Blind Drawings

This is my first post and it's weird to begin by saying that the drawings above are not the type of artwork I would typically produce. I enjoy using colouring pencils to produce portraits and recently I have been experimenting with acrylic paint to illustrate nature. With both my drawings and paintings, you'll find that I love to exaggerate colour - so you can already see how the blind drawings are quite the opposite!

I usually find myself worried about the proportions of features, so I decided to spend some time to produce a series of blind contour drawings - as a method for becoming less concerned about the idea of getting a portrait drawing spot on.

So, what exactly is a blind drawing? It's a drawing exercise that involves drawing the subject without looking at the paper. This exercise was first introduced to me during secondary school. I remember looking down at my drawings and thinking how terribly it represented the shell that was in front - but this did make me laugh a little.

With several repetitions of this exercise, I was quick to learn that I could focus on the details of subject without allowing my ideas on the appearance of a shell influence the drawings. I carried this exercise with me into my Art A-level as I found that it was a good technique for me to understand the subject before producing detailed drawings.

The graphite pencil drawings below are examples my A - level artwork. I overlapped blind drawings to highlight the feeling of frustration in these portraits - but I was afraid of overdoing it and then somehow ruining the portraits. I made sure I pressed down on the pencil gently, so that the blind drawings appeared subtle. Next time, I'll challenge myself to overlap heavier lines - hopefully my obsession with creating a 'clean' piece doesn't kick in.

Now, I am developing my skills on portraiture and thought it was best to start by doing multiple blind drawings.

Through this exercise, I have been able to look closer into how the features are arranged in relation to each other and I now have a better understanding of how angles influence the shape and size of a feature. For example, the nose and chin can appear larger, whilst the eyes appear smaller when you draw from below eye level. Although these drawings are far from realism, the swirls and use of thin and heavy lines create an interesting outcome.

These drawings can be really quick, sometimes less than 5 minutes, and all you need is paper and a pen! I have decided to incorporate this exercise within my daily routine, as it can be quite amusing to see what you can come up with in such a short period of time.

I'm also hoping to produce a series of left-handed drawings and I'm quite excited to see how these will vary from the blind contour drawings.

Let me know what you think of the blind drawings and if you have any drawing exercises that I can try out leave a comment below :)