Demonstrating blind contour

At the Rocket Thrower statue outside the Rep Theater, I decided to do one more demonstration bu doing a sketch using blind contour. Blind contour is actually anything but blind. It is more of a state of constant starting and attention to detail. This sketch was done without ever looking at the page until I felt the sketch might be done. There is a faint sketch underneath this demonstration where I was laying out the composition for a sketch of a modern red sculpture outside OMA. My student finished his sketch of the same subject so fast that I had not time to add detail to that sketch. I therefor left it and drew right on top of it.

This is also a good demo since it show that a sketch doesn’t have to be accurate to be interesting. This could easily be pushed to a finish by adding details in the head and adding a few watercolor washes to tie it all together. Having done several sketches of the statue however, my student wanted to move on and find another subject.

I noticed a grandmother walking with her grandchild as I finished this sketch. She looked at me with what looked to me like disapproval, probably because I was wearing an N-95 mask. Then again she might just have not liked my shirt or this sketch. Getting past the mass delusion and amnesia of the return to normal has been my goal ever since I started my pandemic series back in March of 2020.

Urban Sketching Class Notes

This page is an example of the types of notes I jot down for students on our sketching excursions on location. We met at the Rep Theater and the first sketch opportunity was a large modern red statue outside OMA. My student works pretty fast, so I just offered a quick thumbnail sketch to give him ideas on how to think about the composition.

Next we sketched the Rocket Thrower sculpture which can be intimidating for a beginner. The last time I sketched the Rocket Thrower, he was wearing a Fringe Tee shirt. I used the sculpture for several different lessons. The small thumbnail sketch shows sweeping gesture lines with no detail. I then showed how to block in the three body masses, the head, rib cage and hips as three simple shapes. Then we did a separate exercise where we just looked at the negative shapes around the sculpture which I colored blue. The negative shape exercise allows the student to get away from the distractions of anatomy and just think about puzzle piece shapes.

I always fell the urge to want to cover the page with watercolor washes as well, but there isn’t always time. Honestly blocking things in extra quick like this for a student is good for me because it reminds me to avoid distracting detail at first and think about the big picture. I also find that being able to verbalize my thoughts help cement them in my own mind.