The Blind Portraits Game
Blind Portraits is an engaging and entertaining experience drawing to quickly raise the energy of your group.
Divide your group into teams of two to form pairs. Give your group a blank sheet of paper and a pen/pencil.
To start, invite each person to place the paper in front of them and hold the pen.
Instruct each person to look only at their partner and draw their face, head and shoulders on the paper.
As there will be drawing, it will be necessary for people to lay the paper onto something solid, like a table or a stiff book. Make sure people are prepared in this manner before you continue.
But, the most critical aspect of this task is to complete the portrait blind, that is, without looking at one’s paper as the drawing is accomplished. The entire drawing experience must be completed without looking at the paper.
All people should look at their partner and draw their image to the best of their ability without even looking at the paper to see what they are doing.
Allow 30 to 60 seconds for the artwork to be created and then invite people to stop and look down at their paper for the first time. When ready, invite each person to share the portrait with their partner.
Invite your group to reflect on their experience.
Moment of Reflection
- What was the most challenging part of the whole exercise? Why?
- Did you surprise yourself at all?
- Where did you primarily focus your attention?
- Day to day, do you think we notice things around us much? Why? What’s the impact?
The topics of this publication: observation skills, creativity, adaptability skills
