Seashells contour lines drawing | Alexandra Novik-Khamis

Have you heard about contour line art but aren’t sure what it is? The good news is that you’ve likely already made dozens, maybe even hundreds, of contour line drawings throughout your life without realizing it! Contour drawing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your hand-eye coordination and drawing skills.

Contour line art is a method of drawing where you draw only the outline of an object, without any shading. “Contour” actually means “outline” in French, which is where the name comes from. For example, if you wanted to do a contour line drawing of a pear, you’d simply draw the outline of the pear, add a stem, and stop there. Some contour drawings will include outlines of important interior shapes (such as wrinkles in cloth or objects on a bookshelf), but contour drawings will never contain shading or minute details.