Drawing for everybody: brain fitness at our fingertips

Drawing ability is in our DNA

Everybody can draw. And everybody should draw; if not at artistic level, so, for pure pleasure and healthy brain. I hope you are not one of those parents who make remarks like this: stop playing around with pencils, do your math assignment! While we all need literacy skills and math, there is something unique about drawing. We can draw before we can even speak or write, or count.

Path to artistic freedom

We can actually do it successfully without any regard to any rules which people have imposed on creative expressions and art. We can very well express ourselves until somebody says: that doesn’t look like a cat! That’s when the kid who loved to draw starts to wonder: really? Am I doing something wrong? That’s where the artistic freedom ends and rules start. Art is categorized as not that important compared to coding, IT, math, chemistry, physics, history and essay writing.

Drawing and painting for brain fitness 

We have so much evidence nowadays that drawing and painting actually has the power to activate our brain to a huge extent and keep it flexible. Focus, memory, attention to detail, decision-making, imagination: these features are so important for anything we do in our life, and they are developed and perfected while we are just drawing and painting. In addition, this activity means a lot of pleasure, it is also rewarding.

Requirements for brain flexibility boosting tasks

In order a task or activity would boost brain flexibility and our memory, it should be:

challenging task;

new task every time;

task that involves decision-making, observation, focus and attention;

task that prompts to come up with solution;

pleasurable task and activity;

rewarding task and activity;

activity or task which enables socializing and exchange of opinions.

If you can write, you can draw

People, who think they cannot draw, have been simply using a wrong approach or have convinced themselves that drawing is something they’d never manage. They might believe drawing is something they don’t like or would never need. They might be addicted to devices and screens and they might see no point in using their brain and hand. However, fine motor movements are extremely important.  Everybody, who is able to manually write, can also draw.

Manual drawing is not that common

I am obviously checking out what other instructors and classes offer, and I must say there’s not that much. First of all, if instruction starts with: take a picture, that is not going to be a lesson how to learn drawing. That instruction will tell you how to reproduce photography and sometimes advice to just trace the image and take credits for a great drawing. Why do we always need to focus on the final product? The process of creation is very exciting, and this process is well worth experiencing.

Seeing is the key to drawing

Drawing is not about copying or measuring. Drawing is about seeing, activating the brain-hand communication and creating an image of an object, person or view on a flat surface, at the same time trying to show the emotional impact we are experiencing. Before we can draw, we have to learn seeing. Most people are convinced they see everything, in fact, they see just a non-specific image, and they don’t pay attention to any details.

Practical advice for these who start drawing

When I’m watching people drawing, I have noticed the following: they rarely look at the object they are drawing or painting, hardly ever. Some follow my drawing, some look at the paper all the time and erase everything and start from new quite a few times and erase again.

Practical drawing

In fact, we have to focus on the subject we are drawing and just rarely take a look at how lines and shapes are forming on our paper. We have to draw the subject 2, 3, 4 times bigger than in reality. Also, memorize the subject for 3-5 seconds; explore the shape and values, look at paper for 1 second. That happens on its own after a while.

Forget eraser

I would like to take away the eraser, too. Eraser just disturbs during the initial drawing stages. Therefore, try not to erase everything. Focus on outlines and shapes, as well as size, scale and proportions with the first attempt. Start with light approximate lines, define them as you go.

Drawing for brain fitness
Drawing has many purposes: this is outline drawing on watercolor paper. It is extra light, hardly visible.
Rough sketch for painting
Only reality shows the correct proportions

The starting point and reference area

We have to visually perceive the subject or scene, find the reference area or spot and start out with very light general lines. With every next line, we are building up the subject or anything within the drawing. We should also stick to what there is and what we can see not converting it into an animated, simplified shape of what we know this object might be like. We should not omit and take away all specific features our subject has in reality.

Drawing for brain fitness
The purpose of these outline drawings is to serve as a base for watercolor painting because some plants, vegetables or flowers don’t last long enough
Drawing for brain fitness
Leaving only good lines and going over with black pen

Good subject for starting out

All apples are not the same; all cups are not the same, not to mention trees and flowers or faces. Still life is a very good starting point, and I’d usually pile up more simple things in order we could observe their relationships. Therefore, learn seeing, develop visual perception and visual memory.

Drawing for brain fitness
We add now watercolor to lines and get a nice painting!

The positive impacts of drawing occur especially when we are employing the entire brain which is as in observational drawing. It also makes us completely independent from computers, cameras, phones, printers and other devices because all we need to start out is paper and pencil or pen. Good luck!

42 Replies to “Drawing for everybody: brain fitness at our fingertips”

    1. Thanks so much! I mentioned this because it feels quite often that any instruction mainly deals with the final creation, any means are ok as long as it looks splendid. I see in my classes how people actually enjoy the journey a lot and the final work just summarizes all the newly acquired skill.

  1. I love your art…I love YOU!! I am one of those people who have said for a lifetime that I am not a good drawer. I worked yesterday on a piece as a tribute for Dr. Wayne Dyer and I posted it on my blog today. My ‘Scurvy Elephant’ is not the best drawing I have ever done, but I went with it because it was done out of love and I knew that energy would shine through. You are such a wonderful artist…a wonderful teacher…and a beautiful soul! Thank you for being a part of my life!! <3

    1. Oh, Lorrie! That is just so nice from you to say all this. You are a wonderful soul, too, and that’s why we probably can find huge inspiration in each others writing and creations. Art we create goes out into the world with the energy we have put in it, therefore, it’s not really about perfection, but the energetic load and good thoughts we’ve implemented while working on some piece. I also thank you for all your encouragement and support, it matters a lot to me!

    2. Your beautiful soul shines through, Inese…it really does. And I am grateful that we have found each other in this very large…yet small…world!! <3

    3. Thank you, I really appreciate everybody who can see deeper than just the surface layer. Blogging would not be fun and valuable thing to engage in if there were not fantastic people like you. I think that’s what makes hours spent on new posts very valuable because we can exchange our thoughts and our attempts to contribute to a better world, although, it is a small improvement at a time. Have a very blessed and pleasant weekend!

  2. You are so right Inese. Drawing helps us to see. Once I started to draw and paint, I realise that everything is unique and every face special and interesting.

    1. Thanks Monica! I’m glad you are back,I didn’t hear from you for quite a while! And, yes, drawing helps us see and connects the neurons in the brain so that we can think more efficiently and faster, too!

  3. Wonderful Inese, and once the garden dies down a little I will be putting pencil to paper more.. And you are right it is all about just observing and seeing.. and not being afraid to put it down on paper.. And it looks also as if your garden is baring a good harvest also 🙂

    Wishing you well and hope all is well with you and you are not so rushed with your work..

    Love and Blessings.. Sue xxx <3

    1. Thanks Sue for visiting! I’ve been overwhelmed, too: medical works, preparations for my trip, like last 3-4 days trying to buy gifts, all medical supplies for me, other stuff, installing the new laptop, that alone took like 3 days with all lost or forgotten passwords. Oh, I haven’t posted anything for a while, but I hope do something about it soon. We all need a brake with a pencil or brush, so that there are no urgent calls or things. That takes us always to another world where we can have everything which we cannot have in reality. I will definitely check out what new drawings you’ve created.

    2. No rush about the check out of new drawings as I have not posted the ones I have done, as I am doing them as partial gifts for Christmas, and do not want family to peek 🙂 lol.. One is my Daughters Cat,.. 🙂

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