More Contour Drawings

Here are more of my November daily contour drawings. I have tried a variety of techniques, including blind contour (don't look at the paper at all) and partial blind contour (peek now and then). The technique that I am enjoying most is from the book Charles Reid Master Class Painting by Design by Charles Reid (1991). Reid gives these contour drawing guidelines:

• Concentrate.
• Use angles and curves.
• Keep your pen on the paper at all times.
• Go slowly at angles; speed up at curves and straight lines.
• Describe shadows within definite, contained shapes.
• Stop often, keeping your pen anchored, to compare and relate a new form to one you've already drawn.
• Leave your boundaries incomplete. Your pen should weave adjacent forms so separations can't always be found.
  

For some reason, I find that keeping my pen on the paper at all times relaxes me and makes it easier to draw freely. Reid points out that it is more important to make an interesting picture than to copy exactly what you see. For example, one can add interest by using a variety of angles and curves and leaving some parts of the drawing incomplete. I am using two new Micron pens in these drawings: brown .01 and sepia .05.