Why You Need To See Like An Artist To Paint Like One

So often people that aspire to be artistic painters give up after their first awkward attempts. A lack of perceived talent is one of the commonly stated reasons for quitting. However, the real problem is that they have just never been trained to see like an artist.

Most of us non-artistic types, (or those that have yet to be trained), have a natural tendency to look at the subject of a drawing without paying attention to what is literally there. One reason for this is that a typically dominant part of the brain translates visual images in an effort to give meaning to what we see. For example, while looking at a person’s head, that part of the artist’s brain wants to identify the face as a collection of icons; the nose, mouth, eyes, chin, hair, etc.

The problem with this translation process is that when it comes time to draw that person’s face on paper we begin pulling from memory a generic eye or nose instead of what is actually there. While the finished picture may look like a face, it will bare little resemblance to the original person.

An artist needs to be almost oblivious to what is being painted. Instead there should be a much greater focus on the raw visual data. What is literally being seen? Irregular lines and shapes? Are they dark, light or some shade in between? Where, exactly, do they intersect? When precise attention to these elements takes place an amazing likeness will begin to form.

So how do you shut off the dominant part of the brain and turn on the normally less dominant part that contains the artistic eye? Here is a simple trick that works amazingly well. Rip a large face photograph from a magazine then sketch it as best you can. If you are new to art there is a good chance it will look amateurish or even goofy. Don’t worry about the results, just draw.

Now flip the photograph upside-down and try again. This time just concentrate the relationships of the intersecting lines and shapes. In most cases, the upside-down drawing, when righted, will often surprise even the most untalented beginner artist with a likeness that is far superior to the right-side-up version.

So what happened? Did you suddenly acquire artistic talent by drawing the subject upside-down? No, not at all. You simply shut down the usually dominant side of the brain by presenting a confusing and therefore unrecognizable image. It is as if that side of the brain couldn’t make sense of the photo so it turned the job over to the less dominant but artistic side. Amazing stuff.

If this crucial visual skill is not learned first then all of the other artist skills, like brush technique or color theory will be rendered useless. The best craftsmanship in the world will not help produce a great painting if you haven’t learned to see. You might as well put on a blindfold when painting.

The great news is that artistic visual skills are learnable even by students with limited talent. Any competent painting instructor, whether live or from one of the top video courses, will be able to demonstrate this concept. As a student progresses with a painting or drawing course they will learn to automatically see like an artist with out depending as heavily on a set of tricks.