As part of an ongoing investigation into real-world copying and drawing, I recorded the eye–hand drawing strategies of 16 subjects with drawing experiences ranging from expert to novice while they ...copied a line drawing of a standing nude. The experts produced accurate copies whereas all the beginners produced marked inaccuracies of overall scaling, proportion and shape. Analysis of eye and hand movements showed that the experts alone segmented the original drawing into simple line sections that were copied one 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 copying, and that this process is restricted to experts, i.e. acquired through training and practice. Additional preliminary tests also suggest that a similar process may apply to drawing a model from life.
We report a functional imaging study of drawing cartoon faces. Normal, untrained participants were scanned while viewing simple black and white cartoon line drawings of human faces, retaining them ...for a short memory interval, and then drawing them without vision of their hand or the paper. Specific encoding and retention of information about the faces were tested for by contrasting these two stages (with display of cartoon faces) against the exploration and retention of random dot stimuli. Drawing was contrasted between conditions in which only memory of a previously viewed face was available versus a condition in which both memory and simultaneous viewing of the cartoon were possible, and versus drawing of a new, previously unseen, face. We show that the encoding of cartoon faces powerfully activates the face-sensitive areas of the lateral occipital cortex and the fusiform gyrus, but there is no significant activation in these areas during the retention interval. Activity in both areas was also high when drawing the displayed cartoons. Drawing from memory activates areas in posterior parietal cortex and frontal areas. This activity is consistent with the encoding and retention of the spatial information about the face to be drawn as a visuo-motor action plan, either representing a series of targets for ocular fixation or as spatial targets for the drawing action.
As part of an investigation into real-world drawing, eye movements and eye – hand interactions have been recorded for twenty subjects of varying drawing experience drawing simple straight and curved ...lines and a square. Two modes of eye — hand behaviour were observed. In the first, named ‘close pursuit’, fixations closely followed the pencil with a sequence of small saccades. In the second, named ‘target locking’, a stable fixation was made on the end-point of the line throughout the entire drawing action. Depending on subject and type of line, close pursuit, target locking, or a combination of these modes was used regardless of previous drawing experience. The results are discussed in terms of the role of the eye in the control of the movement trajectory of the hand.
This work documents the restoration of Qal'at Sem'an by Georges Tchalenko in the mid twentieth century. It is published for the first time with explanatory essays on the site and Tchalenko's life and ...work by Emma Loosley and John Tchalenko.
Late in his life Rodin produced many thousand “instant drawings.” He asked models to make natural energetic movements, and he would draw them at high speed without looking at his hand or paper. To ...help understand his “blind drawing” process, the authors tracked the eye and hand movements of art students while they drew blind, copying complex lines presented to them as static images. The study found that line shape was correctly reproduced, but scaling could show major deficiencies not seen in Rodin's sketches. The authors propose that Rodin's direct vision-to-motor strategy, coupled with his high expertise, allowed him to accurately depict in one sweep the entire model, without “thoughts arresting the flow of sensations.”
The mental processes that allow an artist to transform visual images--e.g. those of his model--into a picture on the canvas are not easily studied. The authors report work measuring the eye and hand ...movements of a single artist, chosen for his detailed and realistic portraits produced from life. His eye fixations when painting or drawing were of twice the duration of those when he was not painting and also quite different from those of novice artists. His eye-hand co-ordination pattern also showed differences from that of novices, being more temporally consistent. This preliminary work suggest that detailed and quantitative analysis of a working artist is feasible and will illuminate the process of artistic creation.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) attached fundamental importance to his drawings, in particular to the famous Themes et Variations series. These were accomplished following a precise method, starting with ...arduous life studies and evolving into brilliant spontaneous drawings. A 1946 archival documentary film showing the artist drawing four portraits of his grandson Gerard was shot in such a way as to allow the present author to undertake a detailed eye-hand interaction analysis of the drawing process. It was found that Matisse's temporal working rhythm and use of motor memory resulted in a more direct approach than that used by most painters. Taken together with remarks the artist made throughout his lifetime, these results provide a cognitive interpretation of his drawing method.
Eye movements and eye-hand interactions have been recorded for ten beginner art students copying complex lines representing outlines of caricature heads seen in profile. Four copying conditions ...mimicking real-world drawing situations were tested: Direct copying where the original and copy were placed side by side, Direct Blind copying where the subject could not see the drawing hand and copy, Memory copying where the original was first memorized for drawing and subsequently hidden before drawing commenced, and Non-specific Memory copying where the original was encoded for facial recognition before being hidden and drawn from memory. We observed four very different eye-hand interaction strategies which provide evidence for the eye’s dual role in the copying process: acquiring visual information in order to activate the visuomotor transformation, and guiding the hand on the paper. The Direct copying strategies were best understood in terms of a drawing hypothesis stating that shape is the result of visuomotor mapping alone and, consequently, can be accurately drawn without vision of the drawing hand or paper. A double just-in-time mechanism is proposed whereby the eye refers alternatively to the original for shape and to the copy for spatial position just in time for the drawing action to proceed continuously.
Eye movements and eye–hand interactions have been recorded for 10 beginner art students copying complex lines representing outlines of caricature heads seen in profile. Four copying conditions ...mimicking real-world drawing situations were tested: Direct copying where the original and copy were placed side by side, Direct Blind copying where the subject could not see the drawing hand and copy, Memory copying where the original was first memorized for drawing and subsequently hidden before drawing commenced, and Non-specific Memory copying where the original was encoded for facial recognition before being hidden and drawn from memory. We observed four very different eye–hand interaction strategies which provide evidence for the eye's dual role in the copying process: acquiring visual information in order to activate the visuomotor transformation and guiding the hand on the paper. The Direct copying strategies were best understood in terms of a Drawing Hypothesis stating that shape is the result of visuomotor mapping alone and, consequently, can be accurately drawn without vision of the drawing hand or paper. A double just-in-time mechanism is proposed whereby the eye refers alternatively to the original for shape and to the copy for spatial position just in time for the drawing action to proceed continuously.
The Gaze-Shift Strategy in Drawing Tchalenko, John; Nam, Se-Ho; Ladanga, Moshe ...
Psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts,
08/2014, Letnik:
8, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Alternating the point of gaze between an original (model or sitter, object, or scene) and a picture (paper, canvas, or digital touch screen) is the most common observational drawing strategy. ...However, a number of investigations into eye-hand interactions in drawing have revealed the existence of some "blind" drawing taking place (drawing the picture while the eye remains on the original or during gaze shifts between the original and the drawing). These observations of a direct visual-to-motor transformation challenge the commonly held assumption that the gaze-shifting strategy reflects a memory process in which the gaze on the original is used to encode a visual detail to short or long term memory, subsequently retrieved during the gaze on the picture. To study the blind drawing strategy in more depth during naturalistic drawing, we compared 3 basic drawing tasks-copying, contouring, and drawing of graded zones as lines, where original and picture were placed side by side on a vertical plane. We found that subjects drew almost continuously, thus exhibiting periods of blind drawing while the eye was on the original. The amount of blind drawing increased progressively between the copying task, the contouring task, and the graded zone task. When gaze shifted to the picture, it was generally to a fixation point located in advance of the hand on the part of the line not yet drawn. For individual tests, gaze ratios (gaze duration on original divided by gaze duration on picture) were approximately equal to drawing ratios (drawing duration during original gaze divided by drawing duration during picture gaze). We propose a general gaze-shift strategy that takes into account these observations.
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