ON THE DOCKET: Contour Line Drawings; what are they? what kinds are there? how do I start?
RELEVANT BACKGROUND: Contour lines are marks that define forms or edges, and changes within the form. These outlines are foundational to drawing practice, and do not include shading to indicate value. If you have ever seen a child’s drawing, free and uninhibited as they are, you have seen a contour line drawing.
What are they?
Outlines of: forms/shapes
Form refers to the visible configuration of an object, or any something really. Form relates to the three-dimensional depiction, or reality, of an object or any something. They express length, width, and depth.
Shape is the two-dimensional property of an object, or any something really. They are close line, and flat, expressing only length and width.
N.B. Drawings can have both shape and form. Form can be created from shape by using value or perspective.
If these sound kind of like the same thing, it’s because they kind of are. It can be helpful to think of shape as the base object, a circle perhaps, that is then made into a form. Take the below drawings:
This is a circle, a shape. When value is added, it creates a sphere, a form.
This is a square shape. When perspective is added, it creates a rectangular form.
Changes in: value/texture
Value refers to brightness, on a scale from purely white to purely black. Value creates emphasis, a focal point, the illusion of depth. Value is independent of hue, or base color. The Neutral value scale below illustrates this.
Texture is the quality of the outermost surface of an object, or any something. Texture is in a drawing is described much the same way textures actually feel; a drawing of a cement block would be described as rough, coarse, or bulky.
What kinds are there?
No matter the kind of contour line drawing you’re making, remember that you are looking for outlines and changes.
Unseen
An unseen contour drawing is when a maker draws without looking at the surface they are drawing upon. Rather, the maker looks directly at their subject, object, or any something. Sometimes unseen contour line drawings are combined with continuous, but picking up your drawing tool can create interesting outcomes.
This act, much like learning to juggle, improves your hand-eye coordination, but it also improves your ability to see subjects, objects, or any such somethings, as they really are.
Continuous
Continuous line contour drawings are those where the maker, you, does not pick up their, your, drawing tool. They can be combined with blind drawings, and again, help you to better understand how three-dimensional object/subject/any somethings translate to the drawing surface.
Think of continuous line drawings less as their own category, and more as a modifier that can be added or removed from unseen, cross, and modified drawings.
Cross
Cross contour lines are topographic lines. They follow, and describe, the surface of your chosen object/subject/any something. It can be helpful to think of them exactly as they are depicted on a map; lines closer together show steepness, and lines further apart show gentler slopes.
Modified
Modified contour line drawings play fast and loose with the rules of all three, and even with the concept of contour line drawings. They allow you, the maker, to look to-and-fro from your drawing surface to your object/subject/any something. They allow for suggestions of depth by changing line thickness, can be seen or unseen, include or leave out cross lines, and may or may not be continuous.
These modified drawings are intended to improve your ability to observe, again, the world as it really is.
How do I start?
Unseen continuous contour drawings are an easy, and low stakes way to start.
The key is to fix your eyes on a visible and distinct part of your object/subject/any something, and imagine that the tip of your pen/pencil/drawing implement is touching the exact spot that your eyes are seeing.
Then, simply trace the object with your eyes, and let your drawing tool follow. Feel what you’re drawing in your mind, remember that your brain is acting as a conduit between what you’re seeing and what you’re drawing; the DiSH satellite projecting Lost onto your TV.
Carry a small sketchbook with you, and a pen (or a piece of chalk and any nearby surface), and draw things as you come across them. Any sort of something, great or small, important or unimportant, exciting or mundane. Do such a thing for long enough, and it will become a habit, and soon enough you’ll wonder how you ever thought that you couldn’t draw.
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