THINKING THROUGH DRAWING: PRACTICE INTO KNOWLEDGE

THINKING THROUGH DRAWING: PRACTICE INTO KNOWLEDGE 69

Angela brew

at a time using a direct eye–hand strategy

not requiring intermediary encoding to

visual memory. The results suggest that

segmentation into simple lines defines

the task-specific process of accurate copy-

ing, and that this process is restricted to

experts, i.e. acquired through training and

practice. (p. 791)

Tchalenko and Miall’s (2007) findings from par-
allel eye tracking and fMRI studies suggested that
drawing from life relies on the encoding of visual
information into motor plans. In other words the
drawer converts what they see into a plan of how to
draw it. I used these two findings, relating to seg-
mentation and pausing and the use of motor plans,
to form hypotheses for the experimental element of
my PhD and for development of my new drawing
instruction.

Learning to segment and pause
I filmed students copying a continuous line,
before and after the 5-day intensive course of draw-
ing training, and analyzed the footage frame by
frame to see whether they began to draw smaller
line segments, paused more and specifically paused
between segments. Footage of each test was analyzed
in terms of changes in a) spatial and temporal inter-
action of eye and hand (performance) and b) the
line drawn (output). The study asked does the hand
need the eye? And if so in which situations, i.e. when
does the hand need the eye? This then poses questions
about why the hand may need the eye and whether
the drawer knows this explicitly or implicitly.
Tchalenko and Miall (2007) found that for the
hand to achieve accuracy in drawing the shape
of simple lines, the eye does not need to look at
the hand as it draws or to check the drawing as it
emerges. However, from results of copying tasks in
which participants did not look at the paper, or their
emerging drawing, they found that the hand does
need the eye in order to piece together the segments
of lines accurately in space on the paper. They stated
that “...precise positioning of these shapes required
periodic references back to the paper” and “in copy-
ing tests, the eye focused on the paper to continue
drawing that line while controlling its spatial posi-
tion.” (Tchalenko, 2009, p. 791).
My hypothetical model for copying a single
complex line was:
• Step 1. Subject looks at the original (O)

•    Step   2.   Some   drawing is   executed   “blind”,    

while looking at the original (Do)

•    Step   3.   Drawing    continues   while   looking at  

the paper, to control the spatial position of

the line (Dp)

I developed a way to record visual traces of

the pauses, using absorbent paper and felt pens.

I defined a pause as ¼ of a second by correlating

observable pauses in the video footage of the hand

with ink pools on the paper.

It was found that after 5 days of drawing training

and practice subjects took longer to copy the same

original line drawing, drew at slower speeds per

mm of line and looked back and forth between the

original and paper more times, looked at the paper

more whilst drawing, and broke up the drawing into

more, and shorter, line segments. For subject A, the

most detailed case study, the mean pause length

increased by 247% from 0.44s to 1.09s.

Results relating to “drawing blind” (with eyes

on the original) raised interesting questions about

when blind drawing may be an appropriate hand-

eye strategy, when used in conjunction with a strat-

egy to monitor the evolving drawing on the paper.

A cognitively informed drawing instruction

From Tchalenko and Miall’s (2007) findings

relating to motor planning and blind drawing, my

own case studies of Betty Edward’s drawing stu-

dents and reflective drawing practice I used a syn-

thesized profile of expert behaviour to develop a

drawing instruction. This is grounded on the find-

ing that experienced drawers pause more and draw

shorter segments of line, and on an enactive view

wherein perception is developed through action.

It focuses attention on the role of physical practice

in the perceptual learning required for drawing.

Figure 3. Showing the usefulness of drawing on

poor quality paper—Ink pools reveal pauses in

drawing action.