Blind Contour (Line) Self Portrait
Let's start with an initial self-portrait, but we will take some of the anxiety away from the whole process by NOT trying to be perfect or even aiming for perfection. What we will aim for is the following:
CLOSE ATTENTION
Here are a couple of mine.
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| This is a contour line, blind drawing. I am looking somewhat sideways into the mirror and outlining what I see. |
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| Granted, I do look like this some mornings! This is a straight on contour line drawing done blind. |
I kind of like these renderings of me--they are weird and charming and more interesting that an actual realistic image.
What do you think?
Since we are going to work with ideas related to the self-in-community--let's see if we can try really hard to actually see our "self."
So, you try now:
- Use a soft pencil or a flowing pen (use a color pencil if you want).
- Look at your face in the mirror.
- Look closely at the movement of the contour line (lines that move in and out, that define the peaks and valleys of the shape of your face).
- Choose a place on your face as a starting point, put your pencil on the paper and SLOWLY (VERY, VERY SLOWLY) begin to trace your image.
- Do not erase, just follow the line, moving in and out, around. Make it one, controlled line.
- Do NOT look at the paper--look at the lines of your face and how they are darker or lighter, straight or crooked.
- Feel DON'T Look.
Do this as many times and on as many pages of your sketchbook as you want. Go back and color them in, if you want.
But, at minimum, leave today with one blind contour line drawing of your face in your sketchbook.
But, at minimum, leave today with one blind contour line drawing of your face in your sketchbook.
Acknowledgement: It is always important that we start this process by acknowledging the inspirations for these sketches. This summer, I worked with artist Lisa Perez on a sketchbook course through the RISD Continuing Education program. This sketch idea is adapted from her syllabus, though certainly blind contour line drawing is a very common and frequently practiced sketch of artists. You are joining a long tradition of artists, who do this type of slow observation on a regular basis.
So what did you find as you did this???
Send your images to me at thassele@bryant.edu. And please comment below on the process, on what you experienced.
So what did you find as you did this???
Send your images to me at thassele@bryant.edu. And please comment below on the process, on what you experienced.
This activity, for me, created a lot of artistic tension. Not only did I not know what the final product would look like when i began, i didn't find out until I had completed the sketch entirely. Operating "blindly" makes it so the creation and the real world subject are the only things in existence. We are not able to formulate our drawing in our minds before we begin and must base what we create solely on what we see. - Michael Carnes
ReplyDeleteAt first, i believed that reality would match this "blind" drawing but I was wrong. Using only what you see shapes what the mind believes, the true identity of and shape of things. The final product was only a structure, not what I believed to be a detailed drawing, which shows that we don't need detail; we are all the same.
ReplyDeleteThis activity made me realize how much I hate giving up being in control. As I prepared to begin I almost felt anxious knowing that once I touched my pencil to the paper I’d no longer be able to look back down at it. It actually scared me to an extent. Once I got into it though I found it rather relaxing to just follow the contours of my face. The next time I do a sketch like this I definitely need to go slower so that all of the little details don’t end up squished together. -Lauren Leedberg
ReplyDeleteWhen I was drawing my blind contour drawing I found it difficult to be confident in myself while not looking at the page. After I was finished I looked at it and was impressed with the resemblance it had to a face.
ReplyDelete"After finishing this challenge I realized that my picture of myself resembles a distorted version of me. This activity reminded me of the mirrors that purposely make people look distorted. Also, i found it difficult for me to not look down at my paper when looking in the mirror because automatically I wanted to fix it. Overall, it was a fun activity!" ~Kayla Lopes
ReplyDeleteThis activity freaked me out from the start. I hated not being able to control how my face would look. But after I was finished my final product was surprisingly decent. I have never looked at myself in a mirror for that long and it was a little freaky to be honest!
ReplyDeleteThis activity was, in a word, surprising. While I was drawing, I kept thinking to myself, "this is just a bunch of lines, there is no way this is going to resemble anything!" However, when I completed the exercise and looked down, sure enough there was a face staring back at me. A distorted face, but an interesting one. It made me realize that I didn't trust myself to create anything when I didn't have the control to view every step of the process.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this activity more than I thought I would. I liked the feeling of being out of control and allowing my hand to just draw. I will admit at first it was hard not to look at the page, but after I got used to it I had fun!! It was also surprising to see the after product and analyze it.
ReplyDeleteWhile doing this activity, I had a hard time looking into the mirror instead of looking down on the page to check my progress. By the time that my drawing was complete, there was a clear indication that it was a face but, on the other hand, a viewer wouldn't be able to distinguish that this portrait was of myself versus somebody else's self portrait.
ReplyDeleteThis activity became fun when I did not focus on having the "perfect face". I enjoyed seeing the end product and the surrealistic effect the image had.
ReplyDeleteThis activity was really fun, especially not knowing what the final outcome of the sketch would be. After I sketched I realized that my drawing actually didn't come out as bad as I thought it would considering I couldn't look at what exactly I was drawing, only what I saw in the mirror.
ReplyDeleteThis activity was a great experience. It was very tempting for me to look down at where I was on the page and see what the drawing looked like. But, the more I drew the easier it got to focus on what I was drawing and not be self conscious about the finished product.
ReplyDeleteI found this activity different than anything I've done before. It was difficult for me to give up control of the drawing and not look down at the paper. I wanted to make sure the sketch looked good and that it resembled me, which obviously I couldn't do. However, the more I sketched, the more comfortable I felt with the activity.
ReplyDeleteI found this activity to be quite challenging, but I did have fun doing it. I am usually very keen on perfection, so drawing without looking at the page made it impossible for me to fix anything. I was forced to accept my drawing for what it was: imperfection. However, I realized that its imperfection is what made it look interestingly unique.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this activity. I realized it was difficult to not look down at the page and fight the urge. However, the end result was surprising. I could not believe how my drawing resembled a face. Even though it was a distorted face, I found it very interesting. I repeated the exercise twice to get the hang of it. It was fun!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started to draw, I felt really awkward just staring at myself in the mirror. I drew the outline of the face first, which made it difficult to find my way back to where eyes, lips, nose, etc. should go. However, I was surprised to see that my drawing actually looked like a face. I think it looks really neat distorted!
ReplyDeletePeople will change their muscles when they have different emotion. This helps me realize people's mood and emotion. We know people better through this.
ReplyDeleteThis is a difficult task for me, because I do like to control the pencil and see what I'm doing. But I can also understand how that impulse can blind me in other ways because I may think I know what a nose or an eye looks like, when in fact I don't. I can find odd shapes and lines that I would not have discovered otherwise using blind drawing. The end product looks to me like a strange wire sculpture. I have to admit that I don't like drawing myself!
ReplyDeleteI thought this challenge was a bit difficult to do. I kept catching myself in the mirror trying to cheat and peek at my paper. While I was in the process of sketching, my boyfriend noticed me and became curious in what I was doing. Seeing how frustrated I was, he thought it would be a good idea to constantly break my focus by making me laugh. Since wouldn't stop distracting me and was always in the reflection of the mirror, I ended up redoing a sketch of both of us. It was hard to draw the contour lines of our profiles when we kept funny facial expressions. However, I had fun in the end and I was able to capture this in my sketchbook.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this activity because it forced me to not look down at the page and made me focus on my face itself. The difficulty that I had with my drawing was drawing my eyes, nose and lips because I didn't know where I was drawing them. The blind aspect of the assignment allows you to be open minded when drawing something so personal like your face.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first picked up my pencil, it was pretty easy to start drawing. But as I kept drawing, I was very tempted to look down and see where I was on the page. Every time i picked up the pencil, I was also very tempted. I think it really tests your integrity when you do not look and test your drawing ability. It was a fun challenge and I think I could get better doing this more.
ReplyDeleteI found this challenge to be quite difficult as well. I really don't enjoy drawing myself and this made it even worse by not being able to look at my paper. There were many times when I had to force myself to not look down and to stay focused on my reflection. Once I was done, I just had to laugh at how horrible it looked. However, the fact that this challenge is all about being far from perfect, made me feel a lot better about my sketch.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this activity. I found it quite difficult to not to look down during the project. However, that's what made the project really fun. I felt no pressure at all during the assignment; which also made it a very free flowing assignment.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge actually surprised me! I thought mine would look a lot worse than it turned out. Although it looks nothing like myself I think the abstractness makes it look really cool!
ReplyDeleteDid not think that my sketch would come close to looking like me. Can say i was easily right. But rather than looking down and making it look better, i made sure that I accepted whatever it came out to look like and kept my head away from the paper.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge actually surprised me because I am generally self-conscious about my work. I kept having to constantly tell myself not to look down. After multiple tries I began to trust myself more and more. I became confident in the fact that I can draw my face without looking at what I am doing. I am very proud of what I created even if I don't think it looks like me!
ReplyDelete~Desire' Marshall
The outline of my face turned out a lot better than I expected. It was very difficult to draw my eyes, nose, and lips because I had to lift my pencil to draw all of these. Small details, such as my nose stud, were very hard to draw without looking. I think that my hair turned out the best.
ReplyDeleteI have done a blind contour portrait before and each time I do one I find it fascinating to see just how it will come out. During this portrait I found it difficult to use one continuous line because I wanted to place the details in the right places. I did, however, find it very relaxing to just focus in on what I was seeing.
ReplyDeleteI was interesting to see whether or not my pencil actually made it on the paper. It required a different type of thought, and I felt less stressed while creating this piece because there were less expectation of the drawing being realistic.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late post, my post earlier didn't publish... I was so excited to see the results... and then It wasn't anything near perfect, yet I loved how imperfect it was. It was hard not to look and see where my pencil was going and harder to not fix my mistakes. This sketch showed me imperfect art is still art!
ReplyDeleteGary Enoksen
This challenge was daunting at first since it involved us having to look in a mirror and tracing exactly what we saw, and it's always scary drawing yourself. The first time, it was difficult not peeking. The results? My eyebrows were not correctly placed over my eyes and one of my eyes was droopy. As bad as it was, I thought it was going to come out even worse than that. The second time, it was easier to draw as I knew I had to focus on some things more than others. Overall, this was a great first exercise!
ReplyDeleteI found this pretty challenging initially, as at first the sketch did not look anything like me. But after the second one I concentrated on the finer details and actually drew something that looked like a face. Pretty interesting first excersice!
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was very unique and interesting to me in many ways. It actually turned out better than I expected and was surprised at my job. That says a lot, because I am no great artist in my mind. I found that once I stopped focusing on the small, particular details was when I found my success. All in all, I found this a very interesting and fun first exercise!
ReplyDeleteThis was really difficult for me since I hate not being in control. Letting go of the ability to make sure my work looked decent and I was not messing it up was the hardest part. I'm happy to say I don't look much like my sketch...
ReplyDeleteI found this sketch difficult. The face has very unique features and shapes. It is hard to capture every single detail without looking at the paper. I also found it difficult to trust that my hand was drawing what I wanted to be drawing on the paper without looking at it. I found this challenge to be fun and interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge was very interesting. Though it was difficult to draw without looking at the paper, nevertheless, I wasn't looking for perfection, thus overall it was a fun challenge! I'm looking forward to more intriguing and interesting sketch book challenges.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was fun and interesting. I knew that my most difficult challenge would be avoiding looking down at the paper and that turned out to be true. I also knew the picture would resemble nothing like a human let alone my face.
ReplyDeleteI am one day late to the exercise and found the temptation to loo at the paper very compelling. I had trouble not talking to myself about shapes and just letting the shapes be whatever I drew them to be. Fun and a great way to put the brakes on the brain after a busy week.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was very freeing, mostly because I wasn't concerned with what the outcome looked like. After attempting the challenge a number of times I began getting really excited to see what the lines would look like, and I began playing with some smudging and overlapping shapes. A great start to the 30 day activity.
ReplyDeleteI found this assignment to be really difficult. I think that the most difficult part was to allow myself to release a sense of control by not looking down at the paper. Although I had control of my hand and the ability to go about the activity in anyway that I wanted to interpret it, not being able to look down at what I was doing really changed things. I think this relates back to a sense of self consciousness with my created work; I want to create something "correct," but that is a too structured approach. This really relates back to what we talked about in class in terms of beauty. I want to create something beautiful, but the idea of beauty has been highly commodified. To me, beauty and value are related to each other and until I understand my work to be valuable I will not see the beauty in it.
ReplyDeleteI was initially nervous to begin this challenge just because I was afraid of what the end product was going to look like. As I started the challenge I found it very difficult to not look at the page. And to be completely honest I may have glanced down once or twice, but mainly just to see that my pencil wasn't about to run off the page. This was something I have never attempted to do before and at the end I'd have to say I was too afraid of what I had created. Not a bad start to the 30 day challenge.
ReplyDeleteAt first this challenge seemed a little intimidating. I'm not the best at drawing to begin with, how could I try to draw a self portrait without looking at the page?? But even though it was really challenging, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It was really hard to keep my eyes on the mirror and not look down at the page. Although my drawing came out pretty funny, I enjoyed the activity so much that I decided to try again! I found that the slower I drew, the easier this activity became and my second attempt came out much better!
ReplyDeleteWhile doing this activity I found it very hard not being able to look at what I was drawing. I was very nervous of what my drawing would end up looking but at the end I was impressed by what I did. It was hard not being in control because of not seeing what I was doing but at the same time it was fun and exciting.
ReplyDeleteThis one was tough! I found myself always wanting to look down at the page because i failed to properly plan out the process and simply just went for it. I also thought that it was difficult to keep my face and its features proportionate to each other. I'm glad that my suitemate's end result looked as funny as mine.
ReplyDeleteWow. This one was tough. I found it really hard but surprisingly I didn't get frustrated. While it was hard to not look down at the paper it was a funny challenge. I found that by planing out my moves in sections it was easier to stay in line with my features. After I stopped caring about the outcome I found that my drawings came out better. It was hard but really fun, a good first challenge.
ReplyDeleteThis one was challenging! Once i made the outline of the face it was very difficult to come back and trace the nose, eyes, and mouth without looking at the page. The soft tip of the pencil I used was tough to follow when I was going extremely slow.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge was really exciting however it very very tempting to look at the figure and i was curious as to how I am going to show up. I think even if i spent a lot of time doing it, it wouldn't have been perfect. It wasn't time consuming.I tried it three times the first one was extremely bad and the eyes dint match at all. one being massive and the other being small. In the second the lips were extremely big. In the third one the nose was huge and I understood.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was quite difficult to do. I used my phone instead of a mirror because I don't have a small mirror. It was fun. The self-portrait obviously didn't look like me but I can say I made a good effort.
ReplyDeleteSo I posted a comment earlier but it looks like it didn't appear because I forgot to sign in....anyway..Concerning this challenge:
ReplyDeleteAs usual, this was an interesting but challenging task for me because it required working without restrictions. Never have I had to draw without looking at my progress on paper. Nevertheless, it was refreshing knowing that there were no rules I had to follow for example, getting the shape of my head right, my nose, ears, eyes and even facial hair! But all in all, I ended up with a distorted figure which can be labelled as a piece of art!
Off to the next challenge!
I found this challenge to be extremely difficult but interesting. I have never tried to draw with my off hand before, and it shows.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the most difficult aspect of this challenge was avoiding my temptation to look at the paper, but after only several tries, I accomplished an interesting final product that I didn't cheat on. It was funny letting my friend try the challenge as well.
ReplyDeleteI found this challenge quite difficult but fun! It was so interesting to see the final product and how odd but beautiful it turned out.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was really difficult but fun at the same time. It is so hard to refrain from looking at your drawing until the end but once I had finished and took a look, it was not what I expected and I really loved how it came out.
ReplyDeleteWhen doing this activity it was very hard not to stare at the page. When I finished it I was glad I didn't look at it, the final portrait looked so exotic and rare that made my roommate and I laugh at it for a while. This activity was a very different way of showing your art skills.
ReplyDeleteThis activity was really challenging for me, in the end when I saw the image, my face looked very exaggerated. However, I enjoyed doing this exercise because I was able to practice drawing without looking!
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was super hard for me because I am a perfectionist while drawing, and when I looked down at the paper at what seemed to be a disaster. But I learned that our eyes overcompensate our other important senses, as well as feeling the art while its being made!
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was very difficult for me. I am not that good at drawing and not being able to look down or pick my pencil up, made it even harder.However it's always good to keep trying new things
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was quite the difficult task. I did not think that my drawing was going to look anything like me whatsoever, but looking at the result, l am pleasantly surprised. I figured that my portrait was going to have facial features all over the page, but it actually did not turn out that bad (except for the ear on my cheek).
ReplyDeleteI had a lot of fun with the first sketchbook challenge, although it turned out that my blind-sketch looks nothing like me! I had a tough time getting lines to connect and meet in the end because of the crazy lines I tried to make look like my facial hair.
ReplyDeleteThis sketchbook challenge was very interesting. I made multiple attempts at creating my face because I thought it was funny how the pictures kept coming out. Also my roommates wanted to try to create their faces as well after watching me. I had some difficulty creating the lines and shapes in the correct places without looking at the page but it was cool to see how the drawing came out.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm a little late to the commenting, my apologies: I am not use to this set up. I found this exercise to be very interesting. I am personally very glad I do not like look this in real life! Jeez! Overall, I found it to be very difficult to NOT look down at what I was drawing, but through and through, I continued to stare into my mirror...and when I finally looked down at what I had created, I was horrified! Overall, neat concept
ReplyDeleteThroughout this assignment I found myself constantly trying to sneak a glance at the page. It made me realize how much I struggle with just letting things flow not knowing how they are reaching the finished product. At the end of this activity my drawing surprisingly resembled a face, but not one that I would say is my own.
ReplyDeleteI found this assignment to be fun but challenging at the same time. Once I lifted my pencil off the page to draw, like an eye for example, I lost my place and the eye would end up not even on the face. I think my first drawing was better than my second.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started to draw out my face, I was so sure that it was going to be a whole lot of nothing- my eyes would be on one side and nose on another. I was surprised to find that in the end, my mess of lines actually resembled a face! I focused more on my eyes and hair which I’m sure helped, but overall it definitely resembled a face!
ReplyDeleteI thought this challenge was very challenging considering I am not very good at drawing myself but it was interesting and funny watching what my picture came out to be after being blinded.
ReplyDeleteThe blind contour self-portrait was surprisingly difficult. I’ve done it before in the past for my high school art class. I thought having this experience would make it easier for me, but I was proven wrong. My favorite part of this sketch was examining myself with new eyes. I haven’t looked at my face without criticizing it in so long. Rather than looking for imperfections, I was studying lines. I got to notice the way my lips bend. Normally, I focus on how thin my lips are (not something media defines as sexy). However, this time I noticed how the point of my top lip contrasts to the soft curve of my bottom. The most difficult part was my pace and not looking at the page. I felt that although my eyes were taking the time to examine each section of my face, my hand worked much quicker. The second time I completed the sketch I went much slower because I put on slow music in the background. The music helped me set my pace and have somewhat of a rhythm.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this assignment because after repeating the exercise three different times, by the third time I really began to feel as if I had a deeper grasp of the contour lines in my face, and though they all might be a little lopsided (the sketches) I feel as if I could see a little of myself in them. I also found a bit of humor after finally looking down at them and seeing what I had rendered as a self portrait.
ReplyDeleteWhen I finished this challenge I actually had a good laugh because I couldn't help but think my face I drew resembled Micheal Jackson. Aside from that i found this to be very fun and an interesting constraint on the creation of the face.
ReplyDeleteThis blind drawing of myself was kind of funny to me. Seeing my ear on my face and my eyes out of alignment was humerus.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was very interesting to me because as I was drawing I was so nervous to see the final outcome which surprisingly some what resembled a face.
ReplyDeleteMine turned out looking like a person... can't really complain.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was difficult because we had to learn to trust our hands. We were blind. But, when all was said and done, it came out looking realistic so i'm happy.
ReplyDeleteThis assignment was a lot of fun it certainly wasn't easy because I couldn't look back at the page. it made me think how art doesn't always have to be perfectly symmetrical to be art.
ReplyDelete