1. Wednesday, March 21st 2012.
Agenda:
5)The myth of multi-tasking
6)Right Brain Vs. Left Brain – Which do you favour?
7)Right Brain and Left Brain Thinking
8)Learning to see like an artist: 5 second drawings
9)Drawing exercise
2. The myth of multi-tasking
Major studies now show that:
Doing several things at once is just tricking ourselves into believing that we can multi-task
but the truth is we don’t actually multi-task, we switch-tasks. Our brains cannot process
more than one thing at a time.
By multi-tasking we decrease our productivity by up to 40%.
When interrupted or distracted from a task, it takes up to 20 minutes to refocus on the
original task.
Studies have shown that heavy multi-taskers can experience a 10% decrease in IQ.
What does that mean for us? When we need to concentrate on our drawing that should be
the only thing we are doing.
3. http://youtu.be/iZMJeQ4yPPk
Left Brain Vs. Right Brain
We've all heard people talk about left brain vs. right brain thinking and many
people generally think of it as a genetic disposition. In fact, every human being
has two modes of thinking, simply put, the logical, symbol oriented way of
thinking (left) and the more visual, intuitive approach (right). Although it is true
that individuals tend to develop a preference for one mode of thinking over the
other, it is possible to train our minds to switch modes. For us left brain inclined
types, what we need to do is hone in on the way we perceive the world around
us, disable our instinctual need to attach labels and instead, focus on shapes,
lines, colors and the relationships between them. This is the only way to
accurately translate what is a three dimensional world into a two dimensional
drawing.
4. The right side of the brain controls your unconscious instincts. Talking is an example of a right
brain function. When you talk, you do not think in terms of article-subject-preposition-
adjective-adverb-descriptive verb, however when most people draw, this is exactly how they
think. To draw a person, you draw a head, a body, two arms and two legs, the hands, the
feet, the hair, and the clothes, right? No, those are symbols that you have learned for these
things. In short, you are drawing what you think these things are, not what they are. In order
to draw well, you must think in terms of lines, shapes, angles and their relationship to other
lines and shapes, which combine to create the whole. For instance, a head is an elongated
circle and a leg is two long straight lines, bent midway and connected to a triangular-shaped
structure, also known as the pelvis and hip bones.
Truth be told, we use both modes of thinking all the time, together and independently and
we use each mode to interpret the other mode. Your logical mind (left brain) will not
accurately portray an object on paper because it will assign a label to the object and attach a
restrictive image of said object in your mind. Fortunately, your visual mind will see the very
same subject as a series of shapes, lines, dark shading and light shading that intersect in ways
and combine to create the whole. Tapping into the ¨right¨ mode of thinking takes a conscious
effort, some technique, practice and patience, but once you get the hang of it, you're golden.
Most students begin with uncertainty and inaccuracy in their work, not only due to their lack
of experience but also from an inability to transmit information from their eye to their hand.
What is thought to be seen and what is actually seen is confused because they lack an
awareness of the difference between the two and they have not yet honed their ability to
identify what they are seeing.
