Break the Ice with Blind Portraits: A Fun Team Building Exercise for Remote Teams

Blind Portraits is a popular exercise that's widely used by art teachers to help develop communication between the eyes, brain, and hand. It's also a great warm-up and icebreaker that's perfect for helping people get to know each other in a fun way. The exercise is simple: draw each other without looking at the paper. The end result isn't what matters here; the focus is on observing the world around us and noticing details. Plus, it forces us to look at our subject and become more comfortable with the people around us.

How to:

All you need for this exercise are paper and pens, and at least two participants. Set aside five minutes for drawing and a few extra minutes for presenting. Get into pairs and sit or stand so that you can see each other. Focus on the eyes or some part of the object and begin drawing. Remember to keep the continuous line and not to look at the paper! Concentrate on how your hand moves in relation to the object's face. Continue observing and adding details until the time is up.

When you're finished, take a look at your drawing and see how well you managed to capture the details and space on the paper. Exchange drawings with your partner and discuss your observations. This exercise is a great way to develop communication, observation, and drawing skills, and it's also a fun way to break the ice and get to know others.

Tips and tricks:

Many people think they can't draw, but often it's just because they haven't trained themselves to really look at what they see. Blind Portraits is a great exercise for practicing hand-eye-brain coordination and becoming better at drawing.

In addition to being a fun warm-up or icebreaker activity, Blind Portraits can also be a great starting point for workshops and events where people will need to interact and collaborate with each other. By breaking down barriers and encouraging participants to focus on observation and communication, this exercise can help set the tone for productive and creative collaboration.