Learning to See

17 February 2015 Unknown 0 Comments

image from ambirkelo.wordpress.com

Pixar taught drawing classes to employees, but I know what you're first thought is. 'Why do they have drawing classes for world-class animators?' Your second thought is that they did it so the non-animators could learn what the animators went through to make a blockbuster movie.

You're wrong.

This is why it is so frustrating that the funding for arts programs in schools has been decimated. And those cuts stem from a fundamental misconception that art classes are about learning to draw. In fact, they are about learning to see.

To understand why we need to learn to see, we'll start with an example from the book that Ed Catmull uses. When we try to draw a face, most of us will draw the eyes and mouth too large and forehead too small. The parts of the face will be out of proportion and it won't look like anyone in particular. Right now in your minds you are picturing a generic face.

But the problem is, "we don't draw a face as it is: rather, we draw it as our models say it is."

This goes back to Ed Catmull's discussion on mental models. Our minds have these preconceived ideas or pictures or feelings about everything. It's impossible for our brains to comprehend and use all the complexity of everything, so it simplifies it into models.

When you think of a chair, a picture comes into your head. Not all chairs look like that, but your brain understands 'chair' by that generic picture.

Art teachers have people look at a chair and draw the negative space around the chair. They draw what isn't the chair. They will also have people look at a familiar object upside down. Both of these techniques are to trick the eye into seeing what is actually there and not let the brain boot up a mental model of the thing you are trying to draw.

This is crux of learning to see. Don't let those mental models get in the way of reality.

And this is kind of the crux of most of what Ed Catmull has learned about staying creative. There is so much we don't understand and there is so much that our mind just simplifies that it's hard to see reality. But we must strive to see reality.

Whether or not you ever pick up a sketchpad or dream of being an animator, I hope you understand how it is possible, with practice, to teach your brain to observe something clearly without letting your preconceptions kick in.…focusing on something can make it more difficult to see. The goal is to learn to suspend, if only temporarily, the habits and impulses that obscure your vision.

What have you tried to turn off your mental models and see the world as it is?