What is blind contour drawing?

• A. Drawing without looking at the paper, focusing on the subject.
• B. Drawing the subject while looking at the paper.
• C. Drawing with a transparent grid to assist proportions.
• D. Rendering the subject with shading and tones.

Answer: (A)

Blind contour drawing is a drawing exercise where you draw the subject without looking at the paper, keeping your eyes on the subject and often drawing with a single, continuous line. This forces you to observe edges and relationships directly and translate them into mark-making, strengthening hand–eye coordination and visual perception. The goal isn’t a perfectly accurate likeness but to train noticing how shapes relate and how lines map to what you see.

Drawing while looking at the paper would defeat the “blind” part and produce a more conventional, planned result. Using a grid or measuring tools focuses on proportional accuracy through reference systems, not the blind, experiential observation. Rendering with shading and tones is about value and texture, not contour observation.