Loose Inky Lines
I usually feel a kind of lethargy at the start of a new year, which comes from feeling overwhelmed by possibilities and expectations. I decided to start off the year by doing some low pressure drawing exercises to get me back into the habit of mark making with low stakes. So I’m going to start the year by sharing with you one of my drawing exercises, good for loosening up and generating ideas and interesting images.
Blind Contour Portrait Drawing
Most of the time I don’t really know where my ideas come from. I have lists of ideas that have popped into my head at odd moments and I don’t know how. However, there are ways of more intentionally generating ideas for artworks. This month I want to share with you a technique I sometimes use to generate images that are interesting and original. Sometimes I even generate a whole finished piece using this technique.
It starts with a blind contour drawing. Essentially that means you will draw without looking at the paper. Not even glancing down occasionally. If you look at your drawing before it is finished it will defeat the purpose of the whole exercise. Start with a sharpened pencil, a clean sheet of paper, and choose a photograph of a person you would like to draw, for reference. Or you can draw from life if you have someone nearby who is willing.
Now look at the reference object or photograph. Without looking at your page, start to draw along the contours of the object or scene that you are looking at. Do not take your eyes off the reference. The aim is not to create a realistic depiction of the reference material, it is to create an interesting collection of lines, which will happen naturally if you work slowly and keep your eyes fixed on the reference. One of the benefits of this exercise is that it teaches you to really see something, to look at it in detail. Below are some examples of blind contour drawings that I have done, to give you an idea of what you might end up with.
They are not accurate – that’s not the point of the exercise. If you keep your lines soft, flowing, and exploratory, you will end up with something interesting and probably also quite abstract. If you want to, you can try using a continuous line, ie, not lifting your pencil from the paper as you draw.
Once you have one or more drawings done in this style you can move on to the next part of the exercise. Begin by taking a close look at what you have drawn.
Can you see faces in there? Objects? Scenes? Think of it like a Rorschach inkblot test; use your imagination to find recognisable features in what is an abstract collection of lines. At this point you can embellish your drawing to bring out the images you can see, even if that’s just a distorted version of the original portrait, and add anything else that you like, and this time you can look at the paper as you draw.
If you like, go over some of the lines in ink. You can choose which lines to keep and mark these in ink or pen, then erasing the remaining pencil lines. I like to use a combination of brushwork and dip pen to consolidate my lines.
If you give this a try I’d love to see what you make! Feel free to tag me on social media, I am always interested to take a look. Wishing you a happy and productive new year.
