Intro



Artists of all levels gather their own experiences as they progress in their artistic endeavours. Some of these are techniques and tricks working explicitly for the artist himself, while other techniques have a more universal quality and could be used by any artist. I have gathered such an experience. It might be a discovery. It might be a re-discovery. In either case I intend to share it here and it's a real time saver. Read on.

Hey! Where did the speed go?

All of us have experienced travelling at fairly high speed and know how our eyes and mind get accustomed to the speed at which we are travelling. Initially we are fully aware that we are moving at high speed but slowly this awareness fades and we become acclimated. When working on a painting or drawing over lengthy periods of time we develop a tolerance as well. Obviously this tolerance is different in nature but nevertheless it occurs. Now, we can't change how our mind work but we can trick it, which is exactly what we're going to do. Well sort of. Read on.

When an artist works for many hours on a specific drawing or painting without taking any breaks his mind starts to dwell on things. He builds up a tolerance and blindness for the piece he is working on. He develops a blindness for proportions, symmetrics and shapes. His eyes get increasingly tolerant and uncritical the longer he works without taking breaks. Many artists solves this by leaving the work for a while returning later with a clear view on things. After his break flaws and errors really stand out. But how can he go about eliminating this "blindness" without taking any breaks at all?

A simple solution

The solution for this problem should prove to be almost too simple. The solution is simply to mirror the art piece in any way possible. Try working on a drawing or painting for some hours then mirror it and you'll see what I mean. With your image mirrored all the flaws and errors will stand out disturbingly clear. Instead of taking hour long breaks just mirror your work, and within minutes you know exactly what needs to be worked on.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

To end the tutorial I've made a short list on some possible ways to mirror your work. There are most likely other ways to mirror it so just find one that works well for you. Here are a few examples:

• Flip over your art piece and hold it up against a strong lightsource and look through it (works only with fairly thin paper)
• Scan/photograph your art and open in your preferred graphics application and mirror it
• Hold up your piece infront of a mirror

That's basically it for this tutorial. Hopefully you found it useful. So until next time...

Happy Mirroring!

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