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Contour DrawingTrust Your Eye and Your HandContour Drawing! Contour drawing is a great way to learn to trust your eye and your hand. This is just drawing the outline of an object or objects. The key is to focus on the edges. This is the outside of an object, or a pattern formed by the objects. Cross Contour! A cross contour line is the line that crosses an object indicating it’s form. Viewpoint! Pick one viewpoint and stick to it! If you move when viewing the object you are about to outline, you will be looking at the object in a different way. The object will then look different to you. Try to maintain your head position so the shapes look the same as when you started. Any small adjustment can make a big difference when you start to draw the details. Let’s Go and No Cheating! Set out a few objects on a table. Without looking at your paper, draw the outlines of the objects with one continuous line. Be patient at first and don’t rush. Are you looking at your paper? Stop Looking! When starting out budding artists sometimes get off the page with this exercise. No problem. Just finish it, use part of another page to complete it, or start again.
What To Use! All you need is a pencil, a few objects, and some sketch paper. Any paper will do. Even a normal piece of blank paper will do. But it is even better if you have a sketchbook. How to Use It! Trying to make the drawing the same size as the object when starting out will help you learn. Position smaller items closer to your sheet, and larger items a little farther away. Choose a point at the edge of the item, and follow the line with your eyes. Don’t force it. Just let your hand imitate the shape of your item on the paper. Squinting can often help you view the silhouette of the item. Besides, the silhouette is what you are trying to reflect.
Perfection? Your aim is not to be perfect. This an exercise to get you started. Right and wrong is irrelevant. The fact that you tried contour drawing, and got started, is what is important. Think of these drawings as a warm-up exercise - there is no right or wrong. Just get your hand and eyes to work together to reflect size and shape. You are now on your way. Now You Can Look! After practicing the contour drawings several times (you can do many of these on the same sheet of paper), draw the objects again — outlines only — but this time, you can look at your paper. By doing a few contour drawings first, your hand already has a feel for what your eye is seeing before you even attempt a “finished” drawing.
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