Author: Sharen (22 Articles)

Sharen Chatterton is a talented artist, self-taught in acrylic, watercolor, mixed media and collage.

I believe as an artist we have to continually work on our skills, and one of the best ways to do that is to draw. You should always be drawing.  I try to keep a sketchbook handy at all times. One of my favorite types of sketching is contour drawing.  This type of drawing is not just an outline, you actually get a feel for the three dimensional shape of the object you are sketching. You are not just drawing the outline of the object; you are interpreting all aspects of the object you are sketching.  You can do contour drawings in several ways.  One method that will really hone your observation skills is sometimes referred to as pure contour drawing.  When using this method, you draw the object without looking at your paper and without lifting your pencil.  Below is a pure contour drawing I did of a bottle, I just sketched it one after another, I think I actually got a little bit better each time… not.

Pure contour sketching

The second method of contour drawing is often referred to as controlled contour drawing, this method allows you to look down at your drawing ever once in awhile, to see where your pencil is going and make corrections if necessary. You still should not pick up your pencil from the paper until you are finished. Below is a controlled contour drawing I did with a lot of different bottles. I love the way you can put in the light and dark areas and although you are not shading, they still have a three-dimensional quality to them.  I went back and spruced them up a bit so I could see how they would look in watercolor, a rough draft of perhaps a future piece…

Controlled contour sketch

a little watercolor added