Day 1

Understanding contour line is essential for you as an artist. If you plan to take IB Visual Arts or apply to an art school, you’ll need to demonstrate strong contour line work in your pieces.

Here’s a sketchbook video from a former student’s university application to the CalArts Animation program, one of the top animation programs in the world. For reference, this same student was not accepted to University of Southern California (USC) with the same portfolio, which is a good reminder that art is subjective. What one reviewer might love, another might not see in the same way. Don’t get discouraged when the application process begins; every artist’s journey is different.

How to Do a Contour Drawing

Look at the object! While you draw, keep your eyes on the object at least 90% of the time. If you're doing a blind contour, look at the object 100% of the time. Only glance at your paper when you're starting a new line and need to check your placement. Focus on training your hand-eye coordination, not making a “perfect” drawing.

Use one continuous line. Don’t lift your marker or pencil unless absolutely necessary, like if you go off the page or hit a dead end. When lines intersect or meet, just choose a direction and keep going. You can always reconnect later.

Draw slowly, like a snail. Take your time. Drawing slowly helps your hand match your eye’s movements more accurately. If it helps, close one eye while you observe the object.

Detail, detail, detail! Only draw the edges, but include as much as you can see. Every crack, bump, wrinkle, or fold you notice should be part of your drawing. The more you observe, the stronger your contour will be.

Work close to life size. Fill the page with your object as much as possible, your drawing should be as close to the actual size of what you're looking at as your sketchbook or paper allows.

How Can Blind Contour Drawing Improve Your Art?

It might seem strange to draw without looking at your paper, how could that possibly help your art? But blind contour drawing is one of the most powerful exercises for building observation skills and hand-eye coordination.

Let’s break it down: Normally, when you draw something in front of you, your eyes constantly jump between the object and your paper, trying to match the shape you're making to what you see. Your brain is doing a lot of work, comparing, adjusting, correcting. That back-and-forth can actually distract from really seeing the object.

When you draw blindly, your eyes focus 100% on the object, and your hand focuses 100% on the movement. You're no longer concerned with making a “pretty” drawing, you're focused on truly noticing the shape, edges, curves, and contours in front of you.

Blind contour drawing helps you:

• Break habits of drawing from memory or assumptions (“apples are round”)

• Train your hand to follow your eye, improving coordination

• See more accurately, noticing unique shapes and angles you might otherwise miss

• Loosen up your drawing style, allowing for more expression and instinctive mark-making
  
  

Studies have shown that artists who regularly practice blind contour drawing become better at capturing the actual form of objects later in their regular drawings. If you're stuck or struggling with a shape, drawing it blindly might be exactly what you need to see it differently, and draw it better.

How Can Modified Contour Drawing Improve Your Art?

Modified contour drawing helps train your observation skills while giving you the chance to make small corrections as you go. Since you're mostly focused on the object, you're learning to trust your eyes and draw what you see. The quick glances at your paper give you instant feedback, if something’s off, you can fix it before you get too far.

But it’s easy to overuse the "peek". If you look down too often, you lose the benefits of the exercise. To stay focused, set rules for yourself, like only looking at your paper to reposition your pencil, or limiting yourself to three peeks total. With practice and discipline, modified contour drawing helps you balance accuracy with close observation.

How Can Pure Contour Drawing Improve Your Art?

Even though pure contour drawing is simple, the benefits are foundational. It’s how most of us start learning to draw, trying to put what we see in the world onto paper using just lines. Over time, we build skills like keeping a steady hand, recognizing shapes, and understanding how forms fit together. We make mistakes, draw out-of-proportion stick figures, and create 2D objects without depth, all while developing essential drawing habits.

As artists grow, many move on to shading, texture, and color, often leaving behind those early contour techniques. But revisiting pure contour drawing is a powerful way to refocus on the basics. It helps sharpen your line control, strengthen your sense of proportion, and improve your observation skills without the distraction of detail. Even advanced artists benefit from practicing pure contour, it's a reset for your drawing foundation and a reminder that strong art starts with strong structure.

Get your digital portfolio tab created and upload your contour drawings from today. Try to keep your portfolio up to date with all your visual documentation along the way! 

Before you leave class today:
Please make sure you’ve created your Digital Portfolio tab for this project: Mixed Media Still Life.

Your portfolio page should include:

• The section titles for this project

• A copy and paste of the specific elements required under each section, as listed on the title tab for this assignment

Double-check that everything is clearly labeled and organized before you go!