"Turn off your Gestalt Processor"

In Psychology An Explantion, Saundra K. Ciccarelli and J. Noland explain, "Gestalt (Gesh- TALT) is a German word meaning 'an organized whole' or 'configuration,' which fit well with the focus on studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them." The familiar slogan, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." sums up the Gestalt principle. We generally look for whole patterns and use top-down processing, using prior knowledge to infer what the outcome will be.  We naturally want the whole instead of the parts. Bottom-up processing gathers small bits and pieces to eventually put a whole together; this is the exact technique used during the contour drawing of a businessman during class.

Dividing the picture into six horizontal segments and flipping the picture so we actually started from the bottom and worked our way up, each student drew various lines that eventually created the image of a businessman. By only providing a given set of lines at a time, one is forced to take the pieces and not the whole. Drawing is really just creating various lines to make up an image. Essentially anyone is capable of drawing well. It's a matter of taking it line-by-line and practicing over and over.