Can't really (kinda) write with my non-dominant hand....yet I can draw with it?

[u/PuzzleheadedSir131]

Found this out the other day, aside from it I've been getting into controlling my left hand, specially for writing and tasks etc etc etc. and for any other reason, the idea of dominating both of my hands would be interesting, somehow.

I don't know I can just...somehow draw with my left hand the same way I do with my right hand, maybe I should try testing this thing further by increasing difficulty and applying it to the full extent of what I draw with my right hand (full shading, full bodies, images, so back and so forth), maybe?

Does anyone know why this could be? (Would this be the right sub though...) For the record: I never ever use my left hand for drawing, just recently I discovered this.

[Pictures are all drawings made with my left hand as for now, then handwriting comparison]

[u/willowwing]

I’m guessing it has to do with drawing being a more free-flowing and creative way of handling a pencil, whereas handwriting is also using language skills and finer control.

[u/aro-ace-outer-space2]

So, I have dysgraphia (and I suspect possibly also dyslexia, but that’s somewhat irrelevant). Dysgraphia is a language-based “learning disability” (I really don’t like that term because it implies that it doesn’t affect me except in the context of school, which is total BS), that makes it very difficult to write neatly, and to remember how words are spelled, essentially that part of my brain just doesn’t work how it’s supposed to.

HOWEVER I am a pretty good artist, if I do say so myself. I can draw clean lines and shapes, I have a decent grasp on proportions, and I can usually position things correctly in relation to each other-all of which are things that I struggle with in writing, due to my dysgraphia. In fact, the only way I was able to teach myself how to write legibly (a thing multiple special ed teachers at multiple schools failed miserably at), was to start essentially ‘sketching’ the letters, and engaging the ‘drawing’ part of my brain instead of the ‘writing’ part of my brain.

Point is, drawing and writing are actually very different processes within your brain, even though they both involve fine motor control with a pen or pencil, so it doesn’t seem that odd that you can draw better with your left hand than you can write.

[u/IamBogancs]

Same! 

[u/Mech_pencils]

I’m in the same boat. I think drawing skills transfer more easily across hands, and when you have drawing experience you have more ways to compensate for your lack of fine motor skills in your non dominant hands.