Contour Drawing Selfie - A Challenge? by Thea Cable

Lol! You were brave Thea! It is very hard to draw without looking down . Bravo!

Thanks, Sarah - how about having a go yourself. You are usually very good about experimenting!

What an interesting idea. The hair, eyes and nose are actually pretty good. The chin isn't pretty though.. Not exactly a 'selfie' which is the fun part of the exercise ..I guess you have to look when positioning the eye pupils or else you'd end up with spots..lol..Well done, good challenge.

great experiment - you're much braver than I am Thea.

It actually showed me that I didn't look properly at what I was drawing. When you draw in a continuous line and without looking at where that line is going, you need really good observational skills that translate into an awareness of space, which in turn guides your hand. My skill was rubbish but it did improve after a few goes and studying where I had failed to appreciate what the shapes were. I shall do this exercise a few more times with different subjects as I can see it improving my all round drawing skills.

Thank you very much, Michael - have a go! It is actually very revealing and a bit of fun as well. I think I actually ended up looking like my mother!

That is quite amazing Thea, well done

Thank you, Petra - I keep inviting people to have a go but they seem a little shy, lol!

Hi Thea, will have a go, but not sure what result will be!!

Ps yours is very good!

Good on you , Shirley. Look forward to seeing the results!

I'm suffering from 'painter's block' at the moment Thea and was thinking that maybe what I needed was a POL challenge, not too sure about this one though! Well done to you, you've risen to the challenge very well.

Thank you, Christine - I actually think it is a perfect one to do a bit of unblocking as you can't produce anything perfect by doing this but it challenges the brain, eye and hand to free up and trust each other to work together. I think that getting a block is when communication between these three falter for some reason. Give it a go - you don't have to post the results!

Good idea. Who knows ...!

Ell done Thea, hard challenge!

Fantastic challenge Thea! I'm going to try now!

A bit like gesture drawing this Thea. Great to see the face behind the paintings at last!

Thank you Gudrun, Carole, Satu and Frank for commenting so positively on this fun challenge. Also Frank, I hasten to add that I thankfully don't look anything like my 'selfie' portrait!! The portrait looks more like an overweight rugby player to me, lol!

The only interesting thing on the gallery for ages and I go and miss it [ been on duty with the boys!] I shall have a go at this Thea, I think the top half of your portrait is really good, but to quote Mary Berry, 'the bottom half's a bit soggy!' lol well done with coming up with such an interesting challenge!

Thanks for the challenge, Thea. I had two goes and was pleased some lines connected but each time had to dribble down from my nose to my mouth. Didn't manage to give myself any hair or eyes though so am finding yours very impressive. Maybe I should add colour?

Thanks for the challenge, Thea. I had two goes and was pleased some lines connected but each time had to dribble down from my nose to my mouth. Didn't manage to give myself any hair or eyes though so am finding yours very impressive. Maybe I should add colour?

Well done Thea. Much harder than it sounds & very brave of you. I've had a go & mine looked like a bunch of knitting, so I won't be posting it.

Thanks Debs, Sian and Andy. It's nice to have a bit of fun on the gallery in the lead up to Christmas - but this one has turned out to be surprisingly informative and liberating. I shall definitely continue with this style of drawing.