Four types of blindness and steps to overcome them.

Section One
The Pixel
Drawing in One Dimension - Pointism

Seeing the world through small shapes called pixels.

Break the subject down to the smallest shape you draw just like a TV set does with small dots called pixels. Your pixel size will determine the viewing distance for your picture. Its placement, shape, color, and texture will be your picture. This pixel alphabet is the basis of much of realistic drawing. If you paint with accurate enough pixels your pictures will look like photographs!

"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much." - Luke 16:10

An airbrush artist paints with one color, one tiny dot at a time, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. It takes him 6 months to complete one picture. Sound boring? Not when you see them. Some of his works hang in the most prestigious gallery in the world. His breathtaking realism is indistinguishable from the camera.

Michelangelo defined creativity as "stucco". This means the discovery of the infinite possibilities of shape in the most common subject matter.

Procedure For one dimensional drawing

1. Observe the shape only of a pixel (dot). Forget what it is supposed to 'be' and study its shape only. Is it rounded, squared, angled, jagged, irregular, saw toothed, curved, smooth sloping etc?

2. Hold the shape in your mind. As you gaze at it mentally trace the edges of it as if you were going to draw them on top of the subject. Study it as if you had never seen it before.

3. Find an edge on the chalk that matches as closely as possible that shape. Literally try to find that shape on the chalk.

4. Imagine the way that you would have to hold the chalk, and the motion necessary for your hand, wrist, and arm to produce that shape on the paper.

5. Select the place on the paper where the pixel is to be drawn. Imagine that it is there already on the paper exactly as you saw it.

6. Look at the chalk. Try to find an edge on it that matches that shape. Carefully place the chalk on the paper with the proper angle, pressure, direction, and distance in mind.

7. Make the stroke.

8. Evaluate it, comparing it to the original.

9. Restate it if necessary, using steps 1 - 8 and comparing the two shapes.

If you feel that this procedure is so complex that you would be bored out of your mind if you tried to do it for every single dot on a paper for six months, you are right! Your mind, that is your normal conscious mind, is unsuited for such a painstaking task as pixel drawing. The purpose for listing the steps above is to demonstrate the difficulty of memorizing rules and laws to draw. So the first goal of one dimensional drawing is to stop our old way of thinking and seeing. Discover new, more excellent way to think about drawing.

"old things are passed away; all things are become new" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

"But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet I show unto you a more excellent way" - 1 Corinthians 12:31

There is an unseen battle for control in the mind that affects the way we think, see and act in life. It is a battle between our old critical carnal mind and the new creative spiritual mind:

"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to one the other" - Romans 5:17

Your critical, carnal mind is like is a bad art critic or a judge in the way it processes what you see. Its normal job is to filter and screen out unnecessary details (like visual shape information). As soon as the identity of the object is recognized it is judged and labeled. All the beautiful details your eyes recorded are replaced with a simple bias critique in symbol form. This mental labeling of the things we see goes on constantly to keep our mind uncluttered.

The trouble is that when we try to draw a familiar subject our art critic remembers the symbol and only the symbol is drawn in place of the real shapes. This is why many adults draw like children. It is not their drawing ability that is stunted but it is the way our conscious mind processes visual material. The system blinds us to the pixels and actual shapes that are there.

But your spiritual mind is like a very gifted artist or an architect, who loves this type of job, and can do it as easily as you breathe. This spiritual mind was created... "in the image of God." - Genesis 1:27 Since God is the creator, His image in us makes us also a creator. Our spiritual mind was created to naturally think and see like an artist-architect. Since God created everything, and His image is in us; then we must have in us some of His creative potential. He has the ability to instantly see every detail of our universe. Our inner artist is like an architect, who can easily visualize every brick and board in a huge complex structure.

All our carnal critical mind can do about it is gripe and criticize. The secret is to get the carnal side of your mind to surrender the tasks of perceiving and drawing detail to the creative side of your mind, the creator-artist-architect within. We must first overcome fears, objections and natural tendency of inner critic (our dominant conscious mind) to obstruct our inner artist (creative mind).

We gain great empowering confidence when we discover and remove the things that hinder creative visualization.

There are many new computer programs (like Pixar’s "Toy Story" and cartoon, "Reboot") that plot points and even move them about in space giving drawings three dimensions.

Our inner creative mind is billions of times more powerful if turned loose! To do this we must free it from the labeling process.

Pixel drawing is one way to stop this labeling process of substituting symbols for the real things. Free the spiritual mind and drawing becomes not only easy but fun.

As a Christian I have enjoyed the wonderful peace of God that passes understanding in my soul for nearly a quarter of a century. As we silence our carnal, critical natures we are at peace with God and all around us. As a Christian artist I have also enjoyed the wonderful peace that comes from completely suspending carnal criticism. By prayer and faith I have learn with quiet confidence to accept and even embrace my mistakes as great teachers of drawing grace and humility. This quieting of the carnal critic, releases the creative echoes of the image of God, the artist that He placed in each of us. It is a serenity that may days after drawing.

Once you learn to open this door to your creative mind you will discover the vista of infinite, artistic potential you were created for. On every horizon there is another horizon! Here we must leave behind both worry and words for they would interfere with the freedom of visualization that makes things seem to just fall into place. There is no time here; no pressure, no expectations. Only freedom to fly where ever you wish. May the Lord seat you in such heavenly places as you stand before Him at your easel!

In the book, 'Drawing on the Right side of the Brain", Betty Edwards explores the amazing nature of this 'cognitive shift'. Your brain is physically divided into two halves. They each appear to process information in such a completely different way that they interfere with each other. This may be why that the Lord used such a small bundle of neural links to connect them: so they could work independently of each other. The following is a brief summary contrasting the two sides:

A General Description

THE CARNAL CRITIC THE SPIRITUAL ARTIST
LEFT BRAIN - Dominant RIGHT BRAIN - Submissive
Scientific Creative
Intellectual Intuitive
Objective Subjective
Legalistic Instinctual
Concrete Abstract
Propositional Imaginative
Sequential Parallel
Developed Disregarded
Judges over time Visualizes over space
Verbal Quiet and Introspective
Specific & Deductive Global & Inductive
Intelligent Criticism Interrogative Comparison

Type of problems it is best suited for:

Facts Feelings
Sensible Confusing
Known Unknown
Ciphering Deciphering
Clear Degraded
Symbols Relationships

Style of hand writing or drawing:

LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN
Copies childish simple symbols Creates spacial relationships
Controlled and calculative Independent and capricious
Finished work Rough draft
Clear Sketchy
Subtle Daring
Deliberate Venturesome
Mechanical Spontaneous
Judicial Impulsive
Tight choked-up close grip Loose laid-back grip
Fine, structured detail Free unstructured motion
Critical Creative
Fragmented Flowing
Clear Vague

 Symptoms:

Ready - Aim - Fire Fire - Fire - Fire
Easily distracted Dream-like focussed attention
Time conscious Unaware of the passage of time
Aware of surroundings Undisturbed concentration
Awkward and anxious At ease with the work
Straining for control Exhilarated Control
Anxious About Details Calm excitement About the Whole
Doubtful, hard work Confident, playful bliss
Naming objects Questioning shapes and angles
Complexity becomes tedious Complexity become effortless
Slow & Careful Rapid and carefree
Struggle that things look wrong Pleasure in the way things fit
Judgmental and critical Forgiving suspending criticism.
Rejects selectively Accepts completely
Can't see how it is going to fit Imagine it already on the paper
Detached labeling Connected nameless shapes

Drawing with half your brain tied behind your back.

These contrasts give us many helpful clues to free our captive creative mind from our dominant left brain. We must tie our left brain behind our back so the right brain can unleash its incredible spacial super-computer processor. Here are some hints of how we will do this.

In each dimension we must ignore what we think our subject looks like and draw:

First Dimension Pixels Pointism
Second Dimension Puzzling Contours
Third Dimension Perspective Cubism
Fourth Dimension Palette Rainbows

Habits Of Highly Effective Artists

Since our left brain substitutes simple symbols for the actual shapes we see; we must study every subject in a new way, as if we had never seen it before. Here are some habits I have noticed that highly effective artists use to silence their critical left brain so right brain can see:

  1. Visualizing - Draw it in your mind on the paper first.
  2. Reverse Drawing - Draw the space around the subject.
  3. Inverting - Draw the subject upside down.
  4. Reflecting - Draw the subject in reverse.
  5. Squinting - To compare shapes, sizes, colors, and relationships.
  6. Pure contour drawing - Draw without looking at your picture.
  7. Distancing - Viewing from a distance to check results.
  8. Sighting - Comparing measurements, mid points and angles.
  9. Framing - Holding a picture frame in air to study composition.

The actual bypass occurs subconsciously between the right and left sides of our brain. Artists develop two distinct handwritings in all four dimensions. You can actually become aware of this if you notice:

1. Your inner dialogue changing.

2. Your grip on the chalk constantly changing.

3. Your eye movement changes

Refuse to criticize. Analyze positively. Remember: You don't have to like your picture to learn from your picture. Spot strengths. Identify areas to work on. Change your inward vocabulary. Call mistakes a learning experience.

You can't brainstorm and criticize at the same time. Risk taking is the first step to mastery. Eliminating stress means releasing creativity. Do the most interesting parts quickly before boredom sets in. Failure comes from lack of concentration. These will helps you to be in your right mind as you draw.

THE ADVANTAGES OF STUDIES IN TACTILE MODELING

The masters made a habit of copying from other artists work. Even the most skilled artists today rely heavily on graphic assistance, modeling and photography. They run constantly back to the real objects to escape the stagnation of 'creative inbreeding'. Inbred ideas are often stillborn.

"There are two opposite errors: taking nothing second hand, and taking everything second hand." - Spurgeon

Dr. Margret McDowell in her Studies in Art Education discovered that students who drew from photos or slides showed faster development of art fundamentals and superior technical proficiency than those who worked from live models only.

Drawing is complex process. We must transform a three dimensional world with infinite detail of motion, color, light, shadow, and reflection into paralyzed splotches of pigment on a two dimensional canvas or paper. Here are a few reasons why tactile studies or tracing can be a vital key to mastering the arts:

  1. It instantly eliminates all barriers and gaps in knowledge so that even the beginner can concentrate on his own unique style without distraction. The beginner bypasses the tedium of rules and dives directly into interpretation. Your internal thought process, the silent dialogue, will creativity unfold with immediate positive feedback.
  2. It guarantees instant and excellent results. Later the things learned and practiced can be drawn without tracing. But while you trace, God becomes your teacher!
  3. It frees from the fear of tackling complex imagery and unfamiliar subject matter
  4. It develops the eye-hand coordination and motor skills necessary for mastering the medium.
  5. It allows focus on developing on skill at a time.
  6. It allows firsthand interactive experience with the medium, building confidence and familiarity with many principles without one lecture or formulae to remember.

Even first time artists have fast, wonderful results with tactile studies. Granted they may be 'baby steps', but when you are learning it helps to have something to hold on to. Remember: Copies are cheap, but originals are priceless. Your interpretation, no matter how 'traced', will be different from anyone else in the world. This process will unfold into your own unique style as you develop your own preferences.

Section 2
The Puzzle
Drawing in Two Dimensions - Contour Drawing

Seeing the world through the contours of large shapes.

Younger children often draw with greater perception than older children and adults. Since they are less familiar with the world around them, they must piece together their pictures like a puzzle. This is contour drawing.

For the most part there are no lines in nature. Only areas of color touching each other. There is an exception to this called the 'turning edge' that may appear as a line. Complex studies can be greatly simplified by breaking the subject down into forms, figures, profiles, solid areas of color, silhouettes and trapped shapes (the gaps or spaces between them).

Contour drawing is also called puzzling. Puzzled? Try Puzzling. It means to fit the shapes and spaces together like a puzzle. Ignore what you are drawing and make the puzzle pieces fit.

You can learn to see these puzzle pieces anywhere by closing one eye and squinting or causing your eye to de-focus slightly. Try it right now. Notice how the complicated details of what you see are blended into simple shapes. Just draw the edges or the borders of

areas of continuous, unbroken color, with their contour shapes only. Then compare the size and placement of both the positive and negative (trapped between subjects) spaces.

General process:

  1. Capture the larger puzzle pieces first, then draw in the smaller ones.
  2. Tie the puzzle pieces together using merging and straddling.
  3. Double check all the trapped shapes or spaces between the objects in your picture.
  4. Double check proportions comparing distances and correct them. The more comparisons you measure, the more accurate your drawing will be.

Section 3
The perspective
Drawing in Three Dimensions - Cubism

Creating a 3 dimensional world on a 2 dimensional paper using linear perspective & proportion.

Have you ever wished there was a way to take the pain out of perspectives. Most artists have difficulty with perspectives for several reasons:

  1. Three dimensions won't fit into two so we must record the distortions that occur. These never 'look right'. (Like a flat picture of the globe: parts appear larger than they really are)
  2. Our eyeballs and corneas are round. Lines appear curved. (Like looking through a bug eye or fish eye camera lens)
  3. Perspectives change with every movement.
  4. Drawing near to the paper our view is distorted by foreshortening.

Centuries ago artists developed a system for creating depth in their paintings. It is a complex set of rules dealing with some the distortions that are created when a round eyeball perceives a keystoning, panning and foreshortening world. Here are just a few of these rules:

  1. Parallel lines converge at vanishing points on the horizon.
  2. Foreshortening occurs whenever any linear object is viewed at an obtuse angle.
  3. The closer the ground plane is to the horizon, the farther away it is.
  4. The closer the sky plane is to the horizon, the farther away it is.
  5. Relative size in congruent forms decreases with distance, and increases with nearness.
  6. Any movement of subject or station point (artist's view point) can change one or all of the above.

Are you confused? Ready to quit? I have great news for you. There is a better and easier way to draw linear perspectives. For even the most dedicated artist linear perspective can become cumbersome, tedious, mechanical, stale, cold and lifeless.

Some of the greatest masters of perspective art like Delacriox and Goldstein say that If you can see; you don't need perspectives at all! They recommended their students learn perspective and then forget it.

Perspectives and proportions govern the picture's believability. Compressing 3 D into 2 D on the flat plane of paper may seem difficult and even discouraging. Tactile and contour studies make this easy with the fun exercises that follow..

PERSPECTIVES WITHOUT PAIN

First trace perspective drawings of difficult subjects. The best way is to project them on you paper and pencil in all the difficult lines angles and curves. This instantly eliminates all the complicated trigonometry, gives you a fixed station point, and begins to teach the perspectives to you fingers with tactile learning.

New medical studies indicate that your brain's memory extends to your finger tips. (See: "The Modular Brain") This also quiets the left brain so the architect can work. Drawing accurate proportions and perspectives improves rapidly with each new tactile experience. You get a 'feel' for it that will help you with each new subject you approach. Your hands will remember more than you could ever write down. Each drawing will be helpful in most other drawing situations.

You will be amazed at how different the pictures you trace look up close and from far away. Try to finish the whole picture before you look at it from a distance. You will be shocked at the fine wonderful results. Now just remember how you did it and draw it without the projector. There are no formulas, just fun.

A 2' X 2' mirror mounted on a rolling stand can be used to save a few steps and spot any perspective flaws from a distance. A video camera and monitor can do the same. Just angle them so you can see as you draw.

PROPORTIONS

Proportions are the "relative sizes of subjects compared to each other and the whole" OR the size things need to be next to each other to look real. Each part of the picture must be in proportional harmony with the rest. They can be believed only if they relate to each other in a realistic manner.

Human forms are so familiar they are commonly the most criticized part of pictures.
"A portrait is a picture of a person in which the mouth is not quite right" - Sargent
Much of the difficulty lies in proportions. Our conscious mind finds areas of the face less interesting (like our fore heads) and deletes them from our shape memory.

The amazing thing is that correct proportions are hardly ever noticed. In our work that is good. Less distraction means more of the message will get across.

There are formulas for almost anything you want to draw. Frankly, the less you know about the actual proportions of objects the better. That is because they are constantly changing (foreshortening) as they are moved through space.

"You bring your formulas to nature and nature knocks them all flat" - Carrot

Once again, if you can see you do not need to know any formulas! The problem lies in the fact that we are all naturally blind to perspectives. Our minds must erase the perspective distortions of foreshortening, and keystoning to interact with the world as it really is. To draw them we must see them. To see them we must plot them.
Here are some methods to accurately plot these visual distortions:

  1. Midpoint - Find the midpoint of each section of the subject. Note where every thing falls in relation to it.
  2. Plumb and Level - Check the vertical and horizontal alignment of each object. Calculate each angle based on a comparison to the vertical, plumb or horizontal, level.
  3. Arms Length - Holding a pencil at arms length measure with your thumb each part of your subject. Transfer that measurement on to you picture exactly. The more you measure the more accurate your proportions will be.
  4. Plane and Scale - Scale your subject down to match other objects in that same plane (distance). See rule one on Linear Perspectives.

Section 4
The Palette
Drawing in Four Dimensions - Relativism

Seeing light and shade values and gradations of color.

People love color. I have discovered they consistently choose color over realism.

The problem is that there are no true, pure colors in this world. Everything is a "chromatic spectrum" or a rainbow of colors. Smooth, even, constant, uniform, gradual transitions of color are almost every in nature. There is gold at the end of the rainbow. It will make your pictures priceless. Most people are blind to the subtle interaction of color.

There also seems to be a universal 'graying' or flattening of tints. Appropriate use of gray makes most colors more believable.

The gradual introduction of a wash of lighter blues can quickly create distance.

These subtle changes must echo throughout the composition. They are so elusive that no formula can capture them but they are instantly obvious in tactile studies. Your eyes tell no lies when it comes to color. But first you must learn to see it.

Ask a portrait artist, "What color is skin?" Their answer may shock you. Most will say I can't imagine how to answer that. Skin is colored by primary and reflected light sources, facial hair, wrinkles, freckles, suntan, sunburn, shadows, and hundreds of other things. Then how can we ever draw it?

Just as in each other dimension you must draw with your eyes. To illustrate this , look at all the things that can be told just from the color of an apple:

1. Ripeness
2. Number of primary light sources
3. Type of light sources - daylight, fireplace, lamps etc.)
4. Shape of the primary light sources.
5. Intensity of the primary light sources.
6. Color of the primary light sources.
7. Number of secondary (like reflected tones) light sources.
8. Type of secondary light sources
9. Shape of the secondary light sources.
10. Intensity of the secondary light sources.
11. Color of the secondary light sources.
12. Dew or moisture on the apple.
13. Dirt or deformities on the apple.
14. Health of the apple.
15. Time of day.
16. Relative season (from, snow, ice, rain drops etc.)

Modules

1. Challenge  ||  2. Essentials  ||  3. Obstacles  ||  4. Blindness  ||  5. Steps
 6. Value  ||  7. Style  ||  8. Hidden Pictures  ||  9. Troubleshooting

Click here to purchase all 9 modules and basic exercises in the book
Fine Art Painting With Chalk

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