Thinking in Lines
Added 2024-04-12 00:00:05 +0000 UTCThis is from an older Intro to Drawing Bad Art Video in written form using some new graphic references.
In a drawing there are many different kinds of lines to consider. Using a variety of these lines is one key ingredient to making interesting drawings.
There are long thick lines, short thin lines, dark bold lines, light broken lines and everything in between including hybrids of those lines.
Lines all have a weight. Ranging from thick to thin, a value, ranging from light to dark, and an edge, hard to soft.
There are also Straight lines, curved lines, and wavy lines. C-curves and S-curves. They can also change their characteristics within the line, by tapering off.
Lines can be used for shading and to help indicate plane changes and mass by changing their direction such as in this drawing by Michelangelo.
Complicated in theory, easy in practice
There's a lot to think about with lines. It can seem like too much to think about.
It is too much to think about.
That is, if you just sit there and think about it instead of drawing.
Unlike many things in our world that are easy in theory and complicated in practice, a lot of drawing is about making things that are complicated in theory, intuitive.
So fill pages with line exercises, doodles and drawings from life and specifically focus on practicing a variety of lines.
I like to do doodle drawings like this to help practice varying my line quality.
Line exercises like this can be an unwinding activity after a long day or they can be deliberate studies.
It doesn’t matter. As long as you are practicing training your muscle memory to create a variety of different weights, values, and edges and training your eye to look for them.
The quality and variety of lines an artist uses will inform the character and emotion of their art.
So look at different artists you like and specifically notice how they use their lines.
I'll do two examples in the next post.
Until then
Have Fun
Goodnight Sweeties
