Contour Line Drawing of an object

What are Exterior and Interior Contour Lines?

Exterior lines delineate the outside shape of an object. Imagine shining a light at an object so its shadow is cast on a flat surface. If one were to trace the outside edge of the cast shadow, the resulting drawn line would be an exterior line.

Interior lines delineate the inside details of an object. If the object is a hand with the fingers spread out then all the lines inside the hand, creases, fingernails, veins, etc., would comprise the interior lines.

Pure contour line drawings are rendered with lines only. No shading of light/dark values is added to articulate volume.

In this second exercise, you will be drawing a minimum of two small objects using only exterior/interior contour lines. Unlike Exercise #1, you can look at both your paper and the object. You are drawing freehand, so do not use any drafting tools (rulers, templates, compass, triangle, etc.) This exercise will help improve your skill sets, particularly developing steady eye-hand coordination and examining the nuances and details of objects in a concentrated and patient manner.

High School Art Lessons – Contour Drawing: The Shoe (July 25, 2014):Contour Drawing: The Shoe (Links to an external site.)
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Materials Needed

• 18” x 24” Newsprint Pad/Drawing Board
• 2B Drawing Pencil
• Eraser (white plastic or kneaded)
• Pencil Sharpener

Instructions

• Remove one sheet of paper from your newsprint pad.
  • Be careful not to tear the paper unevenly as you remove it from the pad.
  • The sheets are attached to the pads with an adhesive binding that can make it difficult to pull the sheets off cleanly. I suggest pulling the sheet slowly and carefully from the adhesive binding.
• Attach one sheet to your drawing board for the second exercise and follow the instructions below to create a sheet of drawings combining the exterior/interior line.
• Unlike the “blind’ contour exercise you are now allowed to look at the paper as you draw.
• Create a minimum of two Contour Line drawings of small objects i.e. – watch, sunglasses, purse, wallet, toy, shoe, etc.
  • Draw at least two different views of the objects you choose.
  • Try to render them as close to life-size as possible.
  • Both drawings should be on one side of the newsprint paper (do not use the back.)
  • The drawings of the objects can be placed anywhere on the page.
  • Draw each object for as long as you need to include as much linear detail as possible.
  • Vary the Type/Quality and Character of the lines used. The shape of the objects chosen will either be Organic, Geometric, or some combination of both. (see InMod E-Lecture Part 2 for term definitions.)

Submission Instructions

• Take a photo of the drawing with an 18-inch ruler
  • The ruler should be next to the outside of any side of your painting with the numbers visible. Do not place the ruler within the artwork.
• Upload and Submit the photo to the assignment
  • Click on Attach
  • Click on Choose File
  • Locate and Open your photo

Rubric

Exercise 02 Contour Line Interior/Exterior