2. Thursday, March 22, 2012
Agenda:
1)Review Right and Left Brain Thinking
2) What is contour drawing?
3) Contour slideshow/youtube
4) Looking at objects
5)Blind contour drawings

3. Right and Left Brain Thinking Review
• Your brain cannot focus on more than one thing at a time.
• Left brain thinking is logical, rational, analytical, objective and looks at parts.
• Right brain thinking is random, intuitive, holistic and subjective.
• We use both modes of thinking all the time, together and independently and
we use each mode to interpret the other mode.
• We can train our brains to see from a right brained perspective.
• Your logical mind (left brain) will not accurately portray an object on paper
because it will assign a label to the object and attach a restrictive image of
said object in your mind. Fortunately, your visual mind will see the very same
subject as a series of shapes, lines, dark shading and light shading that
intersect in ways and combine to create the whole.

4. Contour drawing: An outline
drawing that represents the
Contour edge of a form.
Contour lines: Lines that
define the edges, ridges, or
outline of a shape or form.
Blind contour
drawing: The
artist slowly
draws each
bump and
curve of the
edges of an
object without
looking at the
paper.

5. Contour Map: What do the
lines tell us?
The line that goes across
an object, hinting at the
form, is called a cross-
contour.
The first thing we do when beginning to
draw is contour drawing, which is
another name for drawing the outline.
With contour drawing, we are focusing
on the edges - the outside of an object
or the line made by a fold or pattern.

6. http://youtu.be/1Nnist1p_8A

7. Now let’s look and see.
•Pick out an object in this room.
•Follow the surfaces of that object with your eyes.
•Imagine tracing a pencil over the surfaces of the object.
Blind Contour Drawing
Blind contour drawing is an exercise in concentrating on the contours of an object and to avoid
looking at the paper. The paper plate blinds can help you with this. You should not look at your
drawing until you are finished.
To create your blind contour drawing, imaging that the point of your pencil is actually travelling
along the contours of your object. Slowly move your pencil on the paper, inch by inch, over the
landscape of your object paying close attention to changes in direction and surface details.
Assignment #1
Your hand. Don’t lift your pencil from the paper. Blind contour drawing will help you to observe
more closely the structure of your hand and will make you more sensitive to detail. You will also
capture proportions and develop a connection between your hand and the parts of your brain
that help you to see the whole image of your subject.

8. Remember that blind contour drawings will often appear distorted.
Assignment #2
Your classmates. You will create blind contour drawings of your classmates. Find a partner.
Take turns do blind contour portraits of one another. You will have 5-10 minutes for each
drawing.
Remember, don’t look at the paper and don’t lift your pencil from the paper until you are
finished.
Here are some more examples: