Reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
About two weeks ago I borrowed a book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain from the local library. I've been somewhat despondent regarding my artistic ability for a while now, and wanted to at least take some steps in the direction of improvement. I didn't really have any sort of rationale for picking that particular title, other than the fact that Derek Yu referenced it in a blog post. I have a lot of respect for him due to the fact that he completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and yet is also a very accomplished artist. In this particular post, he rants a bit about the "left-centric" state of the American educational system, which typically does not contain a lot of artistic instruction. The rationale is always that art is not "practical," which I guess makes sense for a lot of people. I guess if you end up making a living by being a salesperson or accountant, you won't have much call for drawing skills in the daily grind. But when did our educational system start being concerned about vocational training? I thought it was all about getting a broad background in the liberal arts, to prepare you for whatever you might encounter in life.
So right now I'm finding out that I was not really prepared in regard to artistic output. Most of that was my fault, to be honest. In my early life, I never really had a reason to want to draw. I was much more interested in playing games (of course). However, now that I have an interest in actually creating games, I want to do everything myself, including the art. It will definitely be bad, but I want to be able to execute my own vision myself. Kind of selfish, but since I'm not doing it for money, there's no reason not to. Plus, I like the idea of making my brain more "well-rounded," and also not being embarrassed when I have to draw stick figures :/
As an introductory exercise, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain has you complete three pencil drawings: a self-portrait, another person from memory, and your own hand. Chandra and I sat down last night in front of a mirror and completed all three in one go. Her self-portrait was way better than mine, which I entitled, "Fat-faced, angry man." It can only get better from here.
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