Continuous Contour

I'm teaching my first library workshop next Saturday, April 6, at LAPL West Valley Branch, on continuous line contour drawing. And while I practice contour drawing almost exclusively these days, the idea of doing it in a continuous line is the precursor that allowed me to learn to really see objects and people. I learned this method from the talented Brenda Swenson, and plan to pass it on as her legacy, although she is not, of course, the first to teach or practice contour drawing, nor will she be the last. She is, however, one of the best!

When you use the traditional drawing method of reducing everything down to "shapes"—an oval, a triangle, a rectangle—and then join them together and soften them out with sketch lines, transitional lines, there is this generic feel to your drawing, because every object or human you draw begins in the same way, with an approximation arrived at by overlapping and combining standard shapes.

Contour drawing teaches you to look carefully instead at the outline of the object, building, or person, and also at what intrudes into the outline, and to follow that line faithfully until you arrive at a true, albeit maybe slightly out of kilter, image. Once you have mastered it, it feels like a more organic way of drawing; you no longer sketch and erase, sketch and erase, you just commit. That is why so many contour drawers use a pen, because it makes it almost impossible to be sketchy.

But learning contour drawing has to start with unlearning your preconceived notions about objects, in order to simply look at and duplicate what is in front of you. And having to do it all in one continuous line also makes you think in terms of what is essential to include and what could perhaps be expressed by an open space without damaging the full effect. It's fun!

For my class, I will bring a variety of objects, from the simplicity of things like carrots, apples, and oranges, to the complexity of jars, bottles, and teacups, and perhaps we will have a go at some portraiture while we're at it. So today, I went back and practiced my continuous line. And of course, I can't resist adding in a little watercolor, 'cause that's my jam! (pun intended)

Uniball pen, Bee sketch pad, various watercolors (mostly M. Graham and Daniel Smith).

(Disclaimer: The lettering, of course, was added after the fact.)