Drawing Upside Down

Drawing upside down is an easy exercise to help you develop your ability to recognize shapes and lines in a picture. Don’t worry – you don’t need to stand on your head for this one. Rather, you turn your reference picture upside down and draw; your completed drawing, then, will also be upside down.

This is a technique used when drawing with the right side of the brain. The left side of the brain processes visual cues, interpreting them as familiar patterns and symbols. By turning the reference picture upside down, it becomes unrecognizable, and the right side of the brain is forced to see the lines, shapes, and spaces, instead of the object as a whole.

I have found this method to be extremely helpful when drawing portraits. When I compare a portrait to my reference photograph right side up, it may seem the same, but when I turn them both upside down, I am able to see differences and make corrections.

Ready to give it a try? Find a line drawing, such as one in a coloring book, or choose one of these coloring pages.

Then turn it upside down. You can begin drawing from the top, the bottom, the left, or right -- any way you draw it will help you improve your skills. Remember, drawing is seeing, and this exercise will help.

Another method you can try is to cover up the reference picture with another piece of paper (such as construction paper). Then, pull up your top paper to reveal about an inch of the bottom of the reference picture. Draw only what you see. When you’re done, pull up the top paper another inch. Continue this way until you’ve finished your drawing.

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