Andy MacLean
StFX Art Department
amaclean@stfx.ca
ART101
Homework (due next week)
In your sketchbook:
a) With a soft pencil, do a couple of blind contour drawings of your head from a
direct, frontal perspective. Blind contour means that you will be looking in the mirror
(and not the surface of the paper) during the full course of the drawing. The objective
is to co-ordinate the speed of your eye and hand; your eye should slowly travel along
the details of your face in synchronicity with your hand as your pencil travels across
the page. Each drawing should take about 5-10 minutes.
Then complete a standard contour drawing of the same subject (looking at the
drawing throughout the process). A contour drawing is simply a line drawing done
from observation, eschewing the use of value or shading and relying entirely on the
use of line. This drawing should take more time than the previous ones.
b) Complete a value scale of 9 rectangles (see example below). Use half of the width
of your sketchbook page and the full length. This will be completed in graphite.
Keep in mind that each rectangle should be clearly different from the rectangles that
precede and follow it.