It doesn’t have to be precision lineart for a drawing to be good. I say possibly because with every art theory I put out (or anyone puts out for that matter) there’s definitely going to be someone that disproves that theory, I definitely don’t think that everybody who paints or draws well, has very “clean” precise contour/lineart, there are those have a very messy lineart style but they make it work.

It takes so much concentration to do the exercise that you will find you will be very tired or you may have a headache after you have completed it.This post will be an analysis using the Contour chapter/concept from Kimon Nicolades’ book “The Natural Way to Draw” as a springboard to talk about ‘Contour’/lineart in art and in general, how it possibly applies to art and how you can possibly improve from knowing about it. The exercise is to help you begin to see what is actually in front of you and not what you think you see. This exercise will take a great deal of concentration, and it is almost impossible to do a perfect drawing in this technique. Do not worry about good drawing, distortion, or mistakes in your drawing. Keep repeating this process until you complete the contour drawing of your hand. Draw each succeeding contour with this technique (drawing blind while you feel the form). After placing the pencil at the starting point of the second line, look only at the hand you are drawing and again imagine your pencil following all the details of that line. When you have finished the line, look at your paper and start the second line by placing the pencil in position to draw the second line. Look constantly looking at what you are drawing. Don’t look at your paper after placing your pencil in its initial position. Trace this first contour of your hand in every detail, feel it as you draw. Move the pencil on the paper imagining that the pencil point is actually touching the hand you are drawing.

Now look back at the hand you are drawing, and begin to move your eyes along the contour as you move your pencil on the paper. Look at a point on your hand where you are going to start the drawing, look at your paper and place your pencil on the paper in that position. You will start the drawing by placing or posing the hand you are not drawing with on the table in an interesting but comfortable position in front of you. You are starting with one of the most difficult forms to draw: the hand. Your line must flow with the contours of your hand. Keep in mind that you must draw with a confident line and not a sketchy one. You will be drawing a blind contour drawing of your hand. Below you will see examples of students' blind contour drawings. What is the difference between an outline drawing and a contour drawing? An outline drawing defines only two dimensions, length and width, whereas a contour drawing suggests three dimensions: length, width, and depth. Contour drawing is quite the opposite you develop the drawing line-by-line, detail-by-detail, until you have created the whole form. Most drawing techniques deal with the overall form and pare down to the details.

Learning to see through your sense of touch is what contour drawing is all about. This exercise will require a great deal of concentration, but it is one of the most rewarding exercises in that even the beginner can have a good degree of success. In this problem, you will begin to understand the importance of being able to concentrate on what you are seeing. This problem is designed to improve your visual concentration. Blind contour drawing means that, without looking at your paper, you draw with total concentration on the subject you are drawing. Materials: 2B pencil, no eraser, and a piece of 9 x 12 drawing paper.Įxercise 1: 10 minute drawing of your hand as the modelĮxercise 2: 15 minute drawing of your hand as the modelĮxercise 3: 20 minute drawing of your hand as the modelĬontour drawing is creating precise line drawings by drawing the individual consecutive parts of the form to arrive at the whole form. Drawing Assignment: Feeling your way around the form. Blind Contour Drawing 1 - An Exercise in Seeing

Blind contour drawing exercises