FACT: Each and everyone of us is an artist...
...you just dont know it yet.
The Weeping Woman, 1937 by Pablo Picasso Source
I really meant it to every words. Ive been dedicating my life's work on proving this point. Through my career, my current PhD research and the arts movement with a non-profit organisation i've founded are all directed towards getting everyone around me to start sketching and unleash their artistic side..
And for this post, i would like to invite you to unlock your artistic side by following this one minute activity;
This is called the BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING.
You will need to sketch while abiding to these 3 rules;
Rule 1 - Draw in just one line! Start with a point and don't lift your pen up until you finish the drawing.
Rule 2 - You cant look at the paper where you are drawing! Concentrate looking just at your face.
Rule 3 - You have only 30 seconds to complete it! Set a timer and stop when the timer ends!
The trick to do this is to concentrate on the hand-eye-coordination.
And heres how you do it;
Step 01 - Get a pen and a paper.
Step 02 - Pay attention on this photo of Bob Marley with a red dot.
Step 03 - Set a timer for 30 seconds. Put a point on your paper, as a starting point where the red dot in the photo located.
Step 04 - When you are ready, start the timer and start drawing by moving the red dot in the photo with your eyes, while coordinating the same movement with your pen. Dont think too much, capture as much as you can until the timer set off.
Step 05 - Sign your drawing and take a photo of your drawing and share it in the comment section!
Got it? Awesomeee. :)
"I can't sketch."
The most common statement i've heard even here in steemit.
This is a sketch done by one of the student that participated in one of my workshop on basic sketching. This module is always the best introductory module to get those who have never sketched into getting rid of the insecurities most of them.
Let me share with you whats actually going on when you're doing the drawing from a psychological perspective.
The only thing that stops you from sketching is always just yourself. The expectation to get your sketch straight towards the great works by some great artists like Da Vinci, Van Gogh, or Michelangelo creates insecurities and thought right away that you dont have it in you.
Lets ask this rhetorical question to ourself;
When you are writing the alphabet A B or C, are you writing the letters or drawing them?
There is a fine lines between those two but when you're writing, you dont think much about how does it looks like as long as the communication and the message are well informed. Its just the same with sketching. The idea of sketching is always to record, express or conveying a message wether or not for a purpose of making an artwork or jotting down notes.
Lets revisit the rules for sketch we did earlier for this activity;
Rule 1 - Draw in just one line! Start with a point and don't lift your pen up until you finish the drawing.
Drawing in line line will let you have the control over only one line and gives you the concentration to finish the drawing with closures. Drawings can never finish, to have the guts to know when to stop is not an easy task. But with the closure of lifting the pen, you will have a reason to stop and call it done.
Rule 2 - You cant look at the paper where you are drawing! Concentrate looking just at your face.
This 'blind contour' technique of drawing will let you control the quality of lines you are making, without the need to think more than just tracing the subject from the starting point until the drawing is finish. Our perceptions of things we see always overwhelmed us with too much informations that made us confuse and indecisive everytime we need to make a decision. ( what to draw first? Where to start? is this the right position? etc).
Rule 3 - You have only 30 seconds to complete it! Set a timer and stop when the timer ends!
This will also get rids of your insecurities. Because you know its just gonna be a 30 seconds drawing, you would not care less about how the drawing will look like. You basically know its gonna be ugly so you will just gonna go with it without even a slightest time to think.
Some examples ive got when i asked the students to do this module to draw me.
With all the limitations and surrender of controls, you will only concentrate on the fundamental, on the most significant and the only things that matters subconsciously. Thus you will capture the essence of what you see. Although its not seems as perfect and as beautiful as a drawing most of us thinks it should be, but it tells a thousand words more than just a detailed perfect drawing one can be.
All you need is just to surrender some control and let your artsy side do the job. :)
Now compare your drawing with the one Picaso did at the beginning of this post. Is there any much different than what you did? ;)
You can read more of my works and research at my earlier post;
The Science behind Sketching : Psychological Theory of Perception and Cognitive Psychology.
