LINE:Contour vs. Gesture

Allison Brooke

Friday morning began with a discussion on Contour Line Drawings. The main points to reflect on are 1. Contour is a slow, single, incisive line that defines interior as well as exterior volumes 2. Dark lines advance, light lines recede 3. "Accents" in line quality add volume and may identify changes in structure, weight, value, texture and color. The hammer head in Allison's drawing above is especially well drawn. Observe the subtleties in line quality addressing the hard and soft contours.
Katherine's drawing below is a Cross-Contour study. Notice how she has accented the right side, bottom and neck area of the gourd establishing weight, shadow and negative areas. Cross-Contour drawings emphasize the contours across a form and imply the exterior contours.

Katherine Brown

After the lunch break, we discussed Gesture Drawings. Now Gesture (being quick and spontaneous) and Contour Drawings (slow and methodical) are opposites in technique but they both build "eye-hand" coordination and are therefore equally important and should be practiced often.

Kyle Sullivan

Kyle's drawing above is an example of the Scribble Gesture technique. The tangled and layered accumulation of lines captures the mass and volume of an object as well as value. Notice how the line quality also exhibits a textural quality like a "prickly" cactus or thistle.

Emily Sanfilippo

Emily's drawing employs both Line Gesture and Mass Gesture techniques. Line provides structure and the Mass technique adds mass and volume as well as value. Notice how she has also addressed the negative areas around the gourd creating a background and establishing depth within the whole composition.

Ian Cook

We ended class on Friday with drawings emphasizing the negative areas. The goal in these drawings is to "suggest" the presence of the gourd rather than "spoon-feeding" the viewer. By focusing on the negative areas, planes slide into one another bridging the gap between positive and negative areas. Notice how the similarity in value and accenting establishes a rhythm that moves the "eye" around the composition.

IDEAL SOLIDS

Nicole Tabor

Last night, students made studies of the Ideal Solids - standard, geometric shapes found in many man-made objects. Students also addressed the categories of light on each object giving them a greater sense of volume as well as light. Contrast, intensity and full gradations are crucial for the success of creating complete values. Notice the clarity in the values and the even transitions from dark to light in the gradations of the forms.

LINE: Gesture

Class began with a lecture on mark-making and Gesture Drawing. Due to time constraints we didn't get through all the combinations of Gesture but they are listed above in the LINE tab.

Mersadee Herrin

First we made drawings addressing Cross-Contours. No one has trouble seeing the left and right and top and bottom edges of forms but many have difficulty visualizing the front and back of a form. Cross-contours illustrate the volumes of a form across and/or around a form. Notice in the drawing above how the line quality transitions from dark to light and thick to thin. This suggests a shadow side to the form but also provides a sense of weight.

Daniela Abed

Class ended with a still life arrangement of gourds rendered with the Mass Gesture technique. The Mass technique captures mass and volume of forms but also suggests a sense of light because  the drawing medium is applied tonally in broad, sweeping motions.

HOMEWORK #1 Contour Line

In your sketchbook, using a soft, graphite pencil (3B or higher), make a series of (10) contour line drawings of complex objects. This means objects with many parts or pieces (tools, bicycle parts, plants, car, etc.). Draw one per page. Employ line weight variations and accenting. REMEMBER: There should be no shading!

Contour Line Drawing

Last night was our first drawing session exploring part one of Line. Students were introduced to the concept of Contour Line Drawing. Contour lines define interior as well as exterior volumes. The objective of last night's project was to begin to develop fluid, confident line quality with "accenting" that is complementary to the volumes of the forms.

Grantt Miksis

Iris Lopez

The two drawings above exhibit fluid, confident lines with "accents" addressing areas where 1. the line advances (dark lines advance, light lines recede), 2. the light conditions change (shadows) 3. changes in direction of the line (planar shift or overlapping forms) and 4. changes in color, value or the texture of the surface.