Blind Contour Drawing Challenge

Blind contour drawing on paper, scanned
and completed in Procreate.

After looking at these art prompts, my friend Eileen and I decided to try a quick drawing exercise. The parameters we choose were to make six by six inch drawings using blind contour or non-dominant hands for 20 minutes a day for five days. The drawing above conveys Eileen's spirit better than a more detailed drawing could.

Blind contour drawing scanned into Procreate
where hatching was added.

We exchanged around seven selfies (I got photos of Eileen, she got mine.) I was concerned I didn't have enough time because I had just signed up for a Sktchy class that would probably take six hours a week.

The original blind contour drawing which was the
foundation of the two drawings above.

I started doing a few non-dominant hand drawings, but I love the unpredictable nature of blind contour, so that's what I focused on. On the first day I was hooked. I stopped watching the Sktchy videos (they are on YouTube, so I can watch later.) I spent my 20 minutes doing four or five blind contour drawings, then another hour amplifying one of the drawings. After a few days I started using Procreate, a drawing app I favor on my iPad. After another day or so I was struggling with keeping to the "blind" part. The photo and the canvas in Procreate are right next to each other so it wasn't hard to see what was going on in my peripheral vision.

Screen shot of Procreate canvas. Layers show the solid black layer
with a drawing layer above. When the black layer is turned off,
the blind contour drawing is revealed.

Then I realized I could create a solid color layer, then make another layer above that and draw with the same solid color. (see screen shot above) That way I couldn't possibly see what I was drawing. When I was done with the blind contour part, I turned off the solid layer to reveal the drawing. The best part of this is that I don't remember what I have drawn, so there are two right eyes and two left earrings. I also raised my pencil at times, which adds a lot more randomness. More layers could be added for things such as background textures as in the drawing below.

The developed screen shot blind contour above.

The background on this one is a scan of a copy machine error that Eileen gave me last year. I tend to over-do these, in a way I don't think they need a lot of detail. But I'm just going with what I enjoy. I love black and white and contrast, so filling in some areas adds to the interest for me. There are more drawings in this Flickr album.