The Art Effect - Michael English

Contour Drawing

The next exercise is very similar. It is called Contour drawing. You guessed it. You do the same exact thing as in the blind exercise except this time you can look at what you are drawing while you are drawing it. Yes you can look now, but do not move your head to look, just move your eyes. During this exercise the left brain will try to regain control and you will find yourself not referring back to your subject. Do not let it. Throughout the exercise make yourself look back at the subject frequently. Look at your hand, trace a segment with your eyes, and then draw that segment on your paper. Look back at your hand and do the same with the next segment. Little by little work around hand again until you have a completed the outline of your hand.

1. Place your non-drawing hand in a comfortable position and put your pencil on the paper with your drawing hand.

2. Look at your non-drawing hand and pick a starting point with your eyes. Near the wrist at the bottom works well.

3. With your eyes, start tracing/following the outline of your hand very slowly while your drawing hand is tracing / following on the paper. The position of your eyes on your hand should be the exact position of your pencil on the paper. DO NOT MOVE your head. Just move your eyes to look at your drawing. Follow the line of your wrist very slowly without taking your pencil from the paper. The result should be a continuous line drawn without lifting the pencil. The more detail you can capture the better.

4. Once you have completely outlined the hand take a look. It should look remarkable better than the blind attempt. (Remember this is an exercise for training your mind, not a finished artwork)

Please come back soon for more lessons.

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