Igor Stravinsky, Contour Lines

The line drawing shown above appears to be a portrait of a man. The form of medium used is an ebony pencil on an 18x24 paper, creating clear, dark contour lines. The lines are mostly of a consistent thickness, maintaining a solid tone all throughout. While most of the lines contain smooth curves, the lower half of the portrait does have more jagged and sharper lines. The composition itself is generally symmetrical, with the only subject of the portrait being the figure. A thin, somewhat slanted border was drawn as well.

            The drawing itself was originally done upside-down in order to train the artist’s skills in observation. While not clearly visible, a grid was used to breakdown the subject into twelve smaller subjects. By training the eye to observe the form instead of the content itself, the end result came out more accurately than if done the regular way. Not only did the grid make it easier to draw the image of Igor Stravinsky, but it also aided with proportioning and scaling it to the original model. The strict use of contour lines and lack of color make the portrait appear very flat and two dimensional. It gives off a very simplistic and bare tone, especially with its lack of any value change.

            There isn’t really much to say about the content of the drawing itself. The portrait, when turned upright, shows twentieth century Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. I think that the real message was more about how the drawing was done unconventionally, assuming that Picasso did draw it upside down, than the actual subject of the drawing. For me, the exercise was a lesson on observation and a study of how the human mind works. The improved accuracy that can be achieved even for the least skilled of artists when done upside down just goes to show how one’s preconceived ideas of something can affect the drawing.

            Overall, I think the portrait came out very similar to the original drawing. When I was setting up the grid on the original drawing, one specific detail that I had noticed was the inclusion of borders, which were slanted and not perfectly perpendicular to each other. I thought it was good detail to include in my drawing. There was also a slight issue of the original drawing not being to scale with my paper, but after a bit of tinkering with the sizes on a photo editor, it was quickly resolved. This exercise was enjoyable and a good exercise for my observational skills that have gone a bit rusty. It makes me wonder how exactly I would do if I had done the drawing the conventional, upright way.