Hilarious blind contour drawings art journal

Blind contour drawings & paintings

I started this art journal before the pandemic hit, and I’m quite sure I’ve already posted a couple of these pics before. It’s worth repeating, tho.

This was such a fun drawing exercise that I went ahead and filled an entire sketchbook full of blind contour drawings. I couldn’t help myself. I laughed so hard at some of these. If you don’t know what blind contour drawing is you can read more about it here. In a nutshell, it means you draw an outline of something without looking..no peeking! Put a towel over your hand if you can still see what you’re doing. 

A couple weeks ago I finished the book by painting the remaining faces with gouache paint. I’m still trying to get the hang of using gouache. I actually seem to like it less each time I use it, but for this exercise it worked okay.

I’d rather use watered down acrylics, tho, if I’m being honest. You get the same results, but acrylics are more permanent, and won’t wash away if you add more layers. I’m still hung up on the impermanence of gouache (or maybe I’m struggling with the impermanence of life itself <– VERY possible). I gotta get over it, I know, or stop using gouache. What I’ve been doing is mixing the gouache in with acrylics, and that seems to work well.

I’ve decided gouache is ok for my art journals, but I’m not going to buy more once it’s gone..and I’ll be happy when it’s gone. It’s definitely not the medium for an artist like me who’s all about layering. I’m not sure how to paint without layers, so that’s the biggest struggle I have with using gouache.  

I drew most of these while watching Youtube..eyes on the screen, not on my paper. I think this is supposed to be Casey Neistat, which just makes me howl with laughter. Poor Casey. I’m so sorry. LOL 

Imperfection is beauty,
madness is genius
and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous
than absolutely boring.
Marilyn Monroe

There are lots more of these drawings, and if you’re up for some laughs, you can view more of the book here. I highly recommend doing this exercise if you’re bored, need a laugh, in a funk with your work or you just want to let loose and play a bit. You don’t have to draw faces..draw whatever you’d like. Whatever’s in front of you works. You also don’t have to fill an entire notebook, like I did, but then again, you might want to. It’s pretty addicting once you get started. Have fun!! 🙂 Lmk if you try it or have tried it already. Send me a link to your blogpost or a photo. I wanna see! 

What I’m watching: NFTs are worse than you thought | ARTISTS BEWARE – This makes so much sense. I knew something was fishy about NFTs from the get-go, which is why I didn’t bother looking into it. What’s that saying about if something is too good to be true..yeah. Ugh. 

I adore Catherine’s art, so be sure to watch more of her videos. 

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