CONTOUR DRAWING


* When the desire for realism becomes strong, and the child wants
to be able to draw what he sees, contour drawing is a good means
for taking care of this need. This usually occurs at the junior and
senior high school level.

* Contour drawing is a means for learning to draw by keeping the
eye and mind on the object. The actual drawing is done without
looking at the paper except to glance when starting a new line.

* This type of drawing can be done with crayon, or charcoal, or
pen and ink on any size paper. Students must learn to concentrate
and work slowly. It is good to start with a posed model first. Let
the eye travel around the figure before attempting to draw it.

* After the first drawing, put the work up on display for dis-
cussion.

Ask such questions
as:

 i. Who came
closest to putting
down what he saw?

 2. Who has the
best line quality?

* Continue to
draw from differ-
ent posed models,
trying full figure
front, back, and
profile, also head

only.

* Other subjects
that might be used
for contour draw-
ing are pets, fam-
ily, self-in-mirror,
objects on dresser,
corner of room,
trees, tables,
chairs, outside
views, etc.



* Refer to Art as Education, by Rosabelle Macdonald, for further
information on this type of drawing.
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