Drawing on the Artist Within: An Inspirational and Practical Guide to Increasing Your Creative Powers

by Betty Edwards

Whether you are a business manager, teacher, writer, technician, or student, you'll find Drawing on the Artist Within the most effective program ever created for tapping your creative powers. Profusely illustrated with hundreds of instructional drawings and the work of master artists, this book is written for people with no previous experience in art.

AH-HA! I SEE IT NOW!
Everyone has experienced that joyful moment when the light flashes on -- the Ah-Ha! of creativity.

Creativity. It is the force that drives problem-solving, informs effective decision-making and opens new frontiers for ambition and intelligence. Those who succeed have learned to harness their creative power by keeping that light bulb turned on.

Now, Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, the million-copy best-seller that proved all people can draw well just as they can read well, has decoded the secrets of the creative process to help you tap your full creative potential and apply that power to everyday problems. How does Betty Edwards do this? Through the power of drawing -- power you can harness to see problems in new ways.

You will learn how the creative process progresses from stage to stage and how to move your own problem-solving through these key steps:
* First insight
* Saturation
* Incubation
* Illumination (the Ah-Ha!)
* Verification

Through simple step-by-step exercises that require no special artistic abilities, Betty Edwards will teach you how to take a new point of view, how to look at things from a different perspective, how to see the forest and the trees, in short, how to bring your visual, perceptual brainpower to bear on creative problem-solving.

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Reference, Psychology, Self Help, Creative

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever said or thought, "I can't draw for shit," or envied someone with that "natural artistic ability," READ THIS BOOK. Edwards breaks down the mythical assumption that creativity and artistic talent are gifts one must be born with. Her hands-on, psychological approach confronts, interestingly, the left/right split as the crux of the problem for those of us who buy into the cultural delusion that drawing, unlike math, science, reading, and writing, cannot be taught. The exercises and techniquess she suggests provide a means for the adverage person (in her argument, the potential artist), and as well as the experiened artist (in whatever medium) to shift more freely back and forth between right and left brained thought, and are meant to make creators more aware of the significance of such shifts, the advantages provided by each side, and the limits each suggests.

[Barbara Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book much more interesting than Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
I love the insights to our innate ability of how to express emotions with lines. This wonderful inner knowing we possess.
I've used bits and pieces of this book in art classes I've taught.
And one of the paintings I did as a teen has an eerie similarity to a drawing in the book, only mine was upside down to the image in the book. I recognized the shape immediately and pulled out the old painting I'd saved from my earlier years.
Don't know what it means, but I think it touches on the wonderful coincidences in life.
And that's there are lots of things we don't fully understand.
To me this book touches on the magical power of creativity and self expression.

[Katelyn Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book to inspire the artist within.

True to the title, the aim of this piece of literature is to get non-artists their start in expression of the mind, and to trained, tried and true artists to assist in understanding their own mind and innate known concepts.

It provides much insight into the nature of visual arts and it's AMAZING accessibility to every person, regardless from where they attain their beginnings. It shows the underpinning of expression and meaning in simple to excitation lines, shapes... forms. It also has great project ideas; anyone can teach themselves to draw, this book is here - it must be used.

"There are times, after all, when one word is worth a thousand pictures." - Don Dame, CSULB Arts Professor

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book and "Drawing On the Right Side Of the Brain" are highly recommended because of the benefits you'll get from the exercises. Every so called non-artist who is interested in doing art should get these books immediately.

[Yoby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't like this one as much as her other book , but is still pretty good. Out of the technical aspects of drawing and into more of the experimental aspects of art.

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that I read in part and then completed my first portrait sketches. They turned out beautifully as others have told me.

[Ashok Banker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the best book on drawing for non-artists. It empowers you to draw regardless of talent, experience or lack of both. I'm not an artist and don't aspire to become one but as a creative person, I wanted to try my hand at art. This book was recommended by an American friend and it was amazing. Like a self-help course in art. I haven't seen the new edition but I'm told it's even better. Highly recommended.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I thought it would be. Too much student work in a book about creativity and design thinking for me. The student’s progress is noteworthy but the abundance of examples seems unnecessary. Would have loved more discussion on the five stages of discovery.

[EmilyAnn]

Very helpful for my work as an Art Therapist.

[Bella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of book. I was expecting a continuation of the original (“drawing from you right brain” or something or other), but this is page after page of what seemed to me theorizing.

[scherzo♫ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nathan Goldstein Art of Responsive Drawing, The

Philip S. Rawson The Art of Drawing: An Instructional Guide

Rudolph Arnheim Visual Thinking

Fred Dubery Perspective And Other Drawing Systems

[Marta Dominguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I approached this book as a business manager and professor for my research on the topic of creativity. The fact that I am a self-taught painter and sculptress was secondary.

I reckon I was expecting some scientific and bore work. Instead, and much to my surprise, I got myself totally engaged in the art class for non-art-work-seekers that this teacher book is about.

A mixed of literary review, student exercise book and phd paper on the topic of drawing, learning to draw and (how to instill more) creativity in personal and professional projects. Prof Edwards proposes and argues a more than compelling case. The basic idea is "seeing differently" and that learning perceptual skills -like those used in the artistic language- can help with the challenge. After reading and learning by doing about the right side of our brain -the R Mode so beautifuly introduced by the professor- I feel like I know a bit more of my seeing abilities.

[Sofia Fresia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A metà tra il manuale e il saggio di divulgazione scientifica, Disegnare ascoltando l’artista che è in noi riprende le idee di base espresse dall’autrice nel suo primo libro (Disegnare con la parte destra del cervello) per contestualizzarle all’interno del processo creativo. È un testo interessante - forse più interessante che utile all’apprendimento del disegno - ricco di illustrazioni e disegni eseguiti da persone reali, anche se un po’ datato. L’unica difficoltà che ho riscontrato, e che era già presente nel volume precedente, è la scelta di inserire tantissime note a margine che rendono più dispersiva la lettura - soprattutto se la si affronta per imparare davvero a disegnare e non come ho fatto io per curiosità e desiderio di approfondire un argomento conosciuto da altri punti di vista.

[venrir song · Rating 5 out of 5]

Лучшая книга по искусству, которую я когда-либо читал.
Она изящно объединяет поверхностный уровень с глубиной — так красиво.
Я глубоко ценю, как она чудесно сплетает когнитивные принципы, не теряя тепла и вдохновения. Практичная, обучающая, даже философская и всё же вдохновляющая.
Это книга, которая учит не просто рисовать, а видеть.
Проницательная, вневременная и тихо преобразующая.

The best book on art tutorial I have ever read. Gracefully it merges the surface level with the complex so beautifully. I deeply appreciate how it so wonderfully weaves cognitive principles without losing its warmth or inspiration, practical, instructional, even philosophical yet empowering. A book that teaches to draw, but to see. Insightful, timeless and quietly transformative.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though I finished art school I found so much new information here! I’m also blown away by the feeling that the author is reading my mind while I’m doing all the tasks (btw highly recommend to do all the practice). Moreover it’s one of the best books for self exploring with high potential to change your way of perceiving not only visual but all kinds of information.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Some of the ideas were very interesting regarding literacy and the necessity of including visual literacy. The book made me think but I can’t say my after drawings were any better than my before.

[Maria De La Fuente Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, but slow.

[jack robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

betty Edwards gifted way inspired me.

This review is meant to convey how unique and creative her idea of using the right side of the brain to improve your creativity.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun and informative, plus a great way to build skills. If you're an artist already this book is one of camaraderie, reflection and inspiration.

[Andrew H · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing introduction to the psychology of drawing.

[Sigrun Hodne · Rating 2 out of 5]

No; I do not believe art making can be explained in a didactic well meaning way like this.

[Tai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I prefer Drawing on the right side of the brain more than this book. They have the same goal though: teach you how to draw intuitively.

[Tomlike]

Hi, a very informative book to read on. https://www.starprocombat.com/kids-bo...

[Megangoldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something about your smile makes me want to unravel its secrets. Perhaps we can explore them together tonight, with a touch that ignites a desire for something more intimate.

[Darjeeling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it here:
https://archive.org/details/drawingon...

The 5 components of drawing:
1) Seeing and drawing edges (sometimes called “contour drawing”)

2) Seeing and drawing spaces (called “negative spaces”)

3) Seeing and drawing relationships (called “perspective and proportion”)

4) Seeing and drawing lights and shadows (called “shading”)

5) Seeing and drawing the whole (called the gestalt, the “thing itself,” the essential nature of the
observed subject, which emerges spontaneously from the first four component skills).

There's a lot in here that reminds me of 'Ultralearning'. I know he's read her first book, so I wonder if he borrowed a few ideas, but perhaps they both did the same research and reached similar conclusions independently.

'Thomas Edison tried 1,800 different substances in his search for an electric light-bulb filament'
Yes. And none of them worked so he just stole the solution from an Englishman by the name of Swan, who later successfully sued Edison in court.

Created a worksheet for the exercise on p201, since the exercise is rather messily presented in my opinion, especially if this is a method that one intends to re-use as a problem solving activity. So here is my personal tidied up and re-usable version:

OG version:
https://archive.org/details/drawingon...

My tidied and re-usable work-sheet version \/

Overall Assessment:

What relative size is your role in the problem?


Does the problem have many parts, or is it a single mass?


Is the largest part above the line of sight or below?


Is the largest part left of centre or right of centre?


What do you now see that you did not before?


Assessment Of The Parts:

Choose one part to use as the 'one'
- the reference point to which others are compared for scale.


How big are the other parts of the problem
by comparison to 'one'.


What relative size is your role in the problem?


Does this part of the problem have many parts,
or is it a single mass?


Is this part above the line of sight or below?


Is this part left of centre or right of centre?


What do you now see that you did not before?


Now repeat this process with the next part.



Part 2:

Choose one part to use as the 'one'
- the reference point to which others are compared for scale.


How big are the other parts of the problem
by comparison to 'one'.


What relative size is your role in the problem?


Does this part of the problem have many parts,
or is it a single mass?


Is this part above the line of sight or below?


Is this part left of centre or right of centre?


What do you now see that you did not before?


Now repeat this process with the next part.



Part 3:

Choose one part to use as the 'one'
- the reference point to which others are compared for scale.


How big are the other parts of the problem
by comparison to 'one'.


What relative size is your role in the problem?


Does this part of the problem have many parts,
or is it a single mass?


Is this part above the line of sight or below?


Is this part left of centre or right of centre?


What do you now see that you did not before?


Now repeat this process with the next part.



Part 4:

Choose one part to use as the 'one'
- the reference point to which others are compared for scale.


How big are the other parts of the problem
by comparison to 'one'.


What relative size is your role in the problem?


Does this part of the problem have many parts,
or is it a single mass?


Is this part above the line of sight or below?


Is this part left of centre or right of centre?


What do you now see that you did not before?


Now repeat this process with the next part.



Part 5:

Choose one part to use as the 'one'
- the reference point to which others are compared for scale.


How big are the other parts of the problem
by comparison to 'one'.


What relative size is your role in the problem?


Does this part of the problem have many parts,
or is it a single mass?


Is this part above the line of sight or below?


Is this part left of centre or right of centre?


What do you now see that you did not before?


Now repeat this process with the next part.

[moxieBK · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the first books I ever bought for my Kindle touch. I bought it after the paperback copy I lend to a friend never came back. Saddened by that, I thought I'd try it out on as an eBook. Honestly, it's just not the same thing, as far as usefulness on a screen. My old paperback copy had notes all over it, and some of the exercises I drew right on the page. It was that kind of a book....one where it felt OK to mark it up and make notes. For the eBook version, I don't recommend it. If I had bought it first as an eBook, I probably would have given it two stars. BUT, as a paperback, Ms. Edwards knew what she was doing with the exercises in here. Even older, first time drawers can be drawing in a few weeks. (And that's from MY OWN experience!) So, in paper form, it definitely is worth four stars.

AS A NOTE: I only really skimmed the eBook version. When I had it as a paper book, I worked through all the exercise and it took me several months, as I gently worked through it.

Four stars.

[Hud-c]

I hope the library has a copy or the bookstore even.

I always wanted to tap that INNER TALENT (AHEM!!!) (as if!)

Kidding aside, I can draw but the creativity level hasn't been really develop or pursue when I was in my teens. Curse puberty when the boy next door or two seats away from you has been mostly the apple of a girl's eyes! (I wonder why he didn't give me any inspiration to sketch him.) 0_o

Now I know what to ask for Christmas. :D

[Artlab]

Drawing

[Apryl Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great exercises to help me understand what's going on inside.

[Hisham Alamoudi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It will simply make you beleive you can draw as good as you can read and write. The wisdom behind it is to beleive in yourself and disbeleive in Myth created by people.