10 Good reasons to pick up a pencil and draw today!
Why are we all attracted to drawing so much? Even if you can’t draw it’s so common to hear people say “I wish I could draw”. It turns out that there are many reasons why drawing makes us feel so good.
Did you know that recent studies have shown improved brain activity in people that draw regularly? While the studies are only new, they have indicated that there are many benefits to picking up a pencil and drawing.
Here are 10 known benefits to drawing;
1.Increase brain activity. Brain scans have shown an overall increase in grey matter of both sides of the brain in people that regularly engage in drawing. The old theory that artists mostly use the right side of the brain has been debunked, it is actually many parts of the brain that are activated across both sides. Furthermore scans of artists show an increased level of grey matter in the parietal lobe of the brain, which is responsible for improved spacial orientation and cognition. Brain plasticity studies show how connections between different parts of our brain grow by practicing certain activities. Drawing regularly will grow your grey matter.
2.Stress Relief. In today’s living we have so many things competing for our attention and causing stress. Drawing is one way of putting yourself into a relaxed state and avoiding the distractions of life. When you draw you can easily find yourself spending hours deeply involved in your drawing and forgetting about all of other concerns in your life. When you are in a totally creative mind, you can easily lose track of time.
3.Improve creative thinking and imagination. Drawing stimulates parts of the brain that are responsible for imagination. The more we use it, the better we get. Creative thinking can help us in all parts of our life, giving us stronger problem solving abilities so it is worth stimulating.
4.Improves Memory. Drawing is being used in treatments for conditions such as Alzheimers, with significant results on memory improvement.
5.Healing benefits. As well as improved brain activity, studies have linked drawing to other health benefits including normalising heart rate, improving blood pressure and cortisol levels. It has also been reported that drawing increases dopamine levels to make us feel better.
6.We were born to be creative. As humans we are all creative. As adults we can achieve more if we are being creative in all aspects of our life. It’s not limited to art forms, even accountants are creative. Drawing helps us to activate the part of our brain that allows us to be more creative.
7.Improved self esteem.The reward for achieving a good looking drawing can make you feel great and release more dopamine. Remember how great it felt when you were a kid and mum put your drawings up on the fridge? You get the same sense of achievement at all ages when you complete a drawing that you are proud of.
8.Improved motor skills. While this is especially important for child development, you can improve your fine motor skills at any age. Drawing is great way to refine your motor skills.
9.Express and share your ideas with the world. Sometimes you just can’t explain your visual ideas in any other way, but if you draw it you can share your ideas with the world.
10.It’s FUN. We can’t forget this one, it is just plain fun to draw. What other reason do you need?
You don’t need to be a professional artist to get all these benefits, you just need to be drawing regularly. It could be as simple as doodling random shapes on some scrap paper. Of course the rewards are even greater if you can create some awesome looking drawings, it allows you to express new ideas and/or show how you feel about a subject.
If you would like to know how to draw better, click on the button below for free lessons that teach you the core elements that you need to know to be able to draw. I will help you go through important fundamentals that most art schools skip over because they assume that you already know them. These lessons can bring you from stick figures to be able to draw shapes that look like real objects.
To get started is easy, just click on the link below and I’ll email you free lessons to get you started.
