Customer Reviews

The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The 1999, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The essential question of any how-to book is: Does it work? For this book, the answer is probably yes. But in reviewing this book, I have to compare it to other how-to books on drawing. Such a comparison should convince anyone that Betty Edwards is merely repackaging familiar drawing exercises with a psychological theory she finds convenient. In fact, the focus on brain laterality is useless as far as drawing is concerned, and there are other books that are more worthwhile.

My main concern is with the book's pseudo-scientific tone, which borders on being anti-scientific. The actual science behind Edwards' theory is scant and superficial. You just can't come to the conclusions she comes to, and the way she applies her theory is redundant. You can replace her annoying terminology of "R-mode" and "L-mode" with "creative mode" and "analytic/logical" mode, and there is no difference in meaning. It would even be clearer and more accurate to tell the reader to "Draw what you see, not what you think you are seeing" instead of saying mystifying things like "Shut off the buzz of L-mode, so you can mentally shift to R-mode."

The towering giant of drawing books is, of course, Nicolaides' NATURAL WAY TO DRAW. Edwards attempts to make sense of what goes on in the brain to help us draw, but her bland writing style and her pseudo-psychological approach negates her credentials. If the book works, it is because the exercises are time-tested. The way to learn to draw is by spending time drawing, and studying the drawings of the masters. Classes help, and so do books, but if you get one book on drawing, the serious student would reach for Nicolaides. And if you're really into neuroscience, get a recent college textbook.

As an individual who never thought I had any potential to draw, this book completely thrilled me. Edwards explained that drawing has more to do with seeing than the actual mechanics of drawing (which supposedly, we're all pretty good at). She takes you through steps and examples that help you pick up on these basics of seeing as an artist sees. The book is full of drawing "tasks" that lets the eager beginner get started right away. These tasks are designed to teach you new things while producing surprisingly good drawings. Of course this book won't make you an amazing artist overnight- but I did see that overnight I went from drawing at a child's level to producing things I never thought I could. It seems like there are two groups of people. Those who have had some sort of art training don't find this simple, easy to read book as amazing as the author tends to make it sound. However, those, like myself, who draw stick figures and smiley faces- calling it art, see this book as some sort of miraculous cure for the cheesy drawings we dislike so much. I recommend this book to anyone who feels anxious or hopeless when it comes to drawing. Anyone who has surpassed that level would probably be best off getting the opinion of someone closer to the artistic level they are currently at.

Just take a look at the drawing on the cover. That should tell you something. As someone below said, this book might be okay for someone who REALLY doesn't know how to draw (as opposed to the beginning student). There are some people who really are visually challenged, but guess what, they belong in a class where the instructor can push every visualization technique in the book at them. The funny thing about this book is how many of the "before" drawings, as inept as they are, are better than the slick easy cheesy "after" drawings. At least some of the befores have some charm. This book is a true disaster for a creative artist. We all know that real work leads to great drawing and the ability to see. The left brain-right brain is a lot of hooey.

I'm in a drawing course at a community college where the instructor has used the 1989 edition for a number of years with good results. Needing the book, I purchased the new edition (by mistake) through Amazon and must return it. However, having now reviewed both books, I believe that the new edition suffers by comparison.

There are too many mechanical aids required in the new edition, and the mechanics of their application is poorly and vaguely explained, which will discourage some people. My general feeling is also that the author is stretching to revitalize the work and, in the process, has weakened its impact.

Though I find her work valuable and helpful, I'm distracted by the lengthly and repetitious discussions about the need to silence the left brain and to allow the right brain to function. A great deal of verbiage could have been saved if most of this was edited out and replaced by a short phrase to simply remind the reader of this necessity.

However, having said these things, let me also say that I have found the book to be valuable and helpful in my own efforts to gain solid drawing skills that should allow me to render better value sketches before I start my watercolors.

The book's underlying theory about the two hemispheres of the brain and their respective functions is simplistic to the point of being silly, but the drawing exercises are useful and effective despite this.

This book is an interesting read but if you are looking for real direction on learning to draw there is too little instruction and a whole lot of philosophy.

I have just started drawing and lathart, and this is the book I needed to get on the right track

This would be a good book for someone who really has no experience with drawing. I don't think she had to keep trying to prove her methods with scientific eveidence, though, it just took away from the purpose of the book. It's a bit ironic that she keeps telling the reader to try and ignore the left side of the brain when drawing while at the same time pushing scientific facts ( a decidedly left brain thing, according to her) down our throats. It was a good book once you get past all the science-text-book-type stuff though.

If you are a numbers oriented person, it is likely you are a left brain thinker, meaning you probably have a hard time drawing and doing creative things. Your left side of your brain is the dominant side and stifles the creative side. This book teaches you how to exercise the right side of the brain-the creative side. It tricks the numbers side of your brain to bow out of the task, leaving the creative right side free to work. Although proper training and practice are necessary, this book teaches techniques for those who have not yet learned to "see as an artist sees" which yield immediate results. On first try, I was able to draw with a 3 dimensional look and nearly replicate intricate drawings whereas, before the book my drawings looked almost like they did in 3rd grade.
This book goes into a lot of detail why we draw as we do and how to remedy that. I have seen a lot of art books, but this one is THE best for a remedial are student like me. Drawing has become a relaxing activity instead another failure session.

I taught myself how to draw passably well when I was a kid and have been drawing sporadically ever since. Recently, however, I wanted to really learn to draw - to really understand form and how to represent it on paper. I practiced constantly, but I wasn't really improving on my own, so I started reading art instruction books to expose myself to new ideas that might help me improve my drawing. The first book I read was "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", which I chose because I had heard so much about how great it was. I was expecting it to be profound in some way. I read it very carefully to the end and completed all of the exercises, but about halfway through I realized it wasn't giving me any new ideas at all.

The book is written for ABSOLUTE beginners in drawing - if you have been drawing for any length of time there are other books that will be much more helpful to you. If you are just starting out in drawing, if you haven't drawn since you were a kid, this book should be extremely useful. It explains drawing on a much more basic level than any other book I have ever read, but that is exactly what absolute beginners need. It would be difficult to try to write a sentence before learning the alphabet, and this book teaches the "alphabet" of drawing. But if you can already write, even at a basic level, reviewing the alphabet would be a waste of time.

I really dislike the actual style the book is written in; Edwards is egotistical and she spends too much time on subjects that are not directly related to learning to draw, for example, several pages are spent defending the "right brain/left brain" theory and too much space is spent throughout the book giving examples of "evidence" for her theory. The book could be about half the length it is and still offer the same amount of useful information.

So far "The Natural Way to Draw" and "The Practice and Science of Drawing" have been much more useful to me. I would recommend them over Edward's book to intermediate students like myself who are trying to learn advanced concepts.