Definition of Blind Continuous Contour Drawing in Art Form

Last Updated on March 17, 2022

When we first picked up a pen or pencil and started making marks on paper, we began with line. Whether self-taught, through trial and error, or guided past others, we learned how line defines form, creates structure, divides a frame, traces contour, creates tonal variation (cantankerous-hatching, for example) and leads the heart from one office of a work to another. Initially a mechanism for getting outlines onto newspaper – identifying edges – nosotros begin to applaud lines for their own merit: gloat their presence…whether a quiet flick of charcoal on paper or a streak of graphite.

This commodity contains exercises for Fine art students who wish to produce profile line drawings, cantankerous profile drawings, blind drawings and other types of line drawings. It is a instruction assistance for high school Art students and includes classroom activities, a gratis downloadable PDF worksheet and inspirational creative person drawings.

Bullheaded Contour Drawing

Definition: A blind contour drawing contains lines that are drawn without ever looking at the slice of paper. This forces y'all to study a scene closely, observing every shape and edge with your optics, as your hand mimics these on paper. The aim is not to produce a realistic artwork, just rather to strengthen the connexion between eyes, hand and encephalon: a reminder that, when drawing, you must first learn to see.

Bullheaded Drawing Exercises: Bullheaded drawing is an excellent way to start a high school Fine Art programme. Drawing wobbly lines that conduct piddling resemblance to the chosen object is relaxing and stress-complimentary. Often, a classroom bubbles with laughter at the unexpected results. Blind cartoon stretches the arms and soul; eases y'all into observational drawing without fear.

A warm-up activeness in which students were asked to create blind contour line drawings of shell (teaching exemplar by the Student Fine art Guide). These blind drawings were included in the start preparatory sheets submitted by CIE IGCSE Art and Blueprint students.

Gesture Drawing / Timed Drawing / Movement Drawing

Definition: A gesture drawing is completed quickly – often in brusk timed durations, such equally 20, 30, lx or ninety seconds – using fast, expressive lines. Gesture drawings capture basic forms and proportions – the emotion and essence of a discipline – without focusing on detail. Due to their rapid completion, they are a great mode to tape movement and action, every bit well as increase your drawing speed, confidence and intuitive mark-making skill. Gesture drawings are best completed with smooth, easily applied mediums (chunky graphite pencils, charcoal sticks, pastels, soft brushes dipped in Indian ink, for example), without the utilize of an eraser. They are frequently completed on large, inexpensive sheets of paper, where you can move your arm fluidly, exist bold with mark-making, and non worry almost mistakes. Equally with bullheaded drawings, gesture drawing is an ideal warm-up activity.

Gesture Drawing Exercises: When you begin investigating your subject matter in the initial phase of a high school Art programme, it can be helpful to brand several first-mitt gestural drawings. The best of these can be selected for your final portfolio (taking advantage of a photocopier or digital camera to reduce in size, if necessary). A modest still life scene can be depicted just as easily as a big moving form.

A gesture cartoon by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn:

This gestural drawing past Rembrandt is completed using reddish chalk on rough, textured paper. With just a few expressive lines, we instantly recognise the scene: two women pedagogy a child to walk.

A gestural figure drawing by Chelsea Stebar:

Completed while studying Animation, this gesture drawing captures a clothed figure. Note the variation in line weight: light lines applied initially, with darker lines and hints of item all that are needed.

Continuous Line Drawing

Definition: A continuous line drawing is produced without ever lifting the drawing musical instrument from the page. This ways that, in add-on to outlines and internal shapes, the pencil must move dorsum and forth beyond the surface of the paper, with lines doubling dorsum on each other, so that the drawing is ane free-flowing, unbroken line. To avoid the temptation to erase lines, it can be helpful to consummate a continuous line drawing with an ink pen, varying the line weight, as needed, to signal perspective and areas of calorie-free and shadow. Similar the drawing methods described above, this drawing method develops confidence and drawing speed, and encourages your eyes and hand and encephalon to work together. Continuous line drawings work best with in-depth observation of your subject, without interference from your thinking heed. According to Smithsonian Studio Arts:

…continuous line drawing is actually a very powerful way to create a slice that is both difficult edged and fluid, representational and abstruse, rational and emotional all in i.

Continuous Line Drawing Exercises: This drawing method is dandy for sketchbooks and drawing from life. It tin exist an fantabulous starter activity, with drawings completed on large, inexpensive paper that can be scanned / edited / cropped and used in other ways inside your projects.

An A Level Fine art sketchbook folio past Lucy Feng from Hereford Sixth Course College, Herefordshire, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland:

This beautiful sketchbook page contains several continuous line drawings, drawn from commencement-hand observation.

Contour cartoon

Definition: A contour drawing shows the outlines, shapes and edges of a scene, simply omits fine detail, surface texture, colour and tone ('contour' is French for 'outline'). Co-ordinate to Wikipedia:

The purpose of contour cartoon is to emphasize the mass and volume of the subject field rather than the detail; the focus is on the outlined shape of the subject field and non the minor details.

The illusion of 3-dimensional form, space and distance tin can be conveyed in a contour cartoon through the utilize of varied line-weight (darker lines in the foreground / paler lines in the distance) and perspective.

Contour Cartoon Exercises: Using line alone eliminates the challenge of applying tone, colour and mediums; and instead focuses attending solely upon shape and proportion. After completing warm-up activities such as bullheaded and gesture drawings, slower, more formal contour drawings can exist an excellent way to begin more realistic representations of your subject area matter. Used intermittently throughout projects, contour drawings can too exist helpful for the student who needs to piece of work faster.

A contour drawing by Ultima Thule:

Mod line drawings by Ultima Thule: there is a slick contrast in this cartoon between the sharp black lines and the dripping greenish. The application of colour to 1 area creates a dramatic focal indicate.

Cross profile drawing

Definition: A cross contour cartoon contains parallel lines that run across the surface of an object (or radiate from a central betoken), such as those that appear on a topographical map or a digital wireframe. The lines can run at any advisable angle (sometimes at multiple angles) and may continue beyond objects and into the background. Cross profile drawings typically follow the rules of perspective, with lines drawn closer together in the distance and farther apart in the foreground. In this type of drawing, the illusion of three-dimensional volume is created entirely with line.

Cross Contour Drawing Exercises: This is an first-class way to proceeds familiarity with the volumes and three-dimensional forms in your project, producing belittling cross contour drawings that are suitable for sketchbooks or early preparatory sheets.

Cross contour drawing of a crush past Matt Louscher:

This frail cross contour drawing helps to communicate the bumpy surface of the shell. Annotation how the shell pieces that are furthest away from the viewer are thin and calorie-free, whereas those that are closest are darker and thicker. Note besides how the direction of the profile lines relates to the shape of object that is drawn, with lines projecting outwards from the centre of the shell.

Cross contour paw drawings by (from left) Mathew Young, Ryan Acks and Lea Dallaglio while studying at the San Jose State University, Section of Art and Art History:

Hands are a great subject area for a cantankerous profile line drawing exercise. Hands can create interesting, complex, curving shapes, as in the examples to a higher place, and are readily available for first-hand observation. Note how the density and weight of the line also helps to communicate areas of light and shadow.

Cross contour drawings by Daniel Servin (left) and Alfred Manzano, completed while studying AP Studio Art at Mt Eden Loftier School in Hayward, California, The states:

These cross profile drawings were completed as role of Latitude assignments for AP Studio Art. These drawings show clever use of line thickness, with the line-weight varying in order to create the illusion of tone and testify three-dimensional form.

A wireframe profile drawing do by Year 9 educatee Seonmin Lee from ACG Parnell College, Auckland, New Zealand:

Contour lines can as well be a swell way for students to design iii-dimensional forms. These drawings were completed every bit part of a papier mache sculpture project, with the contour lines representing the supporting pikestaff structure.

Planar analysis drawing

Definition: A planar analysis drawing simplifies complex curved surfaces into apartment planes, using straight lines. This procedure helps students to call up virtually the underlying construction of objects and results in an analytical drawing, that is rather mechanical in appearance.

Planar Analysis Drawing Activity: This can be a bang-up introductory drawing practice, peculiarly if you are moving towards Cubism or abstracting scenes into geometric form.

A planar analysis portrait completed past a educatee of Cat Normoyle:

The symmetry and familiarity of the homo face makes portraiture a great field of study for planar analysis; the task of converting complex three-dimensional form into flat surfaces. Note the conscientious attending given to the olfactory organ and lips in this instance.

Wire sculpture drawings

Definition: Wire tin can be cutting and bent into shapes with pliers to create 3-dimensional 'drawings', oftentimes resulting in a piece of work filled with flowing, curved lines. These wire sculptures can be attached to a ii-dimensional frame or a apartment surface, hung in the air, or be left complimentary-standing, changing in appearance as a viewer moves around the room. Due to their flexible nature, wire sculptures ofttimes move slightly in the wind, adding an extra interactive element to the work.

Wire Sculpture Line Drawing Exercise: This is an excellent activity for centre schoolhouse students and for high school students, if information technology relates specifically to your project (and does non interfere with postage requirements, for those who need to post work away for assessment). Pocket-size wire experiments, using light-weight wire, can also be mounted to sketchbook pages.

Wire sculptures completed by the students of Amy Bonner Oliveri from Allendale Columbia Schoolhouse, Rochester, New York, The states:

This wire drawing exercise 'using line to create space' is completed past students within a 3D Art class, working over photographic portraits. Having a base epitome to piece of work from (this could also be an earlier observational cartoon) makes the process of transferring from two-dimensional to three-dimensional much easier.

Hatching, cross hatching, and other line techniques

Besides as representing contours, line can as well exist used to apply tone (light and shadow) to a cartoon. This can be done by altering the:

• Gap between the lines
• Lightness / darkness of the line
• Thickness of the line

At that place are many line techniques can be used to create tone, equally illustrated in the worksheet beneath. Common techniques include:

• Pocket-sized dashes
• Hatching (long, parallel lines on an angle)
• Cantankerous-hatching (parallel lines at right angles)
• Stippling (dots)
• Scribbles
• Small crosses
• Small-scale circles

The angle that these techniques are applied may remain constant within a drawing, or information technology may alter in response to the angle and direction of the forms. For instance, cantankerous-hatching may flow around the surface of an object in a similar direction equally cantankerous contour lines. These techniques are as well a great way to create the illusion of texture (see our article about observational drawings).

Line Techniques Worksheet: The worksheet below has been provided past the Student Art Guide for classroom use simply and may be issued freely to students (credited to studentartguide.com), as well as shared via the social media buttons at the bottom of this page. It may not be published online or shared or distributed in any other way, as per our terms and conditions. The full size printable worksheet is available by clicking the PDF link below. This worksheet is suitable for middle school students, or senior students who accept not had prior experience with line techniques.

This worksheet introduces a range of line drawing techniques and encourages students to invent their ain (such as using the first alphabetic character of their name). It allows students to practice using these techniques and to use tone to a range of simple geometric objects.

Click here to open the total size worksheet as a printable PDF.

An Indian Ink yet life drawing by Kirana Intraroon, completed while in Year 10 at ACG Strathallan College, Auckland, New Zealand:

In this ink drawing, a small grid experimenting with different line techniques has been included in the top left of the work. Some of these have been selected to apply tone to the work, carefully replicating reflection and shadow. This paradigm was completed using a sharpened bamboo stick dipped in black ink.

An A* GCSE Art sketchbook page by Samantha Li:

In this sketchbook page Samantha imitates and analyses a line drawing by Vincent van Gogh, discussing the suitability and appropriateness of each technique. Note that when learning from artists, information technology is rarely necessary to slavishly copy an entire piece of work; replicating small pieces (as in this example) is ofttimes all that is needed.

A final GCSE Fine art slice past Hannah Armstrong:

This enormous pen drawing of a Baryonyx dinosaur measures i.ii x 2.1 metres, and took over 70 hours to consummate. Information technology was the dramatic determination to a Year 11 high school Fine art project.

Creative person line drawings

Here is a collection of line drawings from famous and less well known artists, to inspire loftier school Art students and teachers. This department is continually updated. Enjoy!

Pablo Picasso:

Line drawings by Picasso: a serial of drawings showing the progression from realistic course to a few curving lines. Tone and item have been eliminated: the bull stripped back to its essence.

Andy Warhol:

Pop creative person Andy Warhol is famous for his brightly coloured silkscreen artworks; however he was also a rampant drawer – often filling sketchbooks. He won many prizes for the drawings he produced in high school. The illustrations shown to a higher place – comprising of slightly smudged and blotchy black lines – have Warhol'south typical off-beat style. They were completed using a basic printmaking technique: pressing sheets of newspaper into a wet ink cartoon, transferring the image to the 2d sheet.

David Hockney:

Famous artist David Hockey has produced many line drawings – often portraits. He draws in silence, with precision and care, moving a blackness ink pen across the paper quickly. This portrait – a snapshot into Hockney's life – is entitled 'Eugene and Henry'.

Vincent van Gogh:

Nigh famous for his mail-impressionist paintings, Vincent van Gogh also produced over a thousand drawings. In this pen and pencil line drawing, 'Cottages With a Woman Working in the Foreground', nosotros see the stylistic swirling of line in the copse and clouds that is so characteristic of his well-known paintings. Capturing the swirling of the trees and the movement of the clouds, van Gogh represents the low-cal falling across the textured landscape with quick, confident marking-making.

Leonardo da Vinci:

These precise anatomical line drawings past famous creative person Leonardo da Vinci testify the internal structure of a human scalp, skull and heart. Facial proportions are carefully mapped out and documented in the image to the right; the drawings surrounded by annotation and enlarged details.

Aaron Earley:

Cross-contour line drawings by Aaron Earley: graphite lines of various weights trace over the contours of the face, clearly carrying emotion, despite the lack of tone and item.

Peter Root:

Gimmicky line drawings by Peter Root: a series of straight graphite lines is used to create a curvaceous, flowing abstract form.

Maurizio Anzeri

Contemporary artwork past Maurizio Anzeri: a portrait overlaid by a mass of stitched radial lines, veiling the epitome within.

Tornwing:

Cross contour line drawings by Tornwing: black lines of different thicknesses flow effectually three-dimensional forms. The strong contrast in this drawing creates a striking graphic image.

Karolina Cummings:

Gestural line drawings past Karolina Cummings: dramatic and vivid, capturing form in rapidly scrawled, fluid line.

Daniel Mathers

Scribbled line drawings by Daniel Mathers: an explosion of insanity with a black pen.

Roz McQuillan:

Sensitive line drawings by Roz McQuillan: the contrast between the rendered siamese true cat and the white cat formed (formed from a few light lines) draws y'all in to this serenity embrace.

Wang Tzu-Ting:

Pencil drawings by Wang Tzu-Ting: an overlapping sequence of drawings, using lines that approximate tonal boundaries, assault a running launder of acrylic. A stunning image.

Nina Smart:

Painterly line drawings by Nina Smart: what appears to be an abstract artwork of smudged and messy paint lines is, upon closer inspection, an accurate and well-proportioned equus caballus. This piece of work was created using a big pipette, cling wrap and a pallet knife.

Andy Mercer:

Expressive line drawings past Andy Mercer: this mixed media cartoon contains a mass of lines that create the illusion of a busy city scene – a tangle of architectural form.

Vital Photography:

Line drawings by Vital Photography: this image has been pared back to its nearly bones – lines representing the edges of grade. Without any background to speak of, this collection of marks is enough to communicate a message with ease.

Doug Bong

Scribbled line drawings past Doug Bell: a portrait beautifully crafted from a tangle of lines.

Matthew Dunn:

Line drawings by Matthew Dunn: graphic in nature, this monkey appears to be hacked from a wooden board or lino cutting. White scrawls on a black ground; open mouth with horror.

Rod McLaren:

Line drawings by Rod McLaren: I virtually didn't give this drawing another glance – just for some reason I was transfixed past this black scribble, especially when I saw information technology was called 'undercover train drawing'. There is wonder in information technology. And nothing. Countless swirls of nothing.

Andreas Fischer:

Line drawings by Andreas Fischer: the earth it turns: thick, colourful, globular painterly lines.

Nicholas Weltyk:

Bullheaded line drawings by Nicholas Weltyk: a wobbly nonetheless controlled continuous line defines class in this emotive drawing.

Swoon:

Street art past Swoon: a tightly woven mesh of newspaper cut lines.

Liliana Porter:

Experimental line drawings past Liliana Porter: possibly this person is scrawling across the sky; possibly they are holding onto a mammoth scribble in the way one might hold onto a wild balloon. Either way, this drawing is typical of Liliana Porter'south artworks. Fun, exciting and cool.

Hong Chun Zhang:

Line drawings by Hong Chun Zhang: this huge hair drawing hangs down the wall and drapes beyond the floor. Impressive in scale, this drawing is the ultimate depiction of long, tightly braided line.

Bruce Pollock:

Line drawings by Bruce Pollock: finely interlocking mesh of lines creates an intricate and mesmerising blueprint.

David Eskenazi

Line drawings past David Eskenazi: the boundaries of infinite and all that is in between.

Matt Niebuhr:

Line drawings by Matt Niebuhr: a shimmer of tightly meshed smudged and erased graphite line.

Albrecht Durer:

Line drawings by Albrecht Durer: a walrus

Il Lee:

Line drawings past Il Lee: whoever knew the scribbling of a blue biro pen could consequence in such magic.

Victoria Haven:

Geometric line drawings past Victoria Oasis: careful, ordered lines of bluish water colours (title: 'all in all is true') create the illusion of architectural form; twisting, turning space.

Carne Griffiths:

Line drawings by Carne Griffiths: this work is spun with lines…the fine pencil layer that teases out from below the colour; the jagged vertical drips that streak down towards the floor; the carefully etched eyebrows and lashes and pilus.

William Anastasi:

Line drawings by William Anastasi: while blindfolded, Anastasi drew on a wall with graphite for an 60 minutes.

Charles Avery

Line drawings by Charles Avery: the illusory combining of pilus with perspective lines vanishing towards a horizon make for a powerful image.

Did you enjoy this article? You may wish to read xi Tips for Producing an Excellent Observational Drawing.

Amiria has been an Art & Blueprint teacher and a Curriculum Co-ordinator for seven years, responsible for the course design and assessment of student work in two high-achieving Auckland schools. She has a Available of Architectural Studies, Bachelor of Architecture (Kickoff Course Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching. Amiria is a CIE Accredited Fine art & Design Coursework Assessor.

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Source: https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/line-drawings-2

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