Modified Contour Drawing

The purpose of our modified contour drawings was to use a variety of lines and line qualities to show our hand as a three-dimensional object in real space. I started by wrapping a rubber band around a few of my fingers to add an interesting aspect to my drawing. Then, making sure I kept my hand still and continued to view it from the same angle, I began to draw the lines of my hands with a hard-lead pencil by paying close attention to the lines themselves and the negative space so my result would resemble my actual hand and not what I thought it looked like. I was careful to only include the lines and no shadows, as a modified contour drawing uses only lines to record the form of the subject. Once finished, I found that my picture looked too 2-dimensional, so I added more weight to the lines of my had that were closest to me.

In my modified contour drawing, I used elements of line, form, and space to create principles of balance and proportion. I used only line to draw the hand, and utilized the space on the page to balance the picture rather than there being an overwhelming amount of negative space. I also used line and form to create accurate proportions of my hand which made the final result more aesthetically pleasing.

In this project, there are no real deeper meanings other than the had that is holding up a rubber band, and the use of only line to draw the subject. The drawing relates to my life because it is my hand. In this piece, I am proudest of the cleanliness of the lines and accuracy in the hand's proportions. The only struggles I had were in making the hand appear 2-dimensional (which I fixed by weighting some of the lines), and keeping the proportions accurate (I sometimes used a pencil to measure a part of my hand and then compared it to my paper). If I could change anything about this project I would have made the hand a little bigger so it would fill the space on the page better.