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Given that much of Draw Anyway’s readership consists of tired parents and over-worked office drones, it might be a dangerous suggestion to ask that you lie on your back for a while. Inviting, though, isn’t it, sometimes, to look at the sky, be it day or night?

Don’t fall asleep, if you can help it. You need your eyes open for this exercise.

The point of which is this: many of us, when asked to draw something, rely on artistic shorthand. Birds, for example, are drawn as curvy letter ‘m’s. Stars are five-pointed mathematical shapes. Let me ask you this: have you ever seen a real star that looks like that? Wouldn’t it freak you out a bit, if you did?

Now, there’s no doubt that, from a distance, yes, birds do look like that quick scribble you can do with two quick curves of a line. And yes, the five points might represent the rays of light we see when we squint at a star. There is nothing wrong with abstract representation, but we should see these devices for what they are: cliches, shorthand, an unconsidered tapping in to the group consciousness.There are many of these symbols. Apples - perfectly round with a dent at the top and a single leaf. Cats - two triangle ears (perfectly regular) atop an oval face with a set of six whiskers emerging, Hello Kitty-style. Houses - squares with triangle roofs and four windows…

Take the time to look up at the sky until you see a bird. Draw it as it flies above you. Or next time you are out in the dark, take a proper look at the stars and make a mental note of how you might represent them. The picture you end up might be better or worse than the visual shorthand described above, but it will at least be an honest response to something you’ve seen firsthand.