Upside down drawing – Let’s trick your bossy brain!
Draw what you SEE not what you KNOW!
Check out my experience..
In one of my painting classes, I placed a pair of glasses in front of my student, slightly diagonal, for them to draw. A lot of them ended up with glasses, drawn with a view right from front. The brain simply takes over and says: I know how these glasses look from the front, let’s do what we KNOW. No matter that you see something else.
With this upside-down drawing, we are going to confuse your brain and concentrate on WHAT YOU SEE not WHAT YOU KNOW!
Betty Edwards wrote a very interesting book Drawing on the right side of the brain She guides the reader through exercises making reference to our two sides of the brain.
One of her students ignored the upside down instructions and drew the image in a normal way. The next day she made a second attempt, turned the image upside down as suggested and drew it. Check out the result!!!
Example from book Betty Edwards 
Exampe from book from Betty Edwards
| Betty Edwards student drew this image in a normal way. | The second time the student turned the reference picture upside down and drew it again! |
Isn’t the result incredible. The student drew SO MUCH better looking at an image that was turned around!
It is your turn now!
It is time to make our own experience. Print out one of the following images (or any other). Hang it upside down about 3 feet (1m) away from you. Use a charcoal and a kneaded rubber if you have one. (Or whatever you have) and start observing lines, different values (different shades), and place them without thinking about what you are drawing. In the end, they are simply lines and different shades.
Only turn your drawing around when you are completely done! We have done this so often in my studio. Students that have never taken any drawing classes turned out with incredible results! Give it a try and trick your bossy brain into being quiet!
Many artists have proposed this exercise but I would like to name Monika Reiter Zinnau (Book: Kreativ zeichnen lernen) who proposed a similar image of a camel, which is so much fun to draw. Link to her website here
Some of my students also chose her image for this exercise. Aren’t they fabulous!
Here some reference pictures to practice:
Practice suggestion:
Draw an ‘Up side down drawing’ with charcoal or with any medium! If you are a COMPLETE BEGINNER it might be interesting to do two drawings, one the normal way and the second upside down. Tell me how it went!
Additional reference pictures: click here
A personal note to you
Everything that is online can be so impersonal but I would love to connect with you..
It would be so much fun if you let me know in the comment below, by e-mail or in my closed FB group how you are progressing but also your personal wishes for future blog posts! and of course, I would loooooove to hear how your drawing experience went!
Closed FB group: YvonneMorells Art Community
This post is part of a series DRAWING FOUNDATION. If you missed the previous posts find all the links on this page: here
