Subtitles section Play video
-
Hi.
-
I've got a question for you:
-
how many people here would say they can draw?
-
(Laughter)
-
I think we've got about one or two percent of the hands going up,
-
and it's interesting, isn't it?
-
It's a little bit like people think of spelling or singing.
-
They think,"You can either do it, or you can't."
-
But I think you can.
-
Because when people say they can't draw,
-
I think it's more to do with beliefs rather than talent and ability.
-
So I think when you say you can't draw, that's just an illusion,
-
and today I'd like to prove that to you.
-
When I say "draw",
-
I'm not saying we're all going to draw like Michelangelo.
-
We are not going to be painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.
-
But would you be happy if, by the end of this session,
-
you could draw pictures a little bit like this?
-
(Audience murmuring) Oh, yes!
-
(Laughter)
-
Or even a little bit like this?
-
(Laughter)
-
Actually, there are only two things you need to do to be able to achieve this.
-
One is have an open mind. Are you up for that?
-
(Audience) Yes!
-
And two, just be prepared to have a go.
-
So grab a pen and a piece of paper.
-
OK, so here's how it's going to work:
-
I’ll show you the first cartoon we're going to do,
-
so just watch to begin with.
-
Here we go.
-
Just watching.
-
That's going to be our first cartoon.
-
It's a character called Spike.
-
I'd like you to draw along with me.
-
I'll draw the first line, you draw, and when you've done that, look up,
-
and I'll know you're ready for the next line.
-
Okay, here we go.
-
Start with the nose.
-
Now the eyes.
-
They're like 66s or speech marks.
-
That's it.
-
Next, the mouth. Nice, big smile.
-
Now, over here, the ear.
-
Next, some spiky hair.
-
Next, put the pen to the left to the mouth, little line like that.
-
Pen under the ear, drop a line like that.
-
Pen to the left of the neck, top of the T-shirt.
-
Line to the left, line to the right.
-
Just hold your drawings up and show everyone.
-
(Laughter)
-
How are we all doing?
-
(Laughter)
-
OK.
-
OK, fantastic.
-
So, it looks like you've just learned to draw one cartoon,
-
but you've actually learned more than that;
-
you've learned a sequence that would enable you
-
to draw hundreds and thousands of different cartoons,
-
because we're just going to do little variations on that sequence.
-
Have a go at this.
-
Draw along with me.
-
Nose.
-
Eyes.
-
Smile.
-
That's it.
-
Now some hair.
-
Pen to the left of the mouth,
-
under the hair,
-
little V-shape for the top,
-
line to the left, line to the right.
-
So we've got another character. Let's call her Thelma.
-
(Laughter)
-
So, we've got Spike and Thelma.
-
Let's try another one. Here we go.
-
Another little variation. You're getting the idea.
-
Starting with the nose.
-
But this time we'll change the eyes slightly.
-
Look, two circles together like that.
-
That's it.
-
Then, two little dots in for the eyes.
-
And this time we'll change the mouth slightly. Watch.
-
Little circle colored in there.
-
Have a go at that.
-
Next, the ear.
-
Now, we'll have some fun with the hair, watch.
-
Nice curly hair.
-
Then same thing: pen to the left to the mouth, little line like that.
-
Under the ear, drop a line.
-
Top of the T-shirt.
-
Line to the left, line to the right.
-
I think we'll call him Jeff.
-
(Laughter)
-
We'll do one more.
-
One more go. Here we go.
-
You're getting the idea.
-
(Laughter)
-
So we'll start with a nose again.
-
Notice we're doing little variations.
-
Now we'll change the eyes, so we've got them apart.
-
We'll put some little dots in like that.
-
Next, the mouth slightly different.
-
Let's put a little V-shape like that.
-
Triangle.
-
And a little line across, and we'll just color this a little bit in.
-
Now, watch this bit carefully; some hair, watch.
-
Here we go, little line like that.
-
Next, a bit more there.
-
And watch, a couple of triangles to make a little bow.
-
Triangle at the bottom, rest of the hair.
-
Pen to the left of the mouth again. You get the idea.
-
Drop a line for the neck.
-
Now the V-shape.
-
Line to the left, line to the right.
-
There we go.
-
Let's call her Pam.
-
(Laughter)
-
So you've done...
-
(Laughter)
-
So you've done four cartoons. You can have a little rest now.
-
(Laughter)
-
Take a rest.
-
You're getting the idea. All we're doing is little variations.
-
I'll just demonstrate a couple to you.
-
We could go on all day, couldn't we?
-
You could do someone looking unhappy, a bit like that,
-
or you could experiment with, perhaps, someone who is…
-
just draw a straight line, someone looking a bit fed up.
-
Or perhaps, you could do anything you like, really, just try things out.
-
Look at this. Little squiggle. There we are.
-
So, all sorts of things we could do.
-
Actually, one more I'll let you do, one more idea.
-
This is a great little technique.
-
Have a go at this: people with glasses on.
-
Just draw a nose a bit like Spike's.
-
Next, draw some frames,
-
so two circles like that with a little bit in between.
-
Now, just put some dots inside for the eyes like that.
-
Next, the ear.
-
So it's little bit like we did before, but this time we'll join up the frames.
-
That's it. Watch this bit.
-
(Laughter)
-
And this bit I really like. Watch.
-
(Laughter)
-
And then, little bit there.
-
Pencil under the mustache, line down,
-
top of the shirt, left and right.
-
So there we have it. We could carry on, couldn't we?
-
Hopefully, we've done enough to convince you
-
that in fact we can all draw.
-
And not just people here. I've worked with…
-
I'm going to give you three examples of other people who've learned to draw,
-
and that actually surprised them, too.
-
I'm going to save what I think is my favorite,
-
most surprising example until last.
-
The first example is:
-
I've worked a lot with children and students in schools.
-
Actually the little ones, they just draw fine,
-
but when they get to about 15 or 16, most of them think they can't draw.
-
But I worked with them.
-
I worked this week in a school
-
where I was coaching them on using pictures for memory.
-
A girl was trying to remember what red blood cells do,
-
and she drew this little picture
-
of a red blood cell carrying a handbag with O2 on it
-
to remind her that the red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of the body.
-
That was a great one.
-
The other people I worked with are many adults in all walks of life,
-
and particularly in business,
-
and they often will want to make presentations memorable.
-
So again, a quick cartoon or sketch could be really good for that.
-
And again, most people think they can't draw, but take this example.
-
Couple of wavy lines,
-
little boat could be a metaphor to represent we're all in this together.
-
So that, if that was just drawn in the presentation,
-
would really stay in the memory, wouldn't it?
-
Yeah.
-
But the third example is - you shouldn't have favorites, should you?
-
This is my favorite.
-
Have you ever been at the party when someone asks you what you do?
-
It gets a little bit skeptical when people ask me that.
-
This lady said to me, well -
-
I said, "I do a little bit of training, and I teach people to draw,"
-
and she said, "Would you come along and do some for our group?"
-
She said, "I work with some people" - she was a volunteer -
-
a group of people who have suffered strokes.
-
So I said, "Sure, I could spare some time for that."
-
So I said I would, and I booked the time in.
-
Have you ever done that?
-
You get near of that time
-
and you think, "What have I let myself in for here?"
-
"Will I be able to do it?"
-
I thought, "What could I do with them?" you see.
-
"I know. I'll do my cartoon drawing. They'll like that."
-
But then, as I got near of the time, I got more apprehensive,
-
because then I was thinking,
-
"I've worked with children, with all sorts of adults;
-
I've never worked with a group like this."
-
It turns out it was all part of a charity called TALK.
-
This TALK charity is a wonderful charity that helps people who've suffered strokes,
-
but have a particular condition known as aphasia.
-
You might have heard of aphasia, sometimes called dysphasia.
-
The key thing is it affects their ability to communicate.
-
So, for example, they might have trouble
-
reading, writing, speaking, or understanding.
-
It can be quite an isolating condition;
-
it can be very, very frustrating and can lead to a loss of confidence.
-
Anyway, so I prepared all this stuff, what to do for this session
-
- for a couple of hours, tea break in the middle -
-
and I got more apprehensive.
-
But actually, I needn't have worried,
-
because I'm going to show you now the work that they did.
-
It was one of the best things I've ever done.
-
I'm going to show you the first slide.
-
I taught them Spike, just like I did for you,
-
and I want you to see the reaction on their faces when they did this.
-
(Audience) Oh.
-
What you can see here are two of the stroke recoverers
-
on the left and right,
-
and one of the volunteer helpers in the center.
-
Each stroke recoverer, there are about 36 in the room with volunteers as well,
-
there's one-to-one helpers.
-
You can just see the delight on their faces, can't you?
-
Let's look at another picture.
-
This is a gentleman called David, and he's holding up his picture,
-
and you can tell it was the picture of Spike, can't you?
-
In fact, I think he's drawn Spike even better there.
-
But what I didn't realize until even after the session
-
was that the number of the people in this session, including David,
-
were drawing with their wrong hand.
-
David's stroke meant that it affected the right side of his body,
-
and he drew with his left hand, as many did.
-
Nobody mentioned it to me, nobody complained.
-
They just got on with it.
-
It was an inspirational session for me.
-
It was quite a humbling session,
-
one of the best things I felt I've ever done.
-
At the end of it, I had a lovely email from doctor Mike Jordan,
-
and he's the chair of the TALK group;
-
happens to be a medical doctor, but he's the chair of the group.
-
He wrote to me, and I'm quoting, he said,
-
"Our recoverers learned today that they can draw.
-
It's a bit more than that;
-
this sort of activity really builds their confidence."
-
So I was happy, he was happy, everyone was happy,
-
they've invited me back again,
-
and I go in there now about every three or four months.