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Cycle 1 Packet
All of the exercises in this packet are from a book called “Drawing on the Right Side of the
Brain” by Betty Edwards. The idea of this book is to train your brain to draw what you see,
not what you think is there. Drawing is just making lines on paper; the ability to look closely
and process what you see in front of you is what makes it seem hard.
Artists see things differently than most people. They are able to shift to an altered state of
awareness and different mode of information processing. Have you ever become so intensely
focused on a task or ‘day dream’ that you aren’t aware of what is going on around you? You
lose track of time, totally relax and get ‘in the zone’. This is the mental state you need to be in
to be able to draw exactly what you see in front of you.
The following exercises will help train your brain to ‘see’ the world around you and perceive
things the way an artist does. It is important that you focus and follow the directions exactly,
even if they seem weird and pointless. Each step is important to forming the new pathways in
your brain. So focus and do your best and you will learn to draw!
Faces and Vases
This image shows two faces or a vase depending on how you
perceive it. This exercise is designed to cause conflict between the
right and left side of your brain. It may frustrate and confuse you.
How will you solve the problem?
Read all the directions before starting
1. Draw the horizontal lines at the top and bottom of your vase
2. Trace over the lines on the finished profile with your pencil, naming the parts of the face
as you go- “forehead…nose….upper lip…lower lip…chin…neck”. Do it a second time.
3. Now draw the missing face to complete the symmetrical vase
Right handed people- do this one
Left handed people– do this one
Was this hard? Did it confuse you? How did you solve the problem and complete the
task? Circle one of the options below or write you own answer.
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By not thinking of the names of the facial features?
By focusing on the vase shape not the faces?
By drawing vertical and/or horizontal lines, or dots to help you compare sides?
By drawing from the top up, instead of the bottom down?
By deciding to just make it up from your head and not bother to make it
symmetrical and exact?
 Something else?
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The purpose of that exercise was to force a mental shift between a verbal and visual mode of
thinking. This is a difficult switch to make, which is why you may have become confused or
frustrated.
Write 4-6 sentences about this experience.
Was it harder or easier then you though it would be?
How did you solve the problem?
Was it easier after you started thinking about it a different way?
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Upside-Down Drawing
This exercise will help teach you to draw only exactly what you see. You copy a drawing
upside-down, only flipping it back around at the end. This will help teach you to not think
about what the object is and just see it as lines and shapes.
Read all of the directions before you begin.
1. Keep the drawing you are copying and your drawing upside-down at all times until you
finish
2. Try to complete the entire drawing in one period! Focus!
3. Start anywhere you want. Try not to figure out what you are drawing, just draw the lines
as you see them. Move from line to adjacent line, don’t try to do the whole outline first
then fill in the middle, just draw one line, then the line next to it and so on.
4. As you draw, constantly think about where the lines are in relation to each other.
Compare what have drawn to what you are drawing as you work. Remember don’t
think about what the picture is of, it doesn’t matter, it is just lines.
5. If you are having trouble, cover the parts of the picture you are not drawing at that
moment. It may help you focus and not feel so overwhelmed.
6. Remember, all the information you need to copy the picture is right in front of you. Just
copy what you see and don’t overcomplicate it.
Now flip both drawings right side up. How did it come out? Better then you thought?
Why do you think that is? Write 2-3 sentences about this experience.
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What happens to most people is that they stop thinking about what they are drawing and just
draw what they see. Everyone is capable of drawing, you just need to turn off the verbal
mode of thinking and turn on the visual. People who we think of as “good at art” can do this
naturally, but some of us need to be taught.
Blind Contour Drawing
Yes, blind. In this exercise you cannot look at your paper until you are done drawing.
Remember, this is not about the drawing you create, it is about the process of making it. They
will be totally weird looking and that is a good thing!
Read all of the directions before you start.
1. Tape down your paper to the table. Just a little on the corners is enough, we just don’t
want it to slide.
2. Position yourself comfortably so that you can draw with one hand but are facing away
from your paper.
3. Look at the palm of your non-drawing hand and bend your fingers inward to create
wrinkles.
4. Pick one spot on your hand to start from. Your eyes should only be looking at your
hand, following the edges and wrinkles as the curve, while your pencil draws those lines
on the paper. Your eyes and pencil should be working together, one looking one
drawing. Draw slowly it should take about 5 minutes to complete your hand.
5. Do not pick up your pencil and don’t look at your drawing!
Contour drawing is very important to learning to draw. It helps you learn to observe details
that you may not have noticed before and truly see the edges of something. By looking only
at the object you are drawing you are forced into a visual thinking mode. You are not
influenced by what your drawing looks like, it doesn’t matter. It is about the process of
making the drawing, not the end result.
Modified Contour Drawing
This lesson will help you learn how to mentally create a picture plane and flatten 3
dimensional objects into contours so you can draw it realistically. Making something appear
3D on a piece of paper is as simple as drawing exactly what you see in real life. If you make
the edges, angles and curves just like you see them, it will look 3D and realistic.
Read all the directions before you start.
1. Rest your non-drawing hand in front of you on the table with your fingers bent up
towards you.
2. Place your view finder on top of your hand, balanced comfortably on your fingers.
3. With one eye closed and keeping your head in the same spot, trace the edges (contours)
of your fingers.
4. Work carefully and accurately to capture as much detail as you can
5. Do this 3 more times with your hand in different positions.
6. Choose one drawing, make sure it is the best.
7. Tone a piece of drawing paper with graphite.
8. Draw the cross hairs from you view finder lightly on the paper
9. Transfer the main points of your hand from the view finder onto your drawing paper.
Use the crosshairs as your guide to mark a few places on your paper before you start
drawing.
10. Reposition your hand the way it is in the view finder. Keep the view finder close to
use as a reference. Close one eye and pick a point on your hand to start drawing. Draw
slowly looking at your hand much more than your drawing.
11. Constantly compare and check what you are drawing against what you have already
drawn and to your actually hand. Look at the angles, shapes, and sizes as they compare
to each other.
12. Try not to think about what you are drawing, just focus on drawing what you see in
front of you. Think of everything as lines and shapes and use the negative space as well
as positive to guide you.
13. When you have finished drawing erase the cross hairs and erase the
background/negative space around your hand. This will help make your hand stand out
on the paper.
14. Now erase away the highlights and darken the shadows on your hand, leaving the tone
of the paper as your middle value.