Learning to see (part 1): Blind Contours

Previously, I told you that you had to learn to see in order to learn to draw. I maintain that position and today I’m here to show you how to get further down that path: blind contour drawing.

The concept
The concept is deceptively simple: draw something, moving your hand/pencil bit-for-bit, inch-for-inch with your eye. Remember how edges don’t exist? Okay, well, we’re going to press the make-believe button and draw contours here, which are simply the edges you think you see but aren’t really there.

The process
Step 1: situate yourself comfortably with your drawing hand holding your medium (pencil, pen, chalk, remnants of a Snickers(TM), etc.)

Step 2: turn your head AWAY from your drawing. This is a BLIND contour. NO LOOKING!

Step 3: spend about 30 seconds looking at the object you are going to draw – I suggest using your non-drawing hand.

Step 4: put your medium to paper and start drawing, being careful to draw ONLY while your eye is moving

IMPORTANT: do not lift your pencil/pen/etc. off the paper. This will keep you from skipping around like crazy

ALSO IMPORTANT: your drawing will probably not look like your object. If it does, you cheated and I’ve found you out. That’s three nights of detention for you! While you’re there, practice your blind contours. Your hand may not look like anything but a big scribble of lines. Congratulations!

What’s in it for me?
The immediate benefit to blind contours is this: you’ll really start to develop your hand-eye coordination and start building the neural pathways so that your hand starts to really draw what your eye sees!

I know it like the back of my hand
Something an art teacher once told me: you never really know what something looks like until you’ve drawn it. And she was 100% correct: in my years of teaching my “learning to see” class, I ALWAYS have students that are amazed at their own hands. You think you know something like the back of your hand? I bet you don’t – at least not until you’ve done some contour drawings of the back of your hand and REALLY know what it looks like. Is it wrinkly? Is your hand weathered? Do you have bony fingers? You might not have known before but you know now.

What else have you been missing in your life? Take the time to do a blind contour. Part 2 is “modified blind contours,” and gets even more interesting (if not a little less frustrating).