some student before (top) and after self portraits

 Drawing Potential is proud to be the Australian home of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Sophie Balchin is the only accredited workshop teacher in Australia , having studied with Betty Edwards' son, Brian Bomeisler, in the USA. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a method that is centred around the belief that everyone can learn to draw.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain workshops are five day intensive courses, developed by Dr Betty Edwards, the author of the world famous book of the same name. Dr Edwards and her colleagues have honed these workshops down to a fine tuned science so that you will learn in five days what used to be a semester long course. This is why they are called intensive! In the process of learning the basic fundamentals of drawing, you will also be increasing your creativity and lateral thinking.  A great source of information is the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain website www.drawright.com.

The interesting thing about learning to draw is that you are actually learning to see differently. You actually learn to process visual information in the way artists do. Over the five days of the workshop we work through a progression of exercises that help you to shift to a different way of thinking and seeing- what we call the r-mode way of seeing. By learning to shift your way of thinking you then readily learn the fundamental skills of drawing. All of the exercises from the book are there- including everyone's favourite -upside down drawing.

                                                                                                                                                                 drawings completed during the workshop by absolute beginners    

                                                                                                                                                                 
Over the five days of the workshop you will learn about the five component skills of drawing. The first four of these are the perception of edges, the perception of negative space, the perception of relationships, and the perception of lights and shadows. The fifth component skill of learning to draw is the gestalt, which is a skill you gain in the process of learning the other four skills. It is the ability to see the drawing as a whole, to see, as Dr Edwards puts it, 'the thingness of the thing'. This skill is a combination of your new found drawing skills with your own line, and your personality, to create drawings that are uniquely your own.

During the workshop you will become more and more intrigued with the process of drawing. The process of transferring what you see into marks on paper becomes more fascinating the more you do it. We teach in a way that encourages you to embrace the process of drawing, to enjoy the way a drawing develops. This is what drawing is all about - ask any artist - it is about being in the moment. When you take the focus away from the end result, the finished drawing will be a lot better because it is the result of being present and making an honest investigation of something.  

Cost of workshops
the cost of the workshops is $600. This includes all art
materials as well as a Drawing on the Right Side of the
Brain workbook with specially designed drawing tools

Next Workshop Dates
Thanks for your interest-workshops will resume in mid 2012.                                                                             drawings by a complete beginner

How to enrol
Please email Sophie at enquiries@drawingpotential.com. To reserve your place in a workshop we will ask you to pay a $150 deposit. 


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