LINE: Contour Lines and the Sense of Touch

Naomi Lehr

For our first drawing session, we discussed the characteristics of line. The most important things to remember about line are: 1. It is the most personal of the five are elements in that it is similar to an artists signature. 2. Line is like a path that leads the eye around and through a composition. 3. Dark lines advance while lighter lines recede. And lastly, "accents" (darker areas) may be used to describe changes in weight, light, texture, color, structure and location in space.

The main thing we focused on last night was the development of clean, fluid and confident line quality. The drawing above skillfully illustrates all of these points. Notice the way the open center of the composition is balanced by more resolved or detailed renderings of the leaves on the left and right sides. In addition, the "accents" add volume to the contours by capturing the curling and rolling motion of the leaves' form.