“Even a single line may create an emotion.” Mondrian
Definition: A line is the path of a point traveling across a surface.
Be aware of the following & the effect of each on your use of line.
1 - Your selection of media and surface.
2 - Your use of expressive and descriptive qualities of a linear technique or a combination of techniques:
a - The weight of the lines: thick/thin, constant, or varied
b - The way the lines are laid down: continuous, broken, pushed or pulled
c - The rate or rhythm at which the lines are drawn: fast or slow
3 - Your attitude!
Line may be used to:
1 - create or follow an edge
2 - give shape or volume
3 - suggest value / light & space
4 - impart texture, form and pattern
5 - suggest rhythm or mood or language
Types of line: outline, contour, hatched, blurred, scratched, pushed/pulled, implied, and reductive
1. Outline - A line that encompasses only the outside edge of a form. It may be thick/thin, constant/varied, crisp/blurred.
2. Contour line - A line that follows the edge of a form, or plane, which may move inside, as well as outside. There are many types of contour techniques: blind, partial-peek, cross, broken, continuous, quick, slow, and exaggerated. Contour drawing is a basic discipline. As with gesture, contour drawing trains the eye, the hand, and the mind to work together.
Blind contour - Blind contour requires a certain approach. Paul Klee described contour drawing as “Taking a line for a walk.” This is an apt description of how you should alter your drawing technique.
Materials for blind contour:
- Select a paper that is smooth. (You want the drawing medium to glide over the surface.)
- Use a medium that has a point that will not go dull very quickly. (Use a roller ball or ball-point pen, a mechanical pencil, a Conté pencil,a colored pencil, a 2B pencil with a sharp point, a sketch or lumberman’s pencil, or a #2 or 2B Conté crayon that has sharp edges.
Technique for blind contour:
- Arrange yourself so that you have a clear view of the model, but so that you cannot see your paper. Hold your drawing medium at the far end with the point placed on the surface of the paper. Keep the point on the paper until you are finished with the drawing. You can steady your hand on the paper with your little finger.
- Start drawing and don’t look at it until you are finished! Keep the point on the page and meander through the figure. You will get lost or off-track. Just keep going, it doesn’t matter. Your drawing will be distorted! Think of it as a record of the path of your seeing and your psyche. The distortion is a by-product of releasing control and brings some interesting qualities to your drawing process.
- As you draw, concentrate on keeping the point of your medium in sync with your eye. As your eye moves along the edge, or contour, of the figure, interpret that surface and its texture with your handling of the drawing material. Draw the flesh of the body with a different sensitivity to that of hair or jewelry.
- You may draw with a constant line, or you may add a thick and thin quality to your mark by pressing and letting up. You can also twist and turn your wrist to create a thick and thin line with a chisel point. Be aware of the line quality! Thick and thin line creates a kinetic quality and a consistent line gives your drawing a flat patterned depth of space.
- Draw the edge of the body or any other edge (a vein or a shadow) that moves inside or outside. Draw as much detail as possible. Do not sketch; keep moving the point forward.
- Be aware of the rhythm with which you are drawing. Try quick gestural blind contour drawings or marathon blind contour drawings. Build from 7 minute drawings to one hour drawings.
VIP - Blind contour trains your eye to see, your hand to interpret, and your mind to evaluate and communicate. The resulting drawing is a record. It can be a remarkably distorted, as well as a uniquely compelling drawing!
3. Hatched line
parallel - Straight lines which run parallel to one another, grouped to define a plane. A shift in value can be created by placing the lines closer and closer together or by spacing them farther apart. The lines can be diagonal, horizontal, or vertical.
cross - Parallel hatch marks which intersect each other diagonally or at right angles. Value can be indicated by clumping or spreading apart the lines.
cross contour - Parallel hatch or cross hatch marks which are grouped together to construct the contours of the volume of a form. The illusion of form, or volume, and value can be achieved.
random - Hatch marks which come from every direction.
4. Scribbled line - Random line, usually continuous, which appears to be tangled. Volume can be created by treating the line as if it were string, which is being wound into a ball. The lines may be tightly wound or loose. Density of lines in an area creates a darker value; fewer lines create a lighter value. A flat, patterned quality is created by a constant line; a kinetic quality is created by a varied/thick and thin line.
5. Blurred line - Lines that are brushed, smudged or struck with the hand, chamois, or eraser to disturb a hard-edged line. A wide variety of media can also be blurred by working an opposite value or color into or over an existing value or color.
6. Scratched line - Lines that are scratched into a surface with a sharp point. This technique is called sgraffito.
7. Pushed / pulled line - Typically, lines are pulled, from the top to the bottom. A very different effect is achieved by pushing from the bottom to the top. See the prints of George Grosz.
8. Implied line - Line created through juxtaposition of different areas of value, texture, or color.
Suggested Media for drawing lines:
Any media with a good point or chisel-edge, such as Conté’ crayon, ballpoint or brush pen, sticks or pen & ink, China markers, or any type of pencil: graphite, carbon, charcoal, ebony, lumberman’s or watercolor
Exercises, using line or contour:
1. Emphasize the angularity of a figure - use geometric lines and angles.
2. Emphasize the organic quality of a figure - round off edges.
3. Exaggerate the figure - make the head tiny and the feet huge or vice versa.
4. Draw the figure in line with soft charcoal, while dragging the palm of your hand across the surface.
5. Use thick and thin line to create a kinetic quality to the figure; use constant line to create flat, pattern space.
6. Draw the same pose with continuous line, broken line, pushed line, pulled line.
7. Draw the same pose rapidly; then very slowly.
8. Draw the figure timidly; then angrily.
9. Make successive drawings moving from a complex of lines to fewer and fewer lines.
Categories of line - artists whose work may serve as an example
1. Mechanical (geometric) - Ferdinand Léger, Albrecht Dürer
2. Musical (rhythmic) - Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder, Gustav Klimt
3. Expressive (mood: aggressive, quiet, etc) - George Grosz, Willem de Kooning, Mario Dubsky, David Smith
4. Calligraphic (language) - David Smith, Keith Haring, A. R. Penck, Aubrey Beardsley
5. Kinetic (action) - Auguste Rodin, Susan Rothenberg, Alberto Giacometti, William Wylie
Ellen Soderquist © 2000
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