Starting Week 6 with Day 1 of The Art & Science of Drawing. Week 6 is all about contours, so let’s dive in.
- contour /ˈkɒntʊə/
- an outline representing or bounding the shape or form of something
Three kinds of contours
- outer-contour lines
- inner-contour lines
- cross-contour lines
Blind and semi-blind contour drawing
These exercise are not a strategy for good drawing, they are simple a strategy to increase your hand-eye coordination!
Blind contour drawing
- choose a subject (for example, your hand)
- put your drawing instrument (ballpoint pen, pencil, …) on paper
- start tracing with your eyes the contour of your subject and record it with your drawing instrument
- tracing should be slow, both with your eyes and on the paper
- record every bump, nook or cranny you see
- do not look at what you’re drawing
Partially blind contour drawing
- draw like in the blind contour drawing
- however:
- take every opportunity to follow the contour line inside the subject
- once you come to an end, look at the drawing to find the point on your drawing where you dove inside
- put the drawing instrument on that point and once again start drawing blindly
Why blind/semi-blind contour drawings?
- they force you to observe all the details of the contour
- they increase your hand-eye coordination
The assignment
- do a minimum of 30 minutes of blind contour drawing
- you may only look at your subject, not at your drawing
- make one continuous line that records the details of the outside contour
- do a minimum of 30 minutes of partially blind overlapping contour drawing
- take every opportunity to follow contours inside the form until they end
- only look at your drawing to place your pen back on the outside contour
