A - Cross the Universe

I am currently taking a beginning drawing class at our local Art Museum.  I am not any good at drawing.  I can, however, get the hang of it if I am taught specific 'tricks' if you will.

We have been studying contour drawing.  This is basically drawing what you see, simply.  Then there is 'blind' contour drawing.  It is what it implies.  You draw the object without looking at your paper.  I am not a fan.  You should have seen the results.  I drew my hand (a lot) and I could only wish for the thin wrists that I 'blindly' drew.

This past week we studied 'cross contour' drawing.  This involves lightly drawing the main lines of the object(s) in pencil.  You then indicate lightness and darkness by adding lines.  The further apart the lines are, the more light appears to be on the object.  Conversely, as the lines grow closer together, shadows start to appear.

For some reason, this style appeals to me.  It's kind of therapeutic in a way.  You have to fill in everything with lines.  It also makes you pay attention to the object(s) and really see the light and shadows.  Believe me, I need help with this.

I have the results below.  The 'object' was a reproduction of a Georgia O'Keefe drawing of Los Ranchos church in New Mexico.  The lines are super simple to reproduce, so rendering the basic outline is fairly easy.  My rendering of Los Rancho in cross contour are also below.

This was fun!

The 'object'.

My version