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Drawing as a therapeutic practice—for any level—including 80 guided drawing exercises as an aid to self-understanding and fulfillment.
When we’re young, all of us draw.
As we grow older, most of us stop. We come to see drawing not as a type of play, but as a craft or skill - one that we can do either well or not.
But to see drawing in this way is to deny ourselves one of life’s great pleasures, one with profound psychological benefits. By allowing us to express ourselves creatively, and capture our thoughts and ideas on paper, drawing can be a form of therapy.
Drawing as Therapy is a collection of playful, creative prompts and exercises that introduce us to the curative powers of drawing. Divided into eight chapters, they invite us to reflect on different aspects of our life and psyche – our personality, moods, memories and passions – by attempting to render them through art. Through art, you can discover hidden byways of our minds, find new perspectives on our difficulties, summon a state of calm, and begin a process of self-recovery and healing.
The exercises won’t teach you how to draw. Instead, they will teach you an entirely new way of thinking about drawing, where there is no such thing as failure or success, only self-discovery and, in the best sense, play.
- INSPIRATIONAL this inspirational guide prompts us to express ourselves creatively and use artistic expression as a form of emotional release.
- NO ONE IS WATCHING the point is not to draw well, but to draw with authenticity, no matter your level of artistic ability.
- 80 DRAWING EXERCISES surprising, innovative, like SARK but with a British soul...
- 8 UNIQUE THEMES Self, Mood, Memory, Play, Love, Calm, Perspective & Re-enchantment.
- DRAWING AS THERAPY draws from psychological theories by Adrian Hill, Edward Adamson and Donald Winnicott.
- GIFT beautifully produced, premium gift format.
- SOLVE PROBLEMS AS YOU DRAW with research-backed therapeutic prompts.
The School of Life is here to help you learn, heal and grow. We are devoted to bringing you calm, self-understanding, better relationships, deeper friendships, greater effectiveness at work and more fulfilment in your leisure time. We do this via our books, our app, our films, our therapeutic services and our corporate offering.
The School of Life Press brings together the thinking and ideas of The School of Life creative team under the direction of series editor, Alain de Botton.
1. Play
Including prompts such as -
- Draw like a child (Picasso: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child")
- Draw in the dark
- Badly Drawn Horses
2. Self
- Self-Portraits ("Find four or more photographs of yourself at different ages ...")
- My Best and Worst Feature
- If I Were an Animal
- My Caged Self
- My Inner Critic
- My Inner Idiot
3. Mood
- Pathetic Fallacy
- Mood Mountain Range ("Over the course of a day, plot a graph that shows your mood ...")
- Joy
- Melancholy
4. Melancholy
- My Sketchy First Memory
- My [Childhood] Bedroom
- Lost and Found ("a formerly treasured possession you have now lost")
5. Love
- Secret Love Notes (to people in your life past and present)
- Private Screams
- My Beloved's Hand
6. Calm
- The Very Worst Thing
- Secret Scribbles
- Audible Illustrations
7. Perspective
- A Million Tiny Problems
- Sublime View
- A Home Within A Home
8. Re-Enchantment
- Dream House
- Utopia
- Illuminated Quotation