Blind Contours. Not Really 

I've actually drawn an entire pinecone, it took a bit of practice however I was able to make an almost perfect copy without looking at the page. Pretty amazing.

That is an excellent way to balance the realism and gut feeling!

I was paying very close, serious attention to this video...until he said the 'wet golfball wrapped in bacon' comment. Lost it. xD Thank you for such a great video!

That's basically how I learned to draw from Betty Edwards' book. It's still the easiest way for me to draw something, I tend to struggle with more technical approaches.

Good to see this clip Bobby & Thomas. Getting the angles in relation to the 90-degrees seems to be critical and one would get better at these observations the more you use these comparisons. Thank you! Interesting method!!👍🏻🤔

I also think that just trusting the blind contour (not really).....might free someone like myself up to not be so critical up front. That is to RELAX a bit and be open to allowing the lines/marks to just happen (flow). 🤔🤨👍🏻👍🏻❗️

Hmmm. Interesting. This is more or less how I taught myself to draw as a kid. It's good to hear the ideas organized. I know I tend to look at my paper more than the reference. Doing what I "think I saw". I need to work on that.

Really cool, thanks for this video Bobby. This course is awesome and help me a lot!

yes, it makes a lot of sense! Thanks!

Back....to look at this demo. I've been experimenting with this....requires a whole lotta discipline especially if you've never drawn this way before. We've all tried true blind contour in school. And we've all made the 'Picasso' sketches! 10,000 hours! (takes a deep breath!)

This is awsome and so helpfull. Thanks Bobby, thanks Thomas :)

excelent expalnation! tnks!

I like it, thanks

Excellence!

yes if im drawing from life i occasionally use this way of blind contour drawing!! didn't think that its actually a thing that other atists do

What I don't understand is how does this principle of moving your pencil at the same rate as you move your eye work when you are enlarging or reducing something in size.

im doing these in art and this is amazing compared to what i did

I've come around to the conclusion that actually, I draw like this. Not in 100% the same way Thomas describes, but I use the blind contours to set up the "motion of the line" in my head, then go back and measure out triangles relative to the 90, then continue with contours from there. I've noticed that I can do the triangles blind too, and this can be helpful because then I'll overshoot the lines with a lot of confidence and really bring out clear proportions. Occasionally I will construct something to force a proportion, or I use another method of measuring like a grid to get a bit more accuracy, but in terms of observing, those two are the whole trick. Telling myself "hand, move where my eye moves, at the speed my eye moves" sets everything up for me to make nice lines and to observe in great detail. So my studies now always look like some blend of "Picasso scribble" and "accurate drawing", depending on which mode I start in and the medium I pick for each, which I'll occasionally switch around. Sometimes I throw in cross-contours as well, but it's harder to evaluate what's going on with those, and I think self-evaluation is really important to making the study beneficial.

Very helpful! but question, when it comes to life drawing, of course the luxury of photoshop or some other digital framing device is unusable. So how can one apply the same technique in a real life setting?

Tom Fluharty rules!

Blind contour drawing (with occasional looking)

this is how i started drawing , and i always thought it was a lazy or cheating way to draw.

He sounds like an older Shadman.