Fundementals: Line
What is a line in basic drawing?
Line is the most basic design 'tool' on which almost every piece of art relies. A line has length, width, tone, and texture. It may divide space, define a form, describe contour, or suggest direction. You can find a line in every type of art.
Line is the most basic design 'tool' on which almost every piece of art relies. A line has length, width, tone, and texture. It may divide space, define a form, describe contour, or suggest direction. You can find a line in every type of art.
Resources
Videos:
Line Level I
Line Level II
Line Level III
Reading:
Almost every mark you make is a line as long as it is not a dot, of course. A cluster of lines (or dots) can make a shape and a series of lines (or dots) can make a pattern.
Types of LineArtists use the word 'line' all the time and it is used in many different contexts. Yet, each builds off the basic definition of line.
Types of LineArtists use the word 'line' all the time and it is used in many different contexts. Yet, each builds off the basic definition of line.
- Lineweight - Used to describe the strength of a line, or how light or dark it appears on paper.
- Horizon Line - Controls the height of the viewer's eye. This is most apparent in landscapes but can be applied to other subjects as well.
- Orthogonal Line - Used in perspective drawing, orthogonal are the lines that reach back to and converge at the vanishing point.
- Implied Line - Occurs when you continue a line after a small break and that line proceeds in the same direction.
- Contour Line - Using line to define the edge or form of an object. Quite simply, it is used to create an outline drawing.
- Hatching and Cross-Hatching - Using a series of simple and parallel lines to imply shade or tone changes.
- Structural and Center Lines - Used in animation to ensure figures are symmetrical and balanced.
Art:
Picasso’s line drawing, War and Peace.
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Henri Matisse, Head of a Women, ink on paper
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Wassily Kandinsky, Transverse Line, oil on canvas
Paul Klee, Rich Harbour, 1938
Keith Haring, Tuttomondo mural (1989) at the church of Sant’Antonio Abate in Pisa, Italy
“Praying hands,” pen and ink drawing, 1508 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0)
Rembrandt, “The Windmill,” 1641 (Photo: Art Gallery of South Australia via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “The Jockey,” 1899 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Pablo Picasso: Drawing of a Horse
