Pure Contour

Artist statement:

In this picture of a shoe I wanted to create something realistic but I also wanted to create something a little cartoonish or fun-ish. With pure contour, the goal is to have no “hairy” lines. Instead, you want nice and sharp lines. This can be hard because artists generally add detail to add meaning to their story. In this project, though the goal was really to add detail without adding too much detail. (If you know what I mean.) I ended up drawing this sneaker because it represented a part of me. I mean not only is it my sneaker but it’s a sneaker that represents things I like. I love working out, running, biking, and just exercising in general so this sneaker represents a lot about me. When drawing the hand it was also important to make sure i was erasing any hairy lines and making sure they were nice and sharp.

This project was just about pure contour. This means we make lines nice and sharp and not super abstract or crazy. For both the 3 views of a shoe project and the rubber band hand project I only used a pencil and sharpie. The sharpie was good at the end to smooth out and keep the edges sharp. Paper wise, I just used a medium thickness drawing paper. Since I wasn’t painting I didn’t need anything too thick, but I didn’t want anything to thin because I find those smudge easier sometimes. Not to mention, I didn’t want the sharpie to bleed.

I always start out with a pencil one my artwork and progress from there. I find that it’s easier to be able to erase than get halfway through and mess up in sharpie. Luckily for the rubber band hand drawing, I didn’t even need to move onto sharpie but for the 3 views of a shoe drawing, I needed to use a sharpie. I think that I need to learn to add perspective to my artwork. And I need to learn how to draw from new perspectives like the front view of a shoe. That one was really tricky for me.