Pure Contour Drawing - The Hand
Pure Contour Drawing – The Hand
An essential drill to help people develop their drawing skills was introduced in 1941 by Kimon Nicolaides; contour drawing. This drill helps build your skill in seeing the edges and contours of your subject.
In Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards modified the contour drawing into the pure contour drawing. Her drill has you looking at a subject, in this case, my left hand, and placing my other hand and pencil on the paper. I started the timer for five minutes and ONLY looked at my left hand. I followed the crevices and contours of my hand with my eyes and allowed my drawing hand to “follow” my eyes on the page.
Your outcome is a record of your perceptions of the creases in your palm, not a beautiful sketch of your hand.