Blind Contour Exercise - Creative Exercise 2

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Blind Contour Exercise

    The creative exercise I have chosen for week two is called “Blind Contour Exercise”. This exercise is used to work on hand-eye coordination, observation, and memory. The goal is for your hand to move nice and slow across the paper drifting into a meditative state. This also helps you focus on being in the present moment.

There are 3 basic rules:

    Select an object to draw.

    Select a starting point.

    Begin drawing, but do not look at the paper. You must keep your eyes on the object you are drawing.

    You are not allowed to lift your pen.

The Creative Exercise Process

The object that I chose was a cartoon character style headphones.

I started my drawing toward the center of the paper, and my paper was horizontal.

    I turned on my music, and I began to draw. I focused my energy on the photo on my monitor, but I felt myself itching to look at my drawing. I kept my focus, but it was tempting to not look at it. I wanted to know how it was looking through-out the process. Normally one would look at their work to make sure their lines and circles are being put in the proper place.

    I felt myself releasing control, and I actually really enjoyed the exercise. I caught myself laughing at the fact that I was unable to look at the drawing, but I kept trying. I did drift off into a somewhat meditative state. I started to relax, and when I was done, I wanted to keep drawing.

End Result

    The drawing was interesting to look at as the final project. It had the overall shape of the headphones, but it definitely was all over the place. The fine details were not very distinguishable. It looks like I intentionally drew the number 5 in there a few times. I definitely did not pick up my pen while I was drawing, but because that was one of the rules, I had to double-back to get to where I thought I needed to be to continue drawing certain pieces of the headphones. This made it look like I lifted the pen.

    I will have to do this exercise more often. I do feel like it could help my hand-eye coordination and memory. I also will do it again because it was something I have only done one time, and like I said, I thoroughly enjoyed doing this exercise.

    This was not a part of the exercise, but I was also listening to Ez Mil while I drew. He is a new hip-hop artist who was signed with Shady Records. He dances, sings, raps, plays instruments, and writes songs.

I found this exercise in the URL below if you are interested in trying it out.

https://theartandbeyond.com/art-exercises-to-boost-your-creativity-and-improve-your-drawing-skills/

 

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