Left-handed illustrators

I'm part way through an evening class on how to illustrate children's books. In last night's class I noticed that, out of 10 students, three of us were left handed. Far higher than the national average of 12% but not surprising considering it's an art course and so calls on the creative, right-hand side of the brain.

What was interesting, however, was that one member of the class - who is right handed - decided part way through the lesson that she could draw better with her left hand. So there are now four of us who are southpaws.

This prompted our teacher (right handed) to say how, at art college, the right handers were encouraged to draw with their left hands and the lefties encouraged to practise with their right hands. The theory being that the hand unused to holding a pencil would be more sensitive.

I gave it a go but, erm, it'll be a while before I turn into the next Landseer. He was the artist who could simultaneously draw a stag with one hand and a horse with the other! Try writing different things simultaneously with both hands - nigh on impossible - let alone draw!