1. Observational
Drawing

2. What we aim to do this
lesson:
• To learn how to observe
• To identify what makes a “good” observational Drawing
• To use line to record from observation
Warm-up: Blind contour drawing
Put your pencil through the middle of your paper plate so the plate
sits above your hand when you hold the pencil.
Turn to the person next to you, and use your eyes to trace the shape
of their face, at the same time you will draw the shape your eyes
are following on the paper in front of you.
Don’t look at your drawing and don’t take your pencil off the
paper.
In reality your pencil is drawing what you see.

3. What Makes a “good”
Drawing???
• In your groups discuss what makes a good drawing?
On a postit everyone write an example from their group discussion, choose a representative.
We as a class decided that…
…are what make a ‘good’ drawing

4. What should we think about when
we are drawing???
• The shapes of the object
• What lines we could use for each
section of tone
• How we can create textures
• What area is the lightest/darkest areas

5. Task Two
•
I want you to choose a bird
and create a careful and
accurate observational
drawing.
•
Make sure you are using a 2B or 3B pencil,
that it is sharp, and your lines should be strong
but light incase you need to erase them
I want you to do this on A3
paper, and I want you to fill
3/4 of the A3 page this means
you may no fit all the animal
onto your page
•
You want to complete the line
drawing first, not the detail or
shading.
•
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Do not began shading until
you have had your line
drawing checked
Don’t rush your drawings, we will a few lessons to finish these off.

6. Where are you at?
•
By now you should have at-least a detailed line drawing of the overall
shape of your Bird
•
Your next step is to darken your lines once you think they are
accurate
•
It is now time to add detail to our drawings, remember “ACCURACY”
was important to you,we are drawing what we SEE not what we
THINK is there!!
•
Start adding tone in with the lighter areas first layering darker lines
over for the darker shades and tones.
•
Think about the types of line you are using? What type of line would
best suit that area?
Feather drawing Demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daa2G-FkbGI&feature=related
Cross- Hatching

7. These drawings are created using JUST lines
Can you see how the
Artist has added tone
using line?

8. Peer Assessment
• Swap places with a person in the room who isn’t drawing your
animal.
• On the postit I want you to write about something you think is
good about their drawing
• Then write a constructive comment, something you think they
could do better to improve their drawing
• Think back to what we discussed earlier.

9. Blind contour drawing
Put your pencil through the middle of your paper
plate so the plate sits above your hand when you
hold the pencil.
Turn to the person next to you, and use your eyes
to trace the shape of their face, at the same time
you will draw the shape your eyes are following
on the paper in front of you.
Don’t look at your drawing and don’t take your
pencil off the paper.
In reality your pencil is drawing what you see.
Do this task again and compare your
Drawings. Did you notice anything different
From your first drawing to your second?

10. Blind contour drawing
Put your pencil through the middle of your paper
plate so the plate sits above your hand when you
hold the pencil.
Turn to the person next to you, and use your eyes
to trace the shape of their face, at the same time
you will draw the shape your eyes are following
on the paper in front of you.
Don’t look at your drawing and don’t take your
pencil off the paper.
In reality your pencil is drawing what you see.
Do this task again and compare your
Drawings. Did you notice anything different
From your first drawing to your second?