my life drawing skills shot through the roof. I still have a lot to work on, but I’ve come a long way.
The upside down drawing was the break through I needed. Talking to a friend this week he said, “I can’t draw.” When I hear that I am compelled to explain why YES you can is the way. For me losing proper names instead of words is the key. Not draw the wood arm of the chair but what is the shape of the space inside the arm …
What I’ve begun to understand is not every drawing is something you need to show off, monetize, or claim to be your best work. Most pieces you do are practice for something more important to you, the artist, and confirm that you understand the building blocks of making quality art. For example: I’m an animation student taking a figure drawing where we sketch one minute poses every single day. Never skipping a beat. Why does this help me? Thumbnailing and capturing ideas can’t be more simpler when you have a repeatable process that shows movement and describes the correct information needed to do a full animation. Definitely something to hang onto and develop year after year!
Though turning the reference upside down is a grand idea, I was singularly struck by the fact that when he drew the upside-down image, he drew it almost as though he was following an invisible grid. That is left foot, part of stool, right foot, adjacent part of stool and so on…rather than doing an overall rough sketch and then refining it, which is what you see in most articles. I taught myself to draw in this “invisible grid” fashion, and I haven’t drawn that way in so long, I wonder if I still can. This is a great article. It’s the first of his I’ve watched, but I’ll watch many more.
This was very helpful for me, so big thanks. Did a quick scetch of a couple of people at a distance during a work break and telling the part of my brain that was trying to stick its “cartoon of Shoe-ness” at the bottom of their legs to shut the hell up so i could draw what i was seeing made a big differece. (I think it is still good for you to do some drawing that really looks at the structure of the shape of heads and feet or to draw a table in a cube etc. but kinda “forget it a bit” as you draw whats infront of you)
My 65 yr old Dad is a math wizard and puts this analytical wall up when playing bass. Everything must be written out and every note in the chord. I believe there partly lies a fear of making mistakes. I found this when I first painted. I tried tracing once, it sucked. Then I just grabbed the brush and made the shape. Wow. Much better.
Speaking of the hemispheres of the brain working differently- I was born with a brain tumor that was diagnosed when I was 17 years old. (And) when I did have the surgery I had the (wrong) patient’s (brain surgery) and the doctors (accidentally/wrongfully) severed the two hemispheres of my brain. My life has been agony ever since because I was not given (any) aftercare whatsoever after they did that horrifying thing to me. My tumor was located inside the limbic system which is the emotional center of the brain. So this article explains (even more) how important the brain is and how it can be affected (if) things go wrong. I have enjoyed sketching/drawing most of my life and that (was) one of my stronger points. As soon as I was able to put myself back together after having the surgeries the first (number) of attempts at sketching started me back from scratch- and when I put (pencil) to paper what came out/appeared on the paper were (stick men) type drawings. My art did progress with time but it is obvious to me that my brain had to literally reboot itself. (Without the help of any so-called professionals). The brain is very intricate and thank you for sharing your professional aspect/s of Art.
I took a painting course and this is what she made me do! I didn’t get it at all and was bored senseless! I can’t draw,but I’m not a terrible painter,because painting is more forgiving in my view. So it may be the right thing to do,but I did not want to come to painting class to draw,I came to paint, preferably abstract,but all I did,was training my right brain, so I quit!
Watching this article I could feel the left side of my head hurting. After the article ended my brain started feeling very itchy. As in the left temple of my brain right behind my eye felt very tingly and itchy. This was not a pleasant experience at all. It was as if the electrons in my head were trying to rewire itself. That upside down image made me feel very dizzy 😵🥴. As an artist I believe that this is a great exercise for building brain muscles, so I’m definitely going to try this technique out for shore. Thanks for sharing. 😁👍🎨🖌
Wow when I was about 13 or 14 it dawned on me while sketching a high contrast portrait using a photo as a reference that my work would be more accurate if I tried to draw the shapes of the shadows and the spaces in between the dominant facial features. I realized that I was imposing my mental picture of a face into the drawing rather than just representing what was in The picture regardless of what it portrays or depicts specifically. I had no idea this was a technique. I gave a little drawing tutorial to my in laws and their family and explained to them this process. It’s great to hear it explained in this way and to have the spontaneous inspiration of my 14 year old mind validated!