Learning to draw: Does the inversion technique work?

Abstract

Several methods for teaching draftsmanship include exercises based on Edward's "inversion" technique, the practice of copying from upside-down originals. We tested the technique by asking 40 artistically untrained participants to copy either upright or upside-down drawings of a face or a car. Our results indicate that participants were faster when copying the car in comparison to the face, but not when copying upside-down in comparison to upright images. In addition, they were more accurate in capturing the global proportions of the image in comparison to the local proportions of its parts. However, neither the face nor the car were copied more accurately in the upside-down relative to the right-side up condition. These results provide no evidence that Edward's inversion technique promotes greater resemblance to the original stimulus image. Implications for the cognitive psychology of drawing and for the pedagogy of the visual arts are discussed.