I gave up at this point because of lack of focus. This is particularly apparent in the drawing on the far right and it seems to have become a worse problem with each attempt (4 drawings from left to right – the plant becomes skinnier each time!), suggesting that I was trying to over-compensate in some way. Most of the drawings below have the same fault, however: I shifted too far over horizontally to the left towards the finish so that when I approached the starting point, there was not enough space. Plants and other natural materials, in particular, often have softer, more rounded edges which present particular challenges if the hand is to accurately follow the eye around them. The blind contour drawings below were done a few days after the ones above and were done in less time and in a different mind set – and it shows! I have no doubt that this is something which should be part of daily drawing practice if skills are to develop but, for me, a blind contour drawing requires a slow, meditative approach if I am really to see the subtle changes in the edges. This time, I chose a different angle, more directly above the plant and began on the left-hand side. I then added some negative spaces and stalks to convey some sense of structure.īecause the course notes refer to making “several studies” in this way, “spending only a few minutes on each one”, I thought that I should do more. I am very pleased with the one on the right, which was almost spot on. I found it difficult to maintain pressure – or perhaps it was due to changing the angle of drawing with this particular pen. This is clear in the drawing on the left in which I overshot the starting point. I began at the top of the plant each time and drew in a clockwise direction. The drawings below (in an A3 sketchbook) were made in a relaxed state of mind using the cardboard. It takes a bit of getting used to and it can help to tape the card into position so that it is not actually resting on your drawing hand. The card should be slightly larger than your hand when in a drawing position. This makes it impossible to see what you are drawing and so it isn’t worth peeking! I find that this aids focus. I have adopted a method that I read about on Access Art (link here but it might require membership for full access) which essentially involves taking a piece of cardboard and make a hole in the centre for your pencil. I find that this requires an almost meditative, trance-like state to succeed and, therefore, only works in a relaxed state of mind without the “to do” list running through the back of my mind. Nicolaides said that we should allow our eyes to move at a slow, steady pace around the subject, keeping our eyes on the subject not the paper. painstaking climb over it step-by-step” (Nicolaides, p.11). It is not a quick glance at the mountain from far away, but a slow. Kimon Nicolaides in his book, “The Natural Way to Draw”, describes a contour drawing as “like climbing a mountain as contrasted with flying over it in an airplane. I began by drawing blind contour drawings, of which the first two are below. For this exercise, the aim was to use line to “observe closely the crucial structural lines that outline shape and suggest volume and texture”.
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