It truly is a matter of training your hand to follow what your eye is seeing, and seeing requires retraining your brain (which likes to take shortcuts and fill in information with what it already knows). Blind contour line drawing is an exercise that many artists use to practice seeing. It differs from the contour line drawing that we have been studying by looking only at the subject matter and not at your paper until you are finished. Once you begin drawing, you don’t look back. If you practice, you will be surprised at how quickly you improve with each attempt. Watch the demonstration video above. s assignment, we will be making drawings using your hands or your feet as the subject matter.
- BEGIN BY holding your pencil point to the paper (like it is attached to the surface and you cannot pick it up)
- NOW try playing with outlines and contour lines. You learned about the difference between contour and outline. Anyone can learn to draw. Try the following exercise several times over the next few weeks. Submit images of your drawings in a file attached below. You may use your phone, a camera or scanned photos of your drawings.
- WE WILL BE LEARNING THE TECHNIQUE CALLED BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING TO MAKE IMAGES OF OUR HANDS AND FEET.
- Submit at least four images of your Blind contour line hand or foot drawings. Have fun with this exercise. You will not be graded on the quality of your drawings, although the effort will be considered.
- Make a drawing of your hand or foot. First, place your hand or foot on the paper and trace around it with the pencil. That will be your outline drawing that shows only a flat shape. Now try a contour line drawing (watch the demo above) Start by holding your pencil toward the top (not near the point) and play around with creating one continuous line (as if your pencil point is attached to the surface of the paper). You can pull the pencil, push the pencil, push hard to create darker lines, release pressure to create lighter lines but never let the pencil leave the surface of the paper.
- Once you have decided what you are planning to draw, and you have placed your pencil or crayon or pen against the paper, you will not look back at the paper until you have completed the drawing. Yes, it is not likely to look good at first.
SUBMIT AT LEAST FOUR CONTOUR LINE DRAWINGS OF YOUR HANDS OR FEET.
