30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 10- Continuous Line Drawing

How did your upside down drawing go?  I hope you found out the happy surprise that most of us do when trying this exercise.  I believe that when the brain recognizes something, the visual processing centers shut down and your brain uses it’s processing for other things. When we look at something upside down, our brains don’t automatically quit looking, because they are not sure what they are seeing and stay engaged in order to figure it out.   Isn’t it amazing how much better we do when we get out of the business of seeing what we “think” should be there, and actually just draw what we see? 

Today’s Drawing Challenge is called Continuous line contour drawing.  The name basically says it all…it’s a contour drawing which explores the edges of shapes using a continuous line.  

I’m going to ask you to do the same drawing again.  If you can’t stand that idea, you have permission to do a different line drawing if you must.  However, this time I want you to leave your pen on the paper and not pick it up!  It’s going to be the honor system, but try not to cheat.  Picasso was known for these kind of continuous line drawings and they remain some of his most recognizable images.  If you’re lucky, maybe yours will become one of your favorites!  

Materials:  

Pen

Paper

Image (you can use one of these Picasso drawings)

Step 1– Look at your image closely and decide where you want to begin your line.  This will be a continuous line once you start, so remember to keep it moving and leave it on the paper if you stop.  If you go astray, back up your line and correct it from the point where you went astray.

Step 2– If there are shapes which are absolutely not connected you may leave a gap or an open edge. You may also pick up your pen to get to those shapes and THEN make a continuous line to form that shape.  (For example: this may be needed to form the eyes of the female portraits above.)

Keep drawing and tomorrow I’ll see you with another challenge to keep you on the path toward 30 days of improving your Drawing Skills!!!

Here are a few examples of drawings from some of you who are participating in the challenge…keep the photos coming, it’s so nice to keep in touch with what you are doing.  =)

Negative shapes- with additional detail (Wow!)

Toned ground Figure- Now THAT’s a head of hair! =)

Day 8- Photo reference on Toned Ground . An Ambitious attempt to draw a Rembrandt- well done!

Day 7- Drawing on Toned ground- with additional color. Such nice shadows!

Photo Reference on Toned Ground- Day 8 Such expressive eyes!

Well done!