“Drawing is the root of all knowledge.” – Michelangelo
Most children love to draw – it’s a undeniable fact that doodling on a piece of paper will keep any young child entertained. However, this love for drawing disappears once we hit adulthood – yet there are so many benefits to keeping up a lifestyle of sketching or drawing. Here we highlight a few answers to the question: WHY DRAW?
1. WHY DRAW? On the simplest level, drawing introduces to you a new way of seeing and understanding the world. Through observation and increased awareness of your surrounding that comes with being especially conscious of your environment, drawing will allow you to facilitate your focus and concentration in being present in the moment, something that is hard to come by in our information-saturated and busy lifestyles today
2. WHY DRAW? The most fundamental basis of drawing is translating what’s in your mind’s eye, something that purely exists as thought, onto paper. In other words, the process of visualisation – creating images or diagrams through visual imagery, to communicate both abstract and concrete ideas. This process is one that has prevailed since the dawn of man – earliest examples can be seen in cave paintings and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Drawing, as a visual language utilising signs and symbols, is one that is universal and transcends cultures. It is also relevant in many fields beyond the arts, such as science, education, engineering, product design… the list is endless.
Drawing regularly and incorporating it into your daily routine hence helps to hone this ability. Visually exploring an idea with a pencil encourages the imagination, original thinking, flexibility and adaptability. Being able to visually express yourself effectively through lines and marks hence provides you with a tool to move ideas from your mind to paper. Learning to develop this level of communication through drawing is something that takes study, time and practice.
3. WHY DRAW? Drawing can help improve your hand-eye coordination and motor skills. Through constant practice, you will develop an attuned understanding and sensitivity of how to control the pencil, harmonising your hand, eye and mind.
4. WHY DRAW? Drawing is unique that it engages and challenges both sides of the brain – the logical left side and the creative right sight. This constant active participation of your brain while you draw stimulates your mind and results in a strong and active brain that can be a much-needed release from the stresses of everyday life.
5. WHY DRAW? Drawing will develop your “eye” – namely increasing your observation and understanding of form and shape. Not only increasing your perceptual observation, it also helps you to improve your intuitive comprehension of proportions, relationships, compositions and distances when sketching.
6. WHY DRAW? Lastly, drawing, for many artists and individuals, is a way of expressing emotions that may be too complex to express in words. For others, it is a creative outlet to vent and serve as a carthasis, as a means of therapy and stress relief. In addition, it acts a means to record a moment in time – be it a moment of emotions, events or environment. What could be better to create something out of nothing, to fill an empty page and bring your thoughts and imagination to life? Drawing should be enjoyable and pleasurable, a fun and meaningful way to spend your time.
In conclusion, it isn’t difficult to see how drawing is much more than just mere doodling. Learning to draw effectively and incorporating it as part of your lifestyle can yield multiple benefits, and what better way to spend your free time meaningfully stimulating your imagination & mind, as well as learning new skills of observation, creativity and communication.
And if you don’t know where to start picking up the pencil, why not join us at VAC for our Drawing & Sketching course? Specially targeted at beginners and all levels of experience, you will learn basic concepts of proportion and composition, and learn to represent and give weight to objects using shading (light, contrast, representation/form). More information can be found here: https://visualartscentre.sg/courses/drawing-sketching/.
The first simple step is to pick up a pencil & a sketchbook! Everyone has to start somewhere, and as Joyce A. Myers said:
“A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere.”
For more inspirational content about art, check out our blog: https://visualartscentre.sg/blog/
If you liked this post, you may like: “6 Tips to Start Painting Today!”
All images belong to their respective owners.
Credit & further inspiration:
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/10-reasons-why-drawing-is-good-for-you
http://community.saa.co.uk/paintmagazine/step-by-step/drawing-on-versatility-sketching-and-drawing-to-improve-your-painting
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByzJTqzCUAA7aT2.jpg
http://useast.mymarkettoolkit.com/drawingsketching_avidhobby_com/images/hobby_drawing-and-sketching.jpg
https://annadoherty.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/cave.jpg?w=590&h=443
http://www.veronicalawlor.com/?p=2168
http://patperry.net/sketchbook
http://www.alice-duke.com/sketchbooks-and-drawings/
