Drawing Secrets: Lines and Form.

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In this issue of my drawing secrets, I want to show you how to use lines to show form. This will help make your work look more three dimensional and less flat.

The whole trick is to use variation in your lines. By that, I mean go from both thick to thin and light to dark. I will show a couple of examples in a second. Now, in order to use this trick successfully, you have to know where to use these line variations.

So, where is the best place to use them? Use them where the form changes. Also, use them when the line changes direction. For example, if you were doing a picture of a circle, you could make the bottom line dark and heavy while the top of the circle could be light and thin. When using this on a figure, you will find lots of places you can use it.

Example one...

Here is example one. Notice how I varied the line in the arms. When you click the thumbnail, you should be able to see what I'm talking about. Where the line goes in, it gets dark, and where the line goes out, it gets light. See how this makes it look less "flat" than if I would have just did a did of the same thickness on the whole figure.

Example two...

In example two, look primarily at the legs. Now, in this drawing I did a bit of shading to show form, but I want to cover that in another lesson. Just look at the lines for now. In the legs, you should be able to see the thick to thin lines that I was talking about.

Just get in the habit of varying your lines. Keep in mind some good places to use these variations are shadows, direction changes, areas that stick out, basically anywhere that makes sense. Eventually, you will get a feel for it. Copy these drawings if you like. They were just practice anyway. I frequently copy the work of old masters for practice and to sharpen my skills. Sometimes, I make adjustments and don't just copy the work straight as is. Like in these examples, I varied the lines a little more than the original artists.

Stay tuned for more drawing secrets like this. I will also be covering lighting, value, proportion, and all that as well.

More drawing secrets.

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