[marcuslm]

I have heard alot about the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Is this book really as great as I keep hearing? Will it really help improve my drawing skills?? I thumbed throuhg it at the bookstore, but I can't get afeel for it. Can someone post some reviews/opinions on this book? Thanks!

Marcus

[eyewoo]

I've not read the entire book, but from the parts I have read, I came away with the feeling that it was not so much a book about creating artwork as it was a basic or preliminary book about how to see objects and relationships as they are in reality and not as we might envision them from preconceived ideas of what they look like. From my incomplete reading, it seems to me that its a book about how to look at and see things rather than how to conceive things. That, of course, is basic to the process of developing solid drawing skills and therefore is a good understanding to have before breaking the rules of reality and being able to conceive and create real works of art...
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[gArGOyLe^]

I haven't read all of it.. but it basically tells you to draw what you see.. I didn't find it too useful..

[ceenda]

I found the book profoundly insightful.

As with all things, you'll get out of it what you put into it.

If you buy it or borrow it, then I recommend starting at page 1 and doing the exercises through to the end. If you take a smorgasbord approach to it you might miss out on alot that it is saying.

*clink* *clink* my 2 cents

[liv the fish]

I've read this book and gone through the exercises. It's very insightful. I personally saw a huge improvement in my work after I was done.

Dr. Edward's Drawing on the Right Side is based on decades of research and the works of other professionals such as Roger Sperry. I don't know how you couldn't benefit from a book with that much work and the variety of research that has gone into it.

Basically, the book helps you move past your brain's symbol (iconagraphy) system and begin to see things how they actually are. This book is for life drawing, but what you learn from it can eventually be applied to creative drawing. But how to move to that end of drawing is not covered in detail in this book. Most of the exercises in the book are one's that are taught in art classes but there is detailed information about why the exercises are done. Something that was lacking in classes I took as a kid. That may be different today. Any artist of any level can benefit from doing the exercises, but I think advanced artists will become quickly bored and not see much improvement. Artists that are not that good at life drawing will probably see significant change. Of course it's all what you put into it.

Edwards has another book, Drawing on the Artist Within. While I have not read this book, it's premise is to help you become a more creative problem solver. It's supposed to help you move from being a visual artist to taking all the things you have memorized in your life drawing and rearrange them into original works. It's also supposed to help with other areas of problem solving, beyond artistic challenges. I haven't read it though so I have no idea it really works.

Good luck,
Brian H.
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[r4bid]

just a little background info... I am a newbie artist, I still have very little artistic skill.
I got the edwards book and while ago and while I have not yet done all the exercises in it I do think it is a good book. Yes the brain references are sometimes a bit much and are distracting (I take psychology now so I already have expereince with the two brain theory stuff).
I am sure that if you have the self discipline to go and do all of the exercises in this book then you will be become a better drawer.

I also have Bert Dodson's "Keys to Drawing". It is a similar book aimed at beginners but without all the brain stuff. The exercises are pretty similar(drawing hands, fruit, people etc...). I don't remember how it compares price wise but I am sure that they are close enough.
Lots of people complain that the drawings in the book look horrible and that the author must be a bad artist. If you actually read the book however you will see that the artist can infact draw quite well and just uses crummy looking examples for some of the projects to show that you shouldn't erase wrong lines as they add a good feel to certain types of pictures and let you see how your piece progresses.

[Molako_Plus]

i just looked it up on the net and i found a course that a guy teaches based on the book. basically its a five day intense training. the results that are shown on his site are just flippin insane. the monday drawings sucked so damn bad and then the friday drawings were actually good.


looks like im sold


im off to the book store!!
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[r4bid]

molako: edwards teaches a 5 day course based on the stuff in her book, her web site is drawright.com