This exercise was very interesting, since even when I can look down at my drawing, I always seem to need to work harder at scale and symmetry. I was more focused on detail with this drawing than I would have otherwise been. I will need to practice more at being patient and not rushing ...

Great exercise, I seemed to consistently have a problem connecting the top form of the subject with the last part of my drawing. I start big and end with a smaller drawing - my brain can't seem to conceptualize and make the connection of 'how big' is my actual drawing. Very challenging!

Great exercise, I seemed to consistently have a problem connecting the top form of the subject with the last part of my drawing. I start big and end with a smaller drawing - my brain can't seem to conceptualize and make the connection of 'how big' is my actual drawing. Very challenging!

Wow! I felt a bit intimidated by doing this exercise but I definitely see the need to focus on the subject & have the eye & hand connection/coordination. After doing the first one, I felt a bit more at ease, but by the time I got to the third one, it was a bit more complicated because I got distracted with the background. The fourth one was hard too, especially with the legs because I was thinking that I needed them fairly close on the page as I was trying to focus where my eye was on the subject. I will be doing this exercise a bit more during my journaling practice. It was kind of fun after seeing my results. Thanks Liz for sharing this exercise.

That was fun! I'll have to see if the grandkids want to try it some time. My problem on the Newt and Springbok was getting back to the starting place. The proportions weren't too bad. Not sharing though!

It was fun with some laughs, I enjoyed the contour drawing. I also agree that it was challenging along with realizing that I have done short segments while drawling before, but not with a long period of time. I did notice that I even probably did some of it to fast; I would speed up then try to slow down and focus. my lines went off the paper on a subject I picked out (daffodils) in a glass of water to draw which forced me to look at the paper to get back on track.

This was fun and a challenge, I have tried two animals, at the beginning I was having a similar shape, then I struggle to draw the legs of the animals. By drawing them I had lost my focus

It helped me stay focused on my subject but it also revealed my hand by itself has no sense of proportion, balance, beauty or function-following form :))

I probably went too fast--my hand wants to finish lines--but this was instructive and I did find that I was able to catch strong descriptive contours.

Like Heather, my return lines drawing right to left were short when drawing from the photos. It was different drawing live; there, I ended a couple inches below rather than to the right. My drawings very consistent. Consistently looking nothing like the object, as well, but they had essentially the same good and poor points and finished in the same place relative the the start. Fun!

This was a challenge but overall I learned a lot. I learned mostly that no matter how weird the final outcome turns out, we can always find little successes. I'm going to take this lesson with me in the rest of my sketching. It gives me freedom to just draw and make mistakes but end with always looking for the details that were a success. I surprised myself with the small contours that I got right even if the overall drawing looked strange. A good life lesson too I think.

It was almost fun! I discovered if I fail at nature drawing I could at least draw some really abstract pictures! Jokes aside, I think its a great exercise to help focus attentively on a subject, since your eyes need to do a serious job of tracing the edges of the subject

Getting proportion right was really difficult. It was hard to keep my eyes and my pencil in the same place and moving at the same speed. I did each of the examples 3 times (well 4 for the bird) and in 3 out of the 4 I liked my 3rd try the best. With the bird of paradise, I am OK with both my first and third tries. With the sunbird I liked my branch on the third and fourth times. The springbok is just hopeless. I'll be trying that a few more times. I'm looking forward to going outside tomorrow (it's dark now). If the weather doesn't cooperate, I have taken some pictures and I have some houseplants inside. It has been a long time since I drew or painted, but I am enjoying this course.

I remember doing blind contour drawing in a class I took many years ago. I agree with others that it’s so challenging NOT to look! Maybe if I gave myself more space on a single page for each, these might not have been so ‘off’! Interesting and fun observation exercise.

It sure was a challenge  with the multiple subjects,  good for going,

This was difficult and my drawings certainly had a modern art component. I was most successful with the bird and least with the salamander.

I think that the most important part is the experience, not the result.  You have to stay focused to move your eyes and hand at the same time, and sometimes its difficult.

Well I tried to focus on the subject so what happened was that my perception of where my hand/pencil was on the paper was so off!! LOL my springbok turned out looking like maybe a buffalo with a trunk!!!  It was also hard not to look at the paper...will do a bit more practice with this one outside.

I'm not sure it helped me stay focused on the subject. I found myself thinking a ton about the lines. I was watching my subjects intently but I could immediately tell that it wasn't really going anywhere. My bird of paradise flower wasn't so bad, but mostly I'm not sure I found this helpful for my journaling in general, but was an interesting exploration of hand-eye coordination without looking down at your hands.

Not my best work! My newts were more like seals. I started drawing from the left top of the picture and found that my lines left to right weren't  quite  so bad but following from right to left along the lower edge were  not good.  Then I tried covering the left eye - result quite bad, but when I covered the right eye the results were surprisingly reasonable. I am right handed. I've learnt something about how my eyesight affects my co-ordination, so will practice taking this into account also.

Whoa! I thought I was doing okay, until I looked down! I noticed that the activity was different when using the photos versus an object right in front of you. The photos already blur the depth and you can focus on the lines. In person I did a snake plant. I had to adjust my eyes to follow just the outline, changing field of depth. At one point I had to keep on eye closed to stay focused on the line. I feel my best test was the newt. I like my feet, the eye spot, the curve of the trail and connecting the back leg.

Picasso! :)

I always feel awkward doing these exercises. But it does make you look closely.

It was really difficult to not look down. For the whole entire time that I was blind contour drawing, I had the urge to look down and see what I was drawing looked like, but I ended up stopping myself from doing so, which I'm really glad about. I really liked this challenge, and like others, the end result was quite... interesting. I was very satisfied with the green-tailed sunbird, because I actually got the lines to meet, but I ended up making the head look like a square, which looked really funny, since the actual bird has more of a rounded and not a rectangular head. Overall, I thought this helped me focus on what I was drawing, but it was pretty difficult, and I hope to improve!

Yes, it helps you focus on the subject but this is a rather difficult exercise for me.  Need lots more practice!