Blind contour drawing

The essence of Zen drawing is to fully focus on what you see. This means that your attention must be directed on the subject and less - or even not at all- on your paper. 'Blind contour drawing' is a wonderful exercise to get to know the drawing reflex and trust that it's really possible to create a realistic drawing while hardly looking at your paper!

Scanning the outline

Blind contour drawing works best when starting with the most important line, usually the outline or contourline. As your eyes 'scan' the outline, your hands will follow with the movement of your eyes. The more details you see, the more details you will draw. As your hands need the visual information of your eyes, you must keep them focussed on the subject! If you still want to have a peek on your paper, no problem, just don't move your hands when you do.

Completing a contourline drawing

A single outer contour line may not look like a real drawing yet, but as your experience increases, you will be able to recognize it when you 'nailed it'. The next step is to complete a drawing by adding the most important lines. Again, if you draw 'blind' the results will be better than if you look at the paper while drawing. Sometimes you may want to look at your paper, for example when you want to pick a starting point for a new line. Then just stop moving your hands for a second and look at your paper, otherwise your hands will receive the 'wrong' instructions.

Adding darker tones

After you have drawn the most important lines, all you need to do is to add some darker tones to make it look more alive. Then add some shadow where that is needed to create a 3d effect (I sometimes add shadows simply by rubbing the pencil on the paper with my finger.) The more you add lighter and darker tones according to what you see, the more photographic the drawing will become. Because in Zen drawing your own experience is key, just stop drawing when you feel that 'the heart and soul' of the subject have been captured.

Increasing the level of complexity

I recommend to begin with drawing objects that do not move, like a leaf, a feather, a shell or a flower. You can also use a photograph to begin with. Believe it or not, the more complex the shape of the object, the easier it is to draw. This has to do with how our brains work, something I explain more deeply in the books I have written about Zen drawing.



Moving subjects

When your still-life drawings turn out well, you can start drawing moving objects, like flying birds, running animals and even people on the street. Drawing moving objects is a great way to learn how to let go of the result and increase your drawing speed. These kind of drawings usually end up looking like spontaneous sketches and not like fully detailed drawings It is really great fun to draw without paying to much attention to your paper! Just take a look at the video below and see how my drawings turned out while drawing moving objects.