Blind Contour Drawing

Blind contour drawing means using your eyes to follow the contour of the subject with continuous, unbroken attention, so that the drawing tool carefully records the information that your eyes receive.

You can think of this as the drawing tool recording on paper the precise shape that the eye sees. Working this way, you do not look at the paper until the drawing is complete.

This approach requires patience and concentration. What is important in blind contour drawing is not the finished drawing itself, but the experience of looking carefully and deliberately at a subject! 

You can start by drawing your hand and then move on to small objects such as fruit, shells, or other knickknacks. Focus your eye on some point - any point will do. Place the point of your pencil on the paper. Imagine that your pencil point is touching whatever you are drawing instead of the paper. Now begin to slowly follow the contour of the object across the surface of the page. Be guided more by the sense of touch than by sight. 

This is a really fun exercise if you are willing to LET LOOSE and accept that your drawing will not be the *most* accurate version you could portray.