Line and Observation - Exercise 3: Drawing Without Looking

Exercise 3

For the next exercise you are going to need a pencil, paper and your hand. Very easy.

Most people only look at the object that they are drawing for 10% of the time, the rest of the time they spend looking on the paper - and draw something that's in their heads! -  This results in lots of frustration and bad drawing.  The proper proportion is 90 % on the object and 10 % on the drawing.  This is what this exercise is all about.

Goal:

To exercise your observation by drawing an object without looking on the paper.

METHOD: 

(For every drawing please use a different hand position)

STEP ONE: Draw your hand in any way that you like. 15 min.

STEP TWO: Now turn your body to the side looking at your hand that you are going to draw

and draw your hand without looking at the paper. 

DON'T LOOK AT THE PAPER UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED

TIP: draw as slowly as possible, as your eyes move along the edges of your hand, let your pencil move as well.

- Step 2 Illustrated below-

You might think that your drawings looks quite odd..kind of wiggly and out of proportion... but look again..chances are it might be better than in step 1!

 Repeat step 2

STEP 3: Repeat the exact setup as in step 2 but now look at the paper every 10 seconds for 1 second.

  90 % On the object and 10 % on the drawing.

 STEP 4: Now draw your hand again moving freely between you hand and the object, but this time concentrate on spending as much time as possible looking at what your are drawing and just the right amount on the paper so you can see where you are. 

Your drawing in step 4 should be noticeably better than step 1.

Student example of drawing without looking step 1 - 3