Contour Line Drawing

Artist Statement

For this drawing, we focused on our technique with pencil and drawing only on the crevices on our hand rather than the shadow. This drawing was different from our blind contour that we did earlier,a s we were allowed to use many lines and also look at our hand. I began by doing a very light, ruff sketch of my hand, making sure it was somewhat to scale. I continued by purifying the outline of my whole hand so I could begin adding details. When drawing my fingernails, I focused on the smallest details, making sure the nail goes under the skin to make is realistic. I added thick, dark lines around part of my wrist and the base of my fingers. This showed that the crevice was deeper then in other places, and also showed shadow and value without actually shading. We were also assigned to somehow use a rubber band on or around our hand to make the drawing more interesting. The whole drawing was created only with graphite pencil.

As this was only a pencil and paper drawing, there aren't many elements of art. Those elements present are line, value, and space. I used only lines to create the crevices and drawing of my hand. Also, by adding varying darknesses and thicknesses to some lines, I added value. The blank paper around the hand provides space. These elements ultimately created contrast and movement. There is contrast between the paper and the drawing, as well as the varying dark and light lines. The way I held my hand and the rubber band, it creates movement.

As this drawing was merely a practice to aid our contour line drawing skills, there is no story evident. As it wasn't a "creative" or extended drawing, it does not relate to my life other than that it is my very own hand. It does somewhat relate to my life though, as it is my hand, and I value and enjoy doing things with my hands. I am very proud of how accurately sized and realistic my hand turned out. Several times before I have tried to draw my hand yet it had never turned out this good. I struggled when drawing the tips of my fingers, and how to make them look like they were actually bent and not just pointing straight up. I resolved this problem by making the contour lines by my joints curved to show that they were bent.