Why drawing is the best way to take a break from gadgets and social networks and relieve fatigue

Drawing, whether on the body or stone is one of the ancient forms of fine arts.

The oldest known drawings were found in 2021 in the Blombos Cave in South Africa.

73 thousand years ago, an ancient man picked up a piece of ocher and used it to scratch something like a modern gashteg on a stone.

The ability to draw everyone.

"This is our first means of self -expression and creativity," says Julia Balchin, the director of the Royal School of Drawing in London. "As a child, you get the first drawing skills before you learn to speak, walk or write."

And drawing with a pencil has always been a vital practice for every artist, starting from the Renaissance, when Leonardo da Vinci conducted detailed anatomical studies of the human body to this day.

The decline in interest in the picture began in the 1970s, when in the world of academic art it began to be considered "non-fashionable" (especially drawing from nature), says Balanchin.

However, now this creative activity has acquired a new function: it connects us with our tactile skills and gives a break from ruthless digitalization.

It is appreciated for therapeutic qualities and a sense of "stream". In Britain, for example, it is possible to go through art therapy by contacting the National Health Service.

When the artist Emily Hawort-Buks became ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome), she could not work. Trying to read or write did not help, says the artist.

During the illness, she found that conscious drawing "became a kind of anchor that I could throw on the ground to reassure myself."

Drawing significantly reduced its excitement and helped slow your breathing. According to Emily, it contributed to healing. After the drawing session, she felt the relief and influx of endorphin, as after yoga or psychotherapy session.

Claire Gilman, the main curator of the Drawing Center in New York, also noticed an increase in interest in drawing.

In her opinion, the desire to take a pen or a pencil and immediately transfer his feelings to paper is especially attracted to difficult moments.

It is also a kind of digital detox.

And drawing from nature makes you look at the screens of smartphones and other gadgets, which we depend so depending, but with our own eyes, also transform what you saw.

Art-curator Roger Malbert believes that the purpose of drawing may be to learn how to look at the outside world differently.

"If you capture what you see, you directly carry the world into your mind. Drawing can help you touch others and yourself, as well as change your view on certain things."

Healing properties

Chinese artist Zhang Yangzi believes that art can emotionally support and reduce suffering. Her drawings permeate the love of spiritual well -being.

Malbert also shares the idea of ​​the healing properties of drawing. "I have always painted in a light therapeutic manner," he says.

It equates a focus when drawing from nature to yoga, "when you do not think about anything." He believes that it can be "meditative".

And artist John Guit says that the anxiety he usually feels through the creation of a "bad" drawing is compensated by the pleasure of a perfectly smooth line and from unexpected patterns and rhythms.

The artist became popular in 2013, when he began to publish on Instagram almost daily.

The most popular Guite publication is a portrait of a cat.

Black cats always gain the most likes, he says. But he draws not only cute animals. Guit witnessed the terrorist attacks in London in 2005. He did not have a drawing album with him, so he made 59 memory drawings, and later shown them at the Museum of London.

He also painted his mother in the hospital in the last days of her life. "I felt that I could do nothing more, so I painted her hand, pillows and bed."

But the best therapeutic properties have spontaneous drawings, Guit says.

"They give me great and instant pleasure because they do not meet any" right "drawing standards."

The artist Charlie McCezi was passionate about drawing nineteen years after his best friend died in a car crash.

His book "Boy, Crete, Fox and Horse", full of piercing drawings and reasoning about life and friendship, received a whole army of fans.

According to Malbert, drawing allows us to make a connection with ourselves, and also changes our views on things such as quarrels, social upheavals and even simple emotions. It can literally expand your emotional range.