Why Drawing Is So Good for You

More and more experts are getting on the drawing bandwagon. Recent studies have pointed to drawing as an integral part of psychological health. Even if you think you can't draw, the act of drawing can improve your life, too.

These studies have found that drawing positively affects the brain and enhances our resistance to stress. It makes us more psychologically resilient. When we draw, dopamine is released.

These regions of the brain are activated when drawing:

• cerebellum: movement
• frontal lobe: reasoning, planning, movement, emotions, problem solving
• parietal lobe: movement and orientation, spatial relationships, recognition, perception of stimuli, linked to a role in creativity
• occipital lobe: vision, visual processing
• temporal lobe: perception and memory (Landa).

Additionally, we benefit in the following ways, too.

• Studying a subject, such as a person, animal or plant, in order to draw it promotes a deep connection and stimulates curiosity about and reverence for the natural world.

• Studying an object in order to draw it focuses attention. It calms the mind and has similar benefits as meditation. In the East, drawing is taught as an integral part of education for this reason.

• Drawing and art-making fine-tune problem-solving abilities. Visual problems work both the right and left brain.

• Drawing stimulates the imagination and creativity. Genius is seeing beyond the expected solution.

• Drawing and painting give us permission to express ourselves.

• Drawing builds self-discipline as we find time regularly to hone our skills. Accomplishing accuracy and naturalness in drawing we didn’t think possible boosts self-esteem.

• Art is part of our collective consciousness. During the Paleolithic era, art created in caves shows the beginning of cognitive thought, spirituality, and narrative.

• Looking at art and creating art release us from the constraints of time. Art is constant. Art is eternal.
Work Cited: Landa, Robin. "Draw Yourself Happy: Drawing, Creativity + Your Brain." 03 Dec 2014. Print. Web. 25 Aug 2015.

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