Contour Line Drawing

Students in Art 1 and Art Appreciation practiced a drawing fundamentals technique called Contour Line Drawing.   The goal with contour line is to look almost all the time at what you are drawing and very little at your paper.   You also want to use a continuous line (not pick your pen off the paper), and draw as slowly as possible so as to observe all of the ins and outs, all the details you see.



To practice this, students first created Blind Contour Line drawings, where they did not look down at their paper at all.  We all new the drawings would be silly and incorrectly proportioned, which took the pressure off making a great drawing and allowed students to focus on observing closely and recording like a scientist. Personally I think these drawings are quite captivating.

Blind Contour Line Drawing

Here are some contour line drawings, from observation. Students drew objects around the room, as well as their backpacks and shoes.

Drawing by Claire M.