Contour Sketches

Another exercise from The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards is to do contour sketches.

On the left, is a "blind" or "pure" contour sketch. You put the paper behind you and do the sketch in a single line without looking at the paper AT ALL while drawing.

On the right is a "modified" contour sketch. Same as the "blind" except you are allowed to refer to the drawing to check progress, but NOT allowed to sketch while looking. I can see at least a couple lines that are unconnected to the main line, which means I was obviously cheating (drawing while looking). Still, this is a useful exercise to force your mind into "right side" drawing. No symbolic references/triggers from the left side. The outcome is (hopefully) a more accurate representation of what you actually see, rather than what you THINK you see.