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'Why people believe they can't draw - and how to prove they can'

When I saw this title, I instantly saved it to my TED talk list. I've heard several of my friends and family say that they can't draw. I ,typically, say 'you should give it a go,' and they would either sigh or laugh and tell me that I'm funny. So, when I read the second half of the title, I was curious as to what technique could change someone's opinion about their drawing skills.


'Just an illusion,'. This is how Graham Shaw challenged his audience when the majority claimed that they could not draw. The word 'illusion' sounded odd to me - as I thought about activities that I think is impossible for me to be good at such as singing; it's difficult to believe that this is just an illusion. I was not expecting to learn a technique that would magically make it possible for me to be good at everything but I tried to keep an open mind and allowed myself to just listen and not be interrupted by my thoughts on singing!


As he turned over the page, I saw bunch of cartoons - all showing various facial expressions and some with vivid colour. I felt quite startled to begin with as I hadn't planned on drawing cartoons nor had I practiced this since my childhood. Having said this, I grabbed my sketchbook and a pen.


'Start with the nose. Now the eyes. They're like 66s or speech marks.... Next, the mouth. Nice, big smile. Pen under the ear, drop a line … top of the T-shirt. Line to the left, line to the right.'


I listened to these instructions carefully and watched how the pen moved along the paper. I smiled at the drawing that was in front me - I felt like a child who wanted to have a drawing pinned up and eager to draw more.


I was not only amazed at the cartoons I had sketched but the way his clear and simple instructions changed the way I thought about drawing cartoons. If someone had told me to experiment with cartoons, I probably would have said that it's not 'my kind of thing,' - without having even tried.

Yes, these drawings are very different to my artwork and I know that I am now not a cartoonist as result of this exercise - but I am happy that I have been able to attempt a different style of work. I will not say that I will immediately change my artwork to incorporate cartoons, but knowing that each drawing can be completed less than a minute makes drawing cartoons an effective tool in communicating ideas.


Having enjoyed this drawing exercise, I was motivated to share this with my family!

This drawing exercise brought many laughs one evening and it was interesting to see how differently my mum, brother and sister reacted towards their own drawings.


My brother decided to use the techniques he had learnt from the examples in the talk to produce his own cartoon. Watching him do this, I remembered how Graham Shaw described this process as 'a sequence' and how it can be used to 'draw hundreds and thousands,' of cartoons. This concept is fascinating as you can see how small variations such as two dots as opposed to 'speech marks' eyes can produce a completely new character. It can be as simple as flipping the big smile, in a same manner as my brother had.

Whilst my brother was feeling proud about his drawing and adding a signature underneath one of his drawings, my mum looked a little nervous - she kept looking at the way she was holding the pen and aligning the sketch pad.


But, I had been fooled. As she completed her drawings, she claimed that hers looks better than my brother's and gave a huge smile. This resonated with me, as I realised that this was drawing exercise does not only prove that people can learn to draw cartoons from a simple sequence but what little can be done to uplift someone's mood.

Next up was my sister. I watched how tightly she held onto the pen and I instantly advised her not to be precious with the drawing and simply let go - as children we were probably much better at this!


It's quite unfortunate that as we grow up we make comparisons and convince ourselves that we can't do something. I won't lie and tell you all that I haven't fallen in this trap before; I avoided painting throughout my Art A- Level. This was perhaps that I felt there was not enough time to take risks with my artwork and to then restart a piece. Now that I am able to set my own timeline, I feel more comfortable with experimenting with paints and doing such drawing exercises is helping me broaden my skills.

Having understood Shaw's sequence, I felt confident in producing my own cartoons. In my previous blog post, I mentioned about incorporating the concept of social interaction within my artwork. So, using Adobe Illustrator I drew a series of individual cartoons and moved them around to build a scenario focusing on communication.


Click here to watch the TED talk by Graham Shaw and let me know how your cartoon drawings have turned out! Share this with your family and friends, and see if you can convince them to try something new :)

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