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Why do all beginning artists draw stick figures? Why is it so difficult to draw an accurate picture of what we see? 

The reason, I believe, is that unskilled artists draw  concepts of what they see rather than drawing what they actually see. Their conceptual brain dominates and prevents the sensory brain  from guiding the drawing.  

Skilled artists have learned to suppress this  impulse to draw concepts and instead focus on sensory details. This is what I believe art teacher Betty Edwards discovered and explained in her influential book Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain.  

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