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The multi-talented right brain

The right side of the brain is multi-talented. You were introduced to and you experimented with one of it's skills above: recognizing shadows as shapes. Shadow recognition can also be extended, telescoped if you will, into pattern recognition: organizing those loose chunks of form into a recognizable whole out of that data. As I mentioned above, extrapolating meaning from scanty information is a skill the brain literally takes pleasure in performing. Like getting the punch line of a joke it seems the right brain is able to build the bigger picture out of the relationships suggested by the pieces. It does this without even asking it to.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Look at the eight pictures on this page, (above and below). How does your brain make sense of these? Look at figure 1 for instance. Your brain starts out seeing a pattern of shapes, then there's this moment you feel something subtly bubbling out of the chaos - that is you feel something happening, (though it's more in retrospect that you recall the feeling), and then, almost like a little hiccup or a burp it crystallizes as a nameable picture. "Girl with rings in headband". That's what I get out of figure 1.

How would these look to a person with brain trauma?

To see how a person with brain trauma might view these pictures - as a group of random shapes - they can make no sense out of them. Click on each picture for a larger view and then click again on the "upside-down" view link. I guess you could flip your monitor, but that's probably not real practical. Not to worry, these are small pages. Here's your mission: learn to see the random shapes as just that: random unrecognizable, un-nameable shapes even when the pictures are right side up.

Look again - you want to be clueless

Just for fun, you might want to look at the upside-down pictures again. (Click on your browsers "back" button so you'll come right back to this section.) I've placed links to them here in random order so you can get that feeling again. What feeling is that? The feeling that you're entirely clueless about what you're looking at. You want this state. Check them out one more time - and use your browser's back button, not the "back" button that's offered:

click here for upside-down version 1
click here for upside-down version 2 
click here for upside-down version 3
click here for upside-down version 4
click here for upside-down version 5
click here for upside-down version 6
click here for upside-down version 7
click here for upside-down version 8

Finding the crack in the egg

Confused about what we're trying to accomplish here? Let me repeat it. Your brain normally has a built in pattern recognition skill. It's a function of your R-mode or "right brain". We eventually want to circumvent this function consciously and at will. That is, we want to suspend the brain's desire to understand the picture. You want to urge L-mode off on it's merry way and stop r-mode at it's first impression.

When you do that, all the smaller, nameless shadow shapes remain foreign to your brain - your brain can't categorize them. If it can't categorize the shapes it sees, it can't reference your memory of similar shapes. If you can control that step, you can maintain in-the-moment, "real time" observation. This is what artists are good at. This is exactly what Zen meditators try to do. But you don't have to put any religious connotation on it at all - it's a naturally occurring function of the brain. And you're going to get good at it too. Time for an assignment, (after the next six pictures).

Figure 3

Figure 4

Click here to see just the eight pictures (no text)

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure's 7 and 8 have an added feature: there's a total of three colors rather than the two (black and white) of the first six. The extra color in these two? A medium shade of gray.

Figure 7

Figure 8

Click here to see just the eight pictures (no text)

Assignment: pinning down shadows

Materials. As usual, paper and pencil will do fine, but I want you to try this with a heavy black magic marker or even with India ink or black poster paint if you have it. (It's easier and faster to color in those areas of space with a marker or a brush swipe - penciling can take too long.) So, if you're feeling adventurous, get a small paint brush - a number 7 would be great. One of those paint brushes that comes with those kid's water color sets will work just fine too.

Just 30 minutes

Read through the directions before you start. Set your timer for 30 minutes. If you can't set aside 30, try 15 minutes. Just dabbling for a few minutes now very often gets you over the resistance of doing it again next time when you have more time.

• 1) To start, you need to draw three or four formats. (You remember what those are, right? They're the rectangular shapes that frame the work area. (The work area is the area you'll be drawing within.) They should be 3 and 1/4" wide by 2 and 3/4" tall. This is proportionate to the the size of all the pictures above. Draw them in pencil. (You can click here for a printable format and trace over them in pencil. If you use the printed formats to draw in that's fine, but it'll take away from some of the effect in the last part of the exercise.)

• 2) Pick any one of the pictures on this page or their enlarged versions. (You can find the enlarged versions by clicking on any of the pictures in yellow boxes on this page. Working from the larger pictures might be easier. Click here to see the eight pictures grouped together on one page, without any text).

Pick any picture

• 3) After you've settled in on your first picture, focus in one shape. It doesn't matter which. Compare it's location in relation to the shapes around it and with the border of the format. Visualize where it will go on your paper before you draw it. (Sometimes starting with one of the upside-down pictures is easier. It's easier to circumvent the brain's tendency to attach meaning to the shape when the shape you're drawing is so foreign to your eye.)

Start by drawing one shape - then move to the next

• 4) Now draw just that one little shape inside your format. Use the marker or brush to help build a strong, even area of tone. (The pointer suggests one shape to start with - but you can start anywhere you like.)

Move to the next shape

• 5a) Now move to the next shape. Where is it exactly in relation to the shape you just created and the format? Partially defocus your eyes, (fuzzing the edges a little), and it might be easier to get the overall layout. If the shape is too detailed, back away from the screen and squint - making it a more manageable shape. Note exactly how big it is in proportion to the other shapes and in proportion to the one you just completed.

Reckoning shape location

• 5b) Ask yourself where is this shape in relation to the shape you just drew? Where is it in relation to the horizontal and vertical borders of the format? And to other immediate surrounding shapes?

(This is very much like the negative space drawing exercise in lesson 6 . The negative space exercise is different in this respect: you're looking at the object as it's contrasted against it's background, against open space. Atmosphere if you will. In visualizing shadow shapes, you're looking for shapes within the positive object. Your brain however is performing the same function. Review lesson 6 if necessary. Watch the animation there.)

Move to the next shape - and draw it

• 6a) Continue your way around the picture going from shape to next adjacent shape. Proceed using the exact same steps you used for the first two shapes. Also note the shape of the white areas surrounding the black shapes. Since the black shapes are the ones we're considering objects, (positive objects), the white is now considered negative shape. (Yes it's arbitrary to a degree.)

• 6b) Try to refrain from using any language, that is don't talk to yourself while doing this. Avoid saying silently to yourself "this is the nose shadow and it's next to the cheek and lip shadows". Challenge yourself to quiet the chatter in your brain to zero volume. As you get into it, as you slip back into r-mode, this will happen automatically. Record the shapes and their relationships by using the real time information your eyes are experiencing moment to moment. No thinking, no naming necessary. If this is just too hard, then definitely try this with one of the upside-down pictures:

  Here's all the upside-down pictures again: click here for upside-down version 1 click here for upside-down version 2 click here for upside-down version 3 click here for upside-down version 4 click here for upside-down version 5 click here for upside-down version 6 click here for upside-down version 7 click here for upside-down version 8

• Do as many drawings as you can in the time you've allotted, but do not rush. If all you get done in 30 minutes is half a picture, fine. Come back and practice some more when you have the time. When you've finished your drawing(s), take a step back, stand them up against something or hold them in front of you. Does each shape suddenly take on meaning? Feel your brain exercise it's recognition function. Feel it? Kind of neat I think. Do you sense the three dimensionality suggested by the shadow shapes you made? That's powerful I think. (It still gives me that same satisfaction every time I do this.) It's your creation. Be proud of it :-).

• Lastly, erase the penciled format you drew in step one. (If you drew your picture inside a printed format, you can use white-out to get the same effect.) Now show your picture to a friend and let them "get it". Without the aid of a format, or any referencing information, they'll start out just as you did when you looked at the upside-down pictures the first time: a little confused about the content. They'll enjoy the challenge and you'll get a big kick out of seeing the "aha" expression appear on their face.

Same drawing without a format: follow
the edges with your eyes

In retrospect - see how far you've come

In this step you want to see how much your drawing resembles the original. In earlier exercises we were more concerned about getting the feel of getting into R-mode. It's time now to introduce the idea of accuracy - not that you have to reproduce anything with accuracy but just be aware of it. And don't sweat it, it can take many drawings (caricatures included) to really get an accurate picture. Accuracy will come.

So, take your drawing and go to the page with upside-down picture of the original. Flip your picture over so now they're both upside-down. Evaluate the shapes you've drawn against the original's. Run your eye along the border of each individual shadow shape and note where they're alike. Note where they're different. Again, your picture doesn't have to be anywhere near an exact replica - just learn to identify the areas that are different.

Flip your picture. Find a right side-up version of the original. Be aware of how a slightly exaggerated shadow changes the expression of the entire picture. Interpretation is highly subjective but certain expressions are universal: a tiny extra angle at the corner of the mouth might make a smiling face into a scowl. Inaccurate highlights in the pupils shifts the gaze or makes the drawing look cross-eyed. A male subject may look female. And if you find all those kinds of mistakes and more - that is fantastic! Yes, fantastic because that's how much clearer you've learned to see the world.

You're in a position now to make those distinctions because you've gone through the earlier lessons, done the exercises, and you've built an "accuracy monitoring system" into your observational skills. You're learning to observe with precision. Do you think this stops with just caricatures? You're learning skills that range over whole other aspects of your life. Word.

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