The Upside Down Drawing Challenge
There is a really popular drawing challenge on YouTube where you look at an upside down drawing and try to copy it. This exercise is great practice to improve your drawing. Looking at a drawing upside down rids you of preconceived notions of what you think you see. It helps you to concentrate on drawing exactly what you see and not what you think a subject looks like. I have done this challenge using the Infinite Painter Android app on my Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 tablet. Infinite Painter is an excellent digital app for this exercise because it has a reference window function. You can also do this with traditional pencil and paper.
Step 1: Find a reference drawing or photo and turn it upside down. If you are drawing digitally, use a photo editor to flip your reference upside down and import it in the Infinite Painter app as a reference photo. Don't look at it right side up until you are through with your drawing.
Step 2: Start your sketch by drawing an overall shape.
Step 3: Start focusing on the details. Looking at facial features upside down frees you from drawing what you THINK a face should look like and makes you concentrate on the actual shapes.
Step 4: Continue adding details. Don't turn your drawing around yet even though you might be tempted to.
Step 5: This is the finished drawing. I signed it in the corner to show this is an upside down challenge.
Step 6: Now for the big reveal! Turn your reference and your drawing around. See how close you got! I got fairly close, ha ha! It's not perfect, but that's not the goal with these kind of exercises. This is to practice looking at shapes and drawing what you actually see, not what you think you see! Find more drawings and do this exercise again. With practice you will get better and better.
This is an excellent book with further details on how to do the upside down drawing challenge. The author also gives more creative exercises to improve your art skills and how to see and think in new ways .