A really simple drawing exercise, continuous line drawing, involves making a doodle or a masterpiece without lifting the pencil or pen. Drawing with only one line forces the artist to pay attention to what edges are most important to an image, and to think ahead about where they will fall. Though continuous line drawings can be very detailed, they often boil a form down to it’s simplest representation.
I like to doodle in continuous line sometimes just to stretch. What I’m thinking about right now is my garden; there’s a lot of weeding, deadheading, harvesting, and watering to be done in July. So that’s what I’ve doodled: a catalog of plants from my flower beds, herb, and vegetable gardens. All drawn with one line apiece, and thus greatly simplified.
This is a great exercise to try yourself, especially if you’re a beginner, but even if you are not. Even professionals need a reminder to return to the basics once and a while. Economy of line is a valuable drawing skill at any level. You can draw one doodle per line, or see if you can fill an entire page without lifting the pencil!
