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On contour drawings


One of the tools I teach the students in the Journal+Sketchbook class is contour drawing. It's a technique where you follow the contours (edges and insides of objects) with your eye, and try to draw what you see without looking at the page and without lifting the pen from the page (or lifting the pen as little as possible). Expressiveness rather than accuracy is the aim, but often you get semi-accurate drawings that are also very interesting too.

Above is a contour drawing from my sketchbook, done while I was in a meeting on Friday afternoon.

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