Heinrich Hundekok
Junior Member
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Spirituality and draftsmanship
Now, some of you may already know that I'm pretty sceptic about anything having to do with words like "astral", "spiritual" and the like. In spite of this dislike of the supernatural, I have been following some of the discussions with some interest - mostly to get a cheap giggle when bored!
No, honestly I have been trying to figure out what the heck's going on in your minds. And today I stumbled across a clue.
In this thread: http://www.timetravelforum.net/showthread.php?t=1651
Smartbomb said:
I reckognized this at once. I've actually used the exact same technique lots of times, only in an entirely different and far more down-to-earth contex.
I've been drawing for years, and already back in public scool I read some books by professor Betty Edwards on drawing. Basically they're simply books about learning how to become a draftsman. But in contradiction to, I guess, all other books on that subject, they focus on the draftsman's state of mind. Sounds odd? Well, it isn't.
Basically, what Betty Edwards do is working with two different states-o-mind, which can roughly be described like this:
1. Left half of the brain is dominant. Most common in our society. The L half is good at logic, math, symbols and so on. This brain half thinks linear - in steps or sequences (like a computer). This half is poor at drawing.
2. Right half of the brain is dominant. Lesser common in our society. The R half is good at processing visual impressions and handling vast amount of sensory data. This brain half is non-linear, ie. the equivalent of broad-band, it does not work in steps, it works instantaneously. This half is good at drawing.
Since we live in a world that values the ability to work with logic and symbols pretty high, the left brain-half is dominant just about all the time. In order to be able to draw (hereby I mean "copy exactly what you see down on paper", not sketching cartoons and the like) you need to flip state-o-mind, so the right brain-half is dominant. No hogus-bogus here, I've done this many times, and so has many other draftsmen and artists. Nothing supernatural about it, it's a technique.
Now here comes: I usually do this by looking very hard at something, say the piece of white, empty paper that I intend to draw something on. I think Betty Edwards advises this in her books too. I just look very concentrated at the fine grains in the paper - it's really hard to start with, because the dominant left half works with fast recognition of our surroundings as "symbols"; once it's recognized the white field in my vision as the symbol "a sheet of paper" it grows impatient. It gets hard to concentrate on looking at the paper.
It is due to this symbol-based way of working that the L half is so poor at drawing. For example: Everyone knows how a bicycle looks like. We can imagine quite clearly how it looks like in our minds. But try to draw one! It's nearly impossible. Because all that is there is a "symbol" that your L half brain uses as reference. There's no detail, it's just an "image-word", so to speak.
But if you stress your left half enough, your brain flips. Then your right half is dominant, and suddenly it's an entirely different world! You see and experience your surroundings with much greater detail than normally. Everything is much more clear and "real". The sense of time also dissapears. Things happen in a sort of "slow-motion". It's hard to explain, but it's a great experience.
In this state of mind you will find it much easier to see details (and draw them on paper), and this is Betty Edward's main point.
But... This whole state-o-mind flipping also clearly resembles things like meditation and "astrality" or "spirituality". You experience the world differently and much more clearly, except there's nothing supernatural about it, it's plane psychology - but still quite amazing, though! I think this effect accounts for many of the so-called "spiritual" experiences that people have today. Most people are unaware of the brains capability to flip over, and they interpret it as something supernatural. No wonder - It's a great feeling! But none the less quite natural, actually.
Tell me what you think.
Reference: http://www.drawright.com/
H.H.
Now, some of you may already know that I'm pretty sceptic about anything having to do with words like "astral", "spiritual" and the like. In spite of this dislike of the supernatural, I have been following some of the discussions with some interest - mostly to get a cheap giggle when bored!
No, honestly I have been trying to figure out what the heck's going on in your minds. And today I stumbled across a clue.In this thread: http://www.timetravelforum.net/showthread.php?t=1651
Smartbomb said:
I reckognized this at once. I've actually used the exact same technique lots of times, only in an entirely different and far more down-to-earth contex.
I've been drawing for years, and already back in public scool I read some books by professor Betty Edwards on drawing. Basically they're simply books about learning how to become a draftsman. But in contradiction to, I guess, all other books on that subject, they focus on the draftsman's state of mind. Sounds odd? Well, it isn't.
Basically, what Betty Edwards do is working with two different states-o-mind, which can roughly be described like this:
1. Left half of the brain is dominant. Most common in our society. The L half is good at logic, math, symbols and so on. This brain half thinks linear - in steps or sequences (like a computer). This half is poor at drawing.
2. Right half of the brain is dominant. Lesser common in our society. The R half is good at processing visual impressions and handling vast amount of sensory data. This brain half is non-linear, ie. the equivalent of broad-band, it does not work in steps, it works instantaneously. This half is good at drawing.
Since we live in a world that values the ability to work with logic and symbols pretty high, the left brain-half is dominant just about all the time. In order to be able to draw (hereby I mean "copy exactly what you see down on paper", not sketching cartoons and the like) you need to flip state-o-mind, so the right brain-half is dominant. No hogus-bogus here, I've done this many times, and so has many other draftsmen and artists. Nothing supernatural about it, it's a technique.
Now here comes: I usually do this by looking very hard at something, say the piece of white, empty paper that I intend to draw something on. I think Betty Edwards advises this in her books too. I just look very concentrated at the fine grains in the paper - it's really hard to start with, because the dominant left half works with fast recognition of our surroundings as "symbols"; once it's recognized the white field in my vision as the symbol "a sheet of paper" it grows impatient. It gets hard to concentrate on looking at the paper.
It is due to this symbol-based way of working that the L half is so poor at drawing. For example: Everyone knows how a bicycle looks like. We can imagine quite clearly how it looks like in our minds. But try to draw one! It's nearly impossible. Because all that is there is a "symbol" that your L half brain uses as reference. There's no detail, it's just an "image-word", so to speak.
But if you stress your left half enough, your brain flips. Then your right half is dominant, and suddenly it's an entirely different world! You see and experience your surroundings with much greater detail than normally. Everything is much more clear and "real". The sense of time also dissapears. Things happen in a sort of "slow-motion". It's hard to explain, but it's a great experience.
In this state of mind you will find it much easier to see details (and draw them on paper), and this is Betty Edward's main point.
But... This whole state-o-mind flipping also clearly resembles things like meditation and "astrality" or "spirituality". You experience the world differently and much more clearly, except there's nothing supernatural about it, it's plane psychology - but still quite amazing, though! I think this effect accounts for many of the so-called "spiritual" experiences that people have today. Most people are unaware of the brains capability to flip over, and they interpret it as something supernatural. No wonder - It's a great feeling! But none the less quite natural, actually.
Tell me what you think.
Reference: http://www.drawright.com/
H.H.
