Blind Contour drawing helps match speed of looking with speed of drawing, and therefore helps develop hand and eye co-ordination.
Tips for improving a blind-contour drawing
- If you’re tempted to look at your hand, put a piece of card or a paper plate on the end of your pen to shield your view
- Imagine your pen is guiding your eye recording the contours and changes in surface, texture, or value.
- Trace your eye along the contours of the subject
- Keep your hand and eye moving at the same speed
- The key is to slow down.
Gather Materials:
- an artist’s journal, unlined notebook, or piece of paper
- a pen (a pencil is fine but no erasing allowed)
- a toy
a timer
Today’s Exercise
- Sit comfortably with the toy set up so that you have a good view of it
- set the timer for 4 minutes – do as much as you can of the toy until the timer goes off
- This is a blind contour exercise so look only at the toy, no looking at your paper.
- Draw one consistent line, never lifting your pen from the page. Don’t look at your drawing until you are finished.

Reflections on the Exercise
- I find it really hard to keep my eye moving slowly along the contours. It jumps around! I keep telling myself to slow down and move my eye and pen at the same speed but it isn’t happening!
- I found this to be frustrating. Possibly because my eyes were tired at the end of a long day. Sure I’ll tell myself that.