Lines that tell a story
A line is more than an edge. Straight or wavy, thick or thin, fast or slow: every line gives a feeling. That is how you choose the line that fits.
You can start right here: you don't need any prior knowledge.
Why
Why does a drawing with zigzag lines feel restless and a drawing with long waves feel calm, even when they show the same thing?
Every drawing starts with a line. With the same line you can draw the edge of an apple, but also make people feel wind, a quarrel or calm.
If you know what a line does, you no longer draw by chance. You choose for yourself: how hard you press, how fast you go, which direction you take.
See it
Choose a kind of line and change the pressure and the speed. Read what the line expresses.
Description of the picture
A drawing sheet with one long line. You choose the kind of line: straight, wavy, zigzag, dotted or spiral. A pressure slider makes the line thinner or thicker, a speed slider makes the curves calmer or more hurried. Below the sheet it says what feeling the line gives, for example calm, lively or tense.
Get it
A line has a direction. Horizontal lines feel calm, like the sea or a sleeping cat. Vertical lines stand upright and feel strong, like a tower or a tree. Diagonal lines feel as if they are moving, as if something is falling or setting off.
A line has a shape. Wavy lines are soft and flowing. Zigzag lines and angular lines are sharp and restless. A spiral turns and pulls your eye inwards.
A line has a character. Thick and dark stands out and feels confident. Thin and light feels careful or far away. A line you draw quickly looks loose and lively; a slow line looks precise and calm.
Lines also have a job. A contour line draws the edge of a shape. Hatching lines make areas darker. Guidelines help you measure and you rub them out later.
Look at the direction, shape and character of a line: horizontal is calm, vertical is strong, diagonal is movement; wavy is soft, angular is restless; thick is confident, thin is careful.
Worked example
You want to draw a storm. Which lines do you choose?
A storm is restless and fast. That calls for movement, so diagonal lines.
Sharp, angular lines or zigzag lines feel restless, just like lightning and lashing rain.
Press firmly and draw quickly: thick, loose lines show power.
- Answer
Diagonal, angular lines, drawn quickly and firmly.
Do it
Choose a level. You get a new exercise every time, checked straight away.
Make it
A task on paper, in class or at home.
Four feelings, four lines
20 to 30 minutes
What you need
- a sheet of drawing paper (A4 or A3)
- a soft pencil (2B or 4B)
- a black felt-tip pen or fineliner
- a ruler
How to go about it
- Divide your sheet into four boxes with a ruler.
- Write a feeling in small letters under each box: calm, angry, happy and tired.
- Fill each box with lines only, without drawing objects or faces. Choose the direction, shape, pressure and speed yourself.
- In at least one box, try the same kind of line but with a different pressure.
- Put your sheet next to someone else's without showing the words. Can the other person guess which feeling goes with which box?
Look back: Which box was guessed best? Which line made that happen?
Pitfalls
Wrong: A line is just the edge of something.
A contour line is only one kind of line. Lines can also show movement, shadow or a feeling.
Right: Use lines to make people feel something too, not just to draw edges.
Wrong: A good line is always neat and straight, drawn with a ruler.
A ruler gives a cold, technical line. A loose freehand line has more life.
Right: Choose on purpose: neat for technical things and buildings, loose for nature, people and movement.
Wrong: The harder you press, the better.
A heavy line is hard to rub out and everything stands out equally strongly.
Right: Start lightly with guidelines and only press harder on the lines you want to stand out.
In real life
- In comics you see speed lines behind a bicycle or a ball: short, straight lines that show movement.
- A signature is a line with character: quick and full of flourishes, or small and precise.
- On a map or an architect's drawing all the lines are neat and equally thick, because they have to measure, not express feelings.
History
Lines are among the oldest images we know. In caves such as Lascaux in France, people thousands of years ago drew animals on the rock wall with a single continuous contour line.
At the table
Together, draw a cat with one single line, without lifting your pencil. Who had the calmest line, and who the funniest?
A question to talk about together, for parents and children. There is no wrong answer.