Line and observation - Exercise 4: Drawing with touch only.

Line and observation - Exercise 4: Drawing with touch only.

When most people draw something, they seldom draw what they see, what they actually attempt to draw is their identification and reference to that object… Let me explain.

When you look at an object you often see. A chair, a shell, a cup of coffee etc… But here is the problem, even though it is a good thing that you can identify what you are seeing, you can not draw a chair, a shell or cup of coffee… you can only draw a line, a form, a tone, or a colour…When you can focus on the lines, tones and forms of the object and reproduce that, then you can draw.

This exercise helps us to draw an object by means of feeling and focussing on its form and texture… and not by identifying it and then drawing our mental reference to it.

GOAL:

The goal here is to try and draw an object only by feeling it with your hand. This might sound quite bizarre, and most of you might think that you won’t be able to do it. Well lets first try and see how it goes..:)

METHOD:

Let a friend collect the weirdest organic object that they can find.. usually available in the garden, or a nearby park, or a beachfront. I hold a collections of interesting shells, dried corral, stones and bark that I usually use for this exercise.

Let them put it in a bag, or holder, so you can not see what they are.

Now select an object with the bag behind your back.

Keep the object in your hand behind your back.

Try and draw the object while feeling it continuously behind your back…

When you think you are finished, put the object next to the drawing and compare.? You should be amazed at how close you came to the real thing!

TIP: This exercise works best if you can’t identify the object.

Student example of drawing with touch only