The Continuous Line Drawing Challenge

If you participated in the 10-minute Drawing Challenge, you already know how little time it takes to get out your supplies and make a fun and satisfying sketch that could have taken you an hour (or more!) in an alternate universe. You also know that sketching quickly helps you to focus less on perfection and more on getting the essence of what you’re seeing down on the page.

Now let’s loosen up even more.

Drawing with a continuous line has always been one of my favorite techniques. When I first started sketching, I took an online course in pencil drawing from my local library. I was completely overwhelmed—how am I supposed to capture the infinite detail in all that I’m seeing with just this pencil??

My favorite drawings from that course were from the lesson on continuous line drawings—I felt like with a continuous line, I was expressing something rather than trying to copy reality onto my page.

It’s pretty simple: once you put your pen (or pencil) on the page, don’t pick it up until your drawing is complete. If you slip up and accidentally lift your pen, just put it back down where it was before you lifted it and continue on your merry way.

There are variations of this technique which dictate whether or not you can look at your drawing while you draw, but I’m not going to split hairs for this challenge—just draw your subject with a continuous line.

I would, however, recommend keeping your eye mostly on your subject—it will help you to stay loose and to not draw what you think you see. The beauty of continuous line drawing is that your sketch will kind of look like your subject, but not exactly!

Since you already know your drawing isn’t going to be perfect, you can forgive yourself in advance for not achieving an accurate rendition of reality.

Actually, this brings me to one of my favorite things about continuous line drawing—it teaches us that there are other ways that we can assess the “success” of our sketches besides how much of a likeness we’ve rendered. How much fun did you have while you were sketching? How present were you? Were you able to express yourself? Unless you’re a scientific illustrator, or an architect, I believe the answers to these questions are far more important than the answer to “how accurate was my sketch?”

1. Toy

2. Bathroom

3. House Plant

4. Friend

5. Appliance

6. Transportation

7. Furniture

8. Condiment

9. Analog

10. Urban Sketch

Do the prompts in any order you choose, however you interpret them, with whatever tools you prefer—but draw from life. After you’ve done your continuous line, you can add color in any way you’d like—or not. You can also add color later. This is a technique I often use when sketching on location, especially if I’m short on time or if it just isn’t practical to pull out my watercolors.

When you post your sketches, don’t forget to tag me (@jamesjohnoboyle)! I’d love to see your work, and I’ll also be restacking continuous line drawings onto my Substack feed.

For paid subscribers, there will be a private chat where you can share your work, get positive encouragement, and discuss all things related to the challenge!

Here’s a demo of Prompt #1 for you. I recorded it in three separate short videos. These are sped up 2x. Notice that in the second video, I slip up and lift my pen for a moment—I just put it back down where it was and continue the drawing. Trust me, it will happen to you. It’s okay.

As always, thanks for reading, and happy sketching!

-James