web Blind drawing

Posted July 16, 2007 • Comments Off on Blind drawing

I really enjoyed this quick rundown of ’40s comic artists drawing their characters while blindfolded.

http://a-hole-in-the-head.blogspot.com/2007/07/eyes-wide-shut-in-1947-life-magazine.html

When we were in high school, Nicole and I used to play a drawing game that’s kind of the opposite of this. I remember doing this on the bus for a New York field trip, and on at least one other occasion.

One person has a pencil and paper, and the other person can’t see it. The second person gives precise instructions, a line or curve or shape at a time, and the first person follows them, drawing what she’s instructed to draw. At the end, the artist has to guess what it is she’s just drawn.

Sometimes it’s easy, especially if you tell the person to draw a car, or a letter, or a simple face, but sometimes (like if you try to introduce perspective or anything with an S-curve) the results are hysterical and completely unguessable.

I remember it being really fun.