• 100 challenges

Blind Drawing Challenge

Press for a subject, start the clock and draw it without once looking at the paper.

Blind Drawing Challenge

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  1. A fork, tines towards you, with your other hand2 min. Tines and the slots between them. Run up and down each tine, and expect the spacing to wander.

Next step Try a short warm-up drillDraw each other instead

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Your own hand 20

  • The back of your free hand, knuckles up 3 min. Leave the outline alone. Travel over the knuckles, the tendons and any vein you can see.
  • Only the creases of your palm, no outline 2 min. The long creases first, then the short ones. Draw them like rivers on a map, eyes on the palm.
  • Your free hand cupped as if it held water 3 min. Let your eyes travel round the rim of the cup first, then down into the creases of the palm.
  • Your free hand curled round a ball of paper 4 min. Follow a finger until the paper hides it, then follow the paper until a finger comes back.
  • Your free hand flat on the table, seen from above 3 min. Like tracing round it, but by eye. Dip into every valley between the fingers.
  • Your free hand giving a thumbs up 2 min. The thumb stands and four fingers fold into steps. Take the steps one at a time.
  • Your free hand gripping a mug handle 4 min. Hand and handle are one outline. Do not stop where skin ends and the mug begins.
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Your own hand, continued

  • Your free hand hanging off the table edge 3 min. Let the wrist go slack. The fingers hang at different lengths: follow each to its tip and back.
  • Your free hand holding a key by its bow 3 min. Start on the key's teeth, travel into the fingertips that hold it and on round the hand.
  • Your free hand in a loose fist 2 min. Start at the wrist and crawl over each knuckle. No glance down until the clock stops.
  • Your free hand on its edge, thumb on top 2 min. A narrow shape. Follow the little finger side along the table, then come back over the thumb.
  • Your free hand pinching a coin 3 min. Watch where thumb and finger meet the coin's rim. Draw the gap between them as carefully as the skin.
  • Your free hand pointing at the ceiling 2 min. One long finger and a bundle of folded ones. Follow the edge up, over the nail and back down.
  • Your free hand shaped like a duck's beak 2 min. Four fingers on top, thumb beneath. Trace the gap of the open beak before the outside edge.
  • Your free hand with an elastic band round two fingers 3 min. The band pinches a waist into both fingers. Cross it with your line each time you meet it.
  • Your free hand with two fingers crossed 2 min. Find the place where one finger disappears behind the other. Let the line cross itself there.
  • Your free hand, palm up, fingers spread 3 min. Eyes on the palm, never the paper. Go round each finger in turn, as slowly as you can bear.
  • Your index finger, pointing straight at you 2 min. End on, a finger is a nail, a pad and a stack of rings. Draw that, not the length you know it has.
  • Your thumb alone, nail and both joints 1 min. A short round. Circle the nail, cross each crease at the joints and stop at the wrist.
  • Your wrist, from watch strap to the heel of the hand 2 min. Follow the strap round, then the bumps of the wrist and the pad under the thumb.

Things on the desk 20

  • A bunch of keys on a ring 4 min. Take one key at a time, teeth and all, and come back to the ring between each.
  • A computer mouse, seen from the side 1 min. One low curve from front to back and a flat base. Find the seam of the button on the way.
  • A desk lamp, from base to shade 3 min. Climb the arm joint by joint. The flex leaving the base is part of the subject.
  • A foldback clip with its wire handles up 2 min. Two wire loops and a folded body. Follow one wire from its tip to the hinge and back.
  • A houseplant, one leaf at a time 5 min. Out along a leaf's edge, round the tip, back to the stem, then on to the next leaf.
  • A jar crammed with pens and brushes 5 min. Go up one pen, across its top and down again, then the next. The jar comes last.
  • A mug with its handle towards you 2 min. Rim, handle, base. The rim is an ellipse; let your eye go round it once without hurrying.
  • A pair of glasses with the arms open 3 min. Start at one earpiece, travel along the arm, round both lenses and out along the other arm.
  • A pencil sharpener and a curl of shavings 3 min. The block is easy and the curl is not. Give the frilled edge of the shaving most of the time.
  • A roll of sticky tape in its dispenser 3 min. A circle inside a block. Follow the tape off the roll to the row of teeth at the front.
  • A spoon standing in an empty cup 2 min. The handle leans on the rim. Watch the place where the spoon vanishes into the cup.
  • A stack of three books, spines towards you 3 min. No two books line up. Step in and out along the ragged side of the stack.
  • A stapler seen from the side 2 min. A long wedge with a hinge at the back. Find the gap where the paper goes and draw that too.
  • A sweet wrapper twisted at both ends 3 min. All small folds. Move a little, pause, move again, and never jump across a crease.
  • A teabag on a saucer, string and tag 2 min. Soft square, thin string, small tag. Let the string wander wherever it really lies.
  • A water bottle with its cap beside it 3 min. Shoulders, neck and the rings of the thread. The cap is a second, smaller drawing next to it.
  • A wristwatch laid flat, strap curling 4 min. Buckle, holes, case, crown. The strap curls up off the desk, so follow its edge as it twists.
  • An apple with one bite out of it 2 min. Go round the smooth skin, then slow right down for the ragged edge of the bite.
  • Headphones and their tangled cable 4 min. Follow the cable through every loop like a road. Where it passes under itself, keep going.
  • Open scissors lying on the desk 3 min. Two loops, one pivot, two blades. Follow the outside edge all the way round before the holes.

A face across the table 20

  • A face in a family photograph 3 min. Prop the photograph upright beyond the paper. Draw the face larger than it is printed.
  • A face in three-quarter view 3 min. The far eye is narrower and the nose cuts into the far cheek. Trust your eye over what you know.
  • A face on a paused screen 3 min. A sitter who cannot move. Choose a face that fills the screen and look only at it.
  • A face wearing glasses 3 min. The frames are part of the face: across the brow, round each lens, over the bridge of the nose.
  • A sitter holding a wide grin 1 min. A short round, because a grin is hard to hold. Teeth are one shape, not many: follow the lips round them.
  • A sitter in a hat or a hood 3 min. The brim or hood cuts the face with a hard edge. Draw that edge first, then what shows under it.
  • A sitter looking down at their phone 2 min. Mostly forehead, lashes and the top of the nose. Draw the tilt you see.
  • A sitter resting their chin on one hand 4 min. Face and hand share an edge. Travel from the cheek into the knuckles without stopping.
  • A sitter with one hand over one eye 3 min. Half a face and five fingers. Follow each finger across the brow and the cheek.
  • A sitter with their eyes closed 2 min. Two curved lids with the lashes down. A calm face has fewer edges, which suits a first try.
  • An ear, from top fold to lobe 2 min. Follow the outer rim down to the lobe, then wind inwards along each ridge.
  • The collar, neck and jaw of the person opposite 2 min. Start on the collar, climb the neck and run along the jaw to the ear.
  • The hairline and hair of the person opposite 3 min. Forget strands. Follow the edge where hair meets forehead, then the outside shape of the whole mass.
  • Nose and mouth only, seen from the front 2 min. Down one side of the nose, round each nostril, then along the line where the lips meet.
  • One eye and its eyebrow, nothing else 2 min. Upper lid, lower lid, the ring of the iris. Finish with the brow, hair by hair if time allows.
  • The profile of someone reading 3 min. Forehead, nose, lips, chin: one edge against the room behind. Readers hold still without being asked.
  • The shadow side of a face lit by one lamp 3 min. Follow the edge where light turns to shadow, down the forehead, the nose and the chin.
  • The whole outline of a head, starting at one ear 3 min. Go right round: jaw, chin, jaw, ear, hair and home. The two ends will miss each other. Leave them.
  • Your own face in a mirror propped on the table 4 min. The sitter who never gets bored. Eyes stay on the glass, never on the page below it.
  • Your own face in the bowl of a spoon 2 min. The spoon stretches you already, so no drawing of it can be wrong. Follow the stretched outline.

One line, never lifted 20

  • A bag with its straps and buckles, in one line 4 min. Let the line run out along a strap, round the buckle and home again before it goes on.
  • A bicycle leaning on a wall, in one line 5 min. Two wheels, a frame of triangles, a chain. Double back over old lines rather than lift.
  • A bunch of bananas, every curve, in one line 2 min. Each banana is one long curve out and one back. They all join at the stalk.
  • A coat hanging on a hook, in one line 4 min. Begin at the hook and let the line fall down a sleeve, round the hem and up the other side.
  • A desk fan, cage and blades, in one line 4 min. Round the cage once, spiral inwards to the blades, then out again and down the stand.
  • A kettle and its flex, in one line 3 min. Spout, lid, handle, then follow the flex away across the worktop until the time runs out.
  • A kitchen chair, all four legs, in one line 3 min. Pencil down once and never up. To reach a far leg, travel back along a line already drawn.
  • A pair of boots, one fallen over, in one line 4 min. Finish the standing boot at its sole and slide along the floor into the fallen one.
  • A place laid for one: plate, fork, knife, glass, in one line 4 min. Circle the plate and leave it on the fork's side. The table edge links everything.
  • A row of bottles on a shelf, in one line 3 min. Up a shoulder, over the cap, down the other side, then along the shelf to the next bottle.
  • A skyline of roofs from your window, in one line 4 min. Left to right in one go: up a wall, along a ridge, round a chimney and down again.
  • A sleeping cat or dog, nose to tail, in one line 3 min. Sleepers hold a pose. Go from the nose over the ears, along the back and out to the tip of the tail.
  • A staircase seen from the bottom step, in one line 3 min. Tread, riser, tread, riser. Climb with the pencil, then come down the handrail.
  • A stringed instrument, neck to body, in one line 4 min. Start at the tuning pegs, run down the neck, round the curves of the body and back up the strings.
  • A tangle of charging cables, in one line 3 min. The subject is a line already. Follow one cable from plug to plug and copy its loops.
  • A tree outside the window, trunk to twig, in one line 4 min. Climb the trunk, go out along a branch to its end and return the same way before the next.
  • A vase of flowers, stems included, in one line 5 min. Up a stem, round the flower head, down the stem, into the vase and up the next.
  • Everything on the desk in one line, object to object 5 min. Leave each object by the edge nearest the next and cross the gap along the desktop.
  • The view through an open doorway, in one line 4 min. Door frame first, then whatever stands beyond it, joined by a line that never leaves the paper.
  • Your bare foot, toes to heel, in one line 3 min. Over five toes, along the outer edge, round the heel and up the arch in one unbroken line.

With the other hand 20

  • A candle in its holder, unlit, with your other hand 2 min. A straight column, the curl of the wick and the dish it stands in. Three shapes, taken slowly.
  • A clothes peg, spring and all, with your other hand 2 min. Two legs and a coil between them. Follow the wire of the spring right round.
  • A door handle and its plate, with your other hand 2 min. Lever, neck, plate, screws. A subject at eye level that cannot be moved to suit you.
  • A feather, with your other hand 3 min. Up the quill to the tip, then down the soft edge, dipping in wherever the barbs have split.
  • A fork, tines towards you, with your other hand 2 min. Tines and the slots between them. Run up and down each tine, and expect the spacing to wander.
  • A hairbrush, bristles up, with your other hand 3 min. Handle and head first, then a row of bristles along the near edge, each a short stroke.
  • A leaf with its veins, with your other hand 3 min. Edge first, with every notch. Then the midrib, and each vein out to the edge.
  • A light bulb, glass and screw cap, with your other hand 2 min. A round head that narrows to a neck, then the rings of the cap, one at a time.
  • A pear with its stalk, with your other hand 2 min. Small shoulders, wide base and a dimple at the stalk. One slow lap is the whole round.
  • A pepper cut in half, with your other hand 4 min. Outer wall, hollow chambers, the pale core and its seeds. Give the seeds the last minute.
  • A pine cone, with your other hand 4 min. Scale after scale in a spiral. The other hand shakes, and on a pine cone the shake does no harm.
  • A small toy animal, standing, with your other hand 3 min. Nose, ears, back, tail, four legs. Give each leg its own trip down to the table and back.
  • A sock, heel and ribbing, with your other hand 2 min. A soft L with a cuff. Follow the bumps of the ribbing round the top.
  • A tall glass with a straw, with your other hand 2 min. Two ellipses joined by two sides, and a straw that seems to break at the waterline.
  • A teapot, spout to handle, with your other hand 3 min. Spout, lid, knob, handle, belly. Grip the pencil lightly; the other hand presses too hard.
  • A toothbrush in a glass, with your other hand 2 min. A straight handle through a round rim. Watch the point where the handle leans on the rim.
  • A wooden spoon crossed over a whisk, with your other hand 4 min. The spoon is one edge; the whisk is a cage of wires. Follow one wire at a time, base to base.
  • An egg in an eggcup, with your other hand 1 min. The plainest subject on the list. One curve over the top, one cup under it, no peeking.
  • Your drawing hand gripping a pencil, with your other hand 4 min. It grips the pencil as it always does while the other hand draws it, unseen.
  • Your drawing hand, drawn by your other hand 3 min. Swap roles: the hand that normally draws is the model. Eyes stay on it, pencil in the other.

How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-08: subjects to draw without looking at the paper, sorted by the rule of the round. Every subject and hint is our own work. Each hint opens with the round's time limit in minutes, which is a rule of the challenge and not an estimate. The one technique named on the page, blind contour drawing, was checked on 2026-10-08 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_contour_drawing (drawing a subject's contour while never looking at the paper, slowly, in a steady continuous line; it may not produce a lifelike drawing). Licence: own work

How it works

In a blind drawing challenge you draw a subject without looking at the paper: eyes on the thing, never on the page. Each subject has a hint on where to start and its own time limit, one minute to five.

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How a round goes

Put the subject where you can see it and the paper where you cannot. Start the timer, fix your eyes on one edge and move the pencil only as fast as your eyes travel. Look down when the clock stops, not before.

What the five groups change

Three groups say what to draw: your own hand, things on the desk, a face across the table. Two add a second rule to no looking: one line never lifted, or the pencil in the hand you do not write with. A sitter only has to keep still, and nobody marks the likeness.

  • Go slower than feels sensible. The line should crawl along the edge at the speed your eye does.
  • Expect the ends not to meet and the fingers to drift apart. A blind drawing that looks right was probably peeked at.
  • Tape the paper down first. A sheet that slides while you are not looking costs you the whole round.

Questions and answers

What is blind contour drawing?

A drawing exercise in which you draw the outline of a subject with eyes off the paper, slowly and in one steady line. The drawing may not look lifelike. The practice is in the looking.

How do you stop yourself looking at the paper?

Push the pencil through the middle of a spare sheet so the sheet hides your hand, or turn your chair until the page sits behind your shoulder.

Can you do a blind drawing challenge alone?

Yes. Every round here is for one person. Most rounds need only your own hands and what is in the room. For a face, use a mirror, a photograph or anyone who happens to be sitting still.

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