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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Benefits of Drawing With Your Non-dominant Hand

"Relying on my memory of forms, I challenged my unskilled 'other' hand to recall those shapes. The goal was not to get better at drawing with my non-dominant hand, though in short order I could see improvements. The goal was to see my accidents, memorize them ... and overall look of my artwork," (Sherman 68). According to Sherman, as difficult as using your non-dominant hand is, it can be very useful for recognizing your stylistic mistakes and common mess ups you make in your artwork. Below are some examples of art shown in the book that compare and contrast dominant and non-dominant hand drawings.


"By using your non-dominant hand, you will discover a new language for your line and form," (Sherman 68). To attempt this activity I used my left hand to draw a person, like shown in the book. Although this exercise is about improving mistakes rather than just learning to draw in certain way, I was pretty impressed with what my left hand can draw.
I would highly recommend others to try this activity if they have basic drawing skills (because is will admit, this is a lot harder than normal drawing). I definitely enjoyed drawing in a new way, so I will likely try this again.

My question is, Do you guys think using your non-dominant hand to draw, can help you improve your artistic skills?
Bicknell, Sarah. Sherman, Whitney. Playing with Sketches. Beverly, Rockport Publishers, 2014.


8 comments:

  1. I personally think it can improve a person's artistic skill mainly because you can see art/your non-dominant hand drawing in a different perspective than what you would usually draw with using your dominant hand and like "Sherman" said you can improve upon your mistakes right.

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    1. I agree, I find it fascinating how using your left hand can make such a large impact on your art, however, the fact that simply using your left hand to make an art piece will help you pick out your artistic flaws is pretty cool.

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  2. I believe that no matter what type of technique you use, you can always improve when it comes to art. Different things work for different people, because different formats can help to improve drawing as well. Like for me, I am better at doodling and drawing rather then using paint or copic pens, so using your non-dominant hand while drawing makes sense! the route to self-discovery and self-style, especially in the world of art, is very hard to find, so I think that using your non-dominant hand would work really well in that regard, like stated in the book. Your post was very informative and eyeopening, as drawing with my non-dominant hand to help improve my art was never really something that I had, personally, thought of. Can't wait to try out the technique sometime!

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    1. Thank you Bridget! I whole heatedly agree with you, I think after getting down the basics of art and creation, finding what makes your art unique is very important. Finding a style of art is always difficult, however using techniques such as the one I used in this post, can help you to find your very own style.

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  3. I think drawing with my non-dominant hand will help my artistic abilities improve since it will be getting much practice during the process. Do you think using your non-dominant hand to draw will have other benefits as well? Such as improved handwriting while writing with your non-dominant hand.

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    1. Personally, I think drawing/ using your non-dominant hand can be beneficial to your brain. It helps build muscle and even though that may not directly impact your drawing skills, it sure sounds good to me.

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  4. Hi there! I believe that drawing with your non-dominant can improve your drawing skills because it challenges you to pay more attention to how you're drawing and possibly improve your uses of techniques. When I usually draw using my dominant hand, I usually go autopilot and rely on muscle memory when drawing and executing techniques but if I were to use my non-dominant hand I would pay much more attention to how I'm approaching my drawings.

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    1. Hi Anthony! I totally agree with what you are saying. Even though drawing with your non-dominant hand takes much more attention, I feel it helps you to work and give more effort on your art.

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