Extended Blind Contour

Artist Statement

This piece was a blind contour, meaning it was drawn without looking at the paper, with one continuous line. The first thing I drew was the hand (center). I chose an interesting position, then placed my pen on the paper and traced the shape without lifting it. I then drew the self-portrait (lower right corner) in the same style, then the pencil holder (upper right corner). I chose to draw these things the way I did because I tend to strive for realistic artwork, and the base of the blind contour gave me space and forced me to use looser techniques as I finished it, creating something that was less structured and more fun to build.

I used a black ballpoint pen to trace the outline of the shapes, and added watercolour later on. I added watercolour because I was inspired by Ian Sklarsky's blind contours, brought to life with tasteful watercolour additions.

I decided to draw inspiration from him in my hand drawing, using a vibrant magenta, bright yellow, and yellow ochre to create shadows and highlights with colour- a technique I had never tried before, but enjoyed experimenting with as well as the result. I had only used single-colour shading to give shape and dimension to objects, so using multipl colours to create shadow and light was a different, but enjoyable, experience.

As mentioned above, I started with the basic lines from the contour drawing. I always like blind contours, because each one turns out different and uniquely quirky. I added to the contour by using some watercolours to give shapes within the lines, and contribute to the visual idea of what was being represented. The multicolour technique evolved from some basic mixing to create a colour, to adding more of one colour to the shadows and seeing what worked best, blending as I went.

If I were to take some more steps with this piece, I would probably add another colour to the background, something soft and light but still giving a little more interest.