Sunday 25 May 2014

Outlines and Blind Contour Drawings

Another Angel Cat
25 May 2014
Graphite Pencil
Daler Rowney A6 Graduate Sketchbook
105mm x 149mm (4.1" x 5.9")

The sketches on this post are my two most recent sketches. The stranger looking drawings are blind contour drawings (see Contour Drawing) of the same subjects.

Another Angel Cat
Blind Contour Drawing  - 25 May 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
20cm x 30cm (8" x 12")

Both sketches are experiments using techniques suggested by Adebanji Alade on his Inspired to Sketch blog as Hot Shot 7, 8 - Practice Sketching the Outline and the Blind Contour and Hot Shot 9 - Practice Sketching the Outlines with Angles.

Following Adebanji’s suggestion, I dived straight in and started drawing outlines on blank pieces of paper. This isn't my favourite approach. I prefer to use an extended gesture study (see Section 13) to create a scaffold and to draw outlines and contours on top.

Buddha's Head
15 May 2014
Graphite Pencil
Daler Rowney A6 Graduate Sketchbook
105mm x 149mm (4.1" x 5.9")

I won’t change my approach based on these experiments, but I will use them as occasional training exercises to improve my ability to judge line lengths and relative angles. Adebanji stresses the importance of blind contour drawing as a tool to develop these skills, so I will also reintroduce this into my practice.

Buddha's Head
Blind Contour Drawing  - 14 May 2014
Graphite Pencil on Paper
27cm x 39.5cm (10.5" x 15.5")

The angel cat is a sculpture by Marie Prett. I posted a painting of another of her angel cats back in 2011 (see Angel Cat Thing).

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