Blind Drawing

I haven't done drawings where I didn't look at the paper before, so I wasn't expecting great things when we were introduced to the concept of 'blind drawing' at this weeks session. At first it felt uncomfortable and awkward and my first few drawings were pretty bad. I found moving onto hands and faces quite a challenge as well but embraced the exercises best I could, it was also very enjoyable to have everyone in the same situation have a bit of a laugh at all our first attempts to draw each other.

First blind drawing attempts.

After the initial shock of the task wore off I started to really enjoy drawing without looking. It freed me up from worrying about every line I was drawing and getting it all right first time. It was a completely new way of drawing and I felt I started to get the hang of it with more practise.

Early blind drawings.

I continued to do lots of drawings while I got home. I drew various objects and self portraits and they were relatively successful. What I found most interesting about blind drawing was the effect it had on things that I normally find very difficult. I tried blind drawing cars and to my surprise they turned out alot better than the first drawings I did of cars a few weeks ago.

Blind car drawings.

I also find any form of life drawing hard, struggling particularly with hands, feet and faces, yet I found myself focusing on drawing hands the most in this practise. I even sought to make it more complicated by drawing my hands holding various objects at different angles and with my left hand as well as right. I found the results of drawing hands without looking, much better than anything I've drawn in the past.

Various blind drawings - faces / hands

Overall I found the exercise of blind drawing a lot of fun and a really helpful practise for improving my drawing.