Madame Pickwick Art Blog Art and media blog of the unexpected

An Artistic Gesture To Think For Yourself

The idea behind gesture drawing is to suggest the essential feeling of a subject . You skirt the issue to arrive at an interpretation. The person is drawing not what the object under study actually looks like, but what the subject is doing. A summation in a few marks in a gestural fashion generally either circular or spiky. Drawing is associated with the right hemisphere of our brain, the side linked with visual perception whereas the left side, or L mode is considered verbal, analytic and logical by nature. Or some would have you believe…

Betty Edwards and Kimon Nicolaides are two drawing teachers and theorists who have  developed teaching templates that permit almost anyone to acquire drawing skills. Edward’s theory is based on cerebral hemisphere and split brain research. The criticisms of Edward’s bestseller, ”Drawing On  The Right Side Of The Brain” are related  to excessive wordiness, rambling prose and fragmentary strokes of pertinent information. The book also requires extensive purchases of specialized art material to make full use of the excercices. Not surprisingly, Edward’s sells and promotes all the art supplies in the book. Also, the exercises are oriented towards beginners and those with a lack of confidence who are likely to be more vulnerable to purchasing material and absorbing inexact neurological theories.

Exercise from "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain" by Betty Edwards

However, most of the drawing exercises are relevent and accessible but, do not put the drawer in the position of the artist and create or provide the tools or inspiration to draw from an artistic perspective. The unleashing of the mad genius can’t be strapped in pedagogical sterility varnished with psuedo-science. The search for form and unity, plus the determination to articulate an artistic vision will create its own processes and  catalyze creative problem solving in a way unique to the individual. 

However, the extent of specialized brain function is an inexact science and Edward’s basis is scientifically inconclusive  and perhaps simplistic to the point of pop psychology, where the number of exceptions is too high to form  a coherent definition and mitigates the complex elements of  bi-lateralization of brain functions and other issues academically evaluated and tested by accredited practioners of neurological research. However, Edward’s theories  hold some validity with regard to predominantly right handed individuals. Nonetheless, only 20% of left handed people have right hemisphere dominance for language function. In general, applying elements of brain hemisphere theory to commercially  promote products and services , goes far  beyond the implications of the available reaearch and its intentions. Abuse, exaggeration and fantasy are common in the self help psychology and therapy books in the same way the astrology pages in the daily newspaper  are related to Copernicus, Kepler and astronomical science. In short, its a credibility issue.

Kimon Nicolaides (1891-1938) is the author of ”The Natural Way To Draw” published in 1941. Edwards’s techniques are based on copy drawing, such as a live model and Nicolaides is a ”draw from Nothing” approach. He focuses on gestures,  actions and weight. His introduction of feeling and expression with a representation elevate his book beyond the beginner level. But, its also demanding on time  to complete the exercises ( three hours per day) but ultimately less useful and worthwhile than classic illustration techniques dating  from the Renaissance period. Nicolaide’s techniques are not thought to translate well across diverse artistic styles.

Kimon Nicolaides

The concentration on form and structure relative to the process of drawing is probably overly complicated and intellectualized which wrings dry the spontaneity of the creative process in Nicolaide’s book.  The problem appears centered around the certainty and absence of doubt on behalf of Nicolaides as he is quoted on the back cover: “There is ONLY ONE RIGHT WAY TO DRAW and that is a perfectly natural way.”