Contour Drawing
Introduction
Train your eyes to see shapes and contours and your hands to transfer what
you see to paper. The strokes you make and the strokes you omit should
economically convey perceived images. The six types of contour drawing
are contour, blind, felt, cross, negative, and inversion contour.
Contour
drawing
Contour drawing is the process of drawing the contours or outlines of
objects. Such definitive outlines do not exist in nature but, a thorough
knowledge of contour is necessary to realistically convey imagery and
proportion. To draw in contour, study the object, then the paper surface.
Draw what you have seen. Do not draw detail. Your drawings should
appear as outlines. The more you practice, the better you are able to draw
the shape and proportion of the object.
Figure 3-1 shows an example of a contour drawing of a telephone.
Figure 3-1.—A contour drawing of a telephone.
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