A Good Book: Drawing on the Right Side of The Brain

This book has been around for a very long time. It's a great book for showing how drawing involves a simple set of skills and it lets you try and practice each one individually. You can get this at Amazon too, and it also has a workbook if you're into putting all your stuff in a fancy workbook. But paper works fine too.

Betty Edwards likes to take adult learners and teach them how to make "good" drawings, which can seem a little like a gimmick. But it's not - she's really interested in helping people reach new areas of their minds. I think that's the best thing about her book: it emphasizes the "right brain" state of drawing, where you stop being verbal and go into a mode of creating visually. I see this with students all the time, and I adapt my materials and activities to help it happen.

Again, if you're one of my students, I can loan this to you...