Exercise 3 - Contour Studies

Credit www.jasonwitte.com

Three types of drawing; Contour, Gesture and Modelled drawings form much of the technical basis of of drawing.  All tremendously useful study types and worlds apart, when practiced independently, the approaches can be re-integrated into the process of "drawing".

This week we're going to look at "Contour Drawing" using Kimon Nicolaides, The Natural Way to Draw (1941) as a basis for the exercise:

Contour Drawing - 1-2 hours

Different from an "outline", a contour is a careful and painstaking study of an object or grouping, keeping the eye on the subject and the pencil on the paper. In fact, the eye doesn't even look at the paper since it is instead looking a a particular part of the subject.  The pencil traces the contour edges of the subject so as to create in the mind of the artist, an unmistakable sense of what edge the pencil is tracing.  Nicolaides says to, "exactly coordinate the pencil with the eye" and to "be guided by the sense of touch more than that of sight".  An interesting trick to be sure, and one that, when practiced, yields a much stronger sense of connection to a subject, necessary to execute believable drawings.

Set up in a comfortable location with paper of about 15"x20" (40cm x 50cm) and a 3B pencil.  Fasten the paper to a hard backing and sit close to your subject.  "Wait until you are convinced that the pencil is touching that point on the model upon which your eyes are fastened".  Start anywhere and stop anywhere.

Contour Faces (credit www.youthareawsome.com/contour-drawing/)

backpack (credit www.drawing-fun.net)

here are some that I did last week