30/09/2010

Wednesday 29.9.10


Lecture – What is a Line?

With observational drawings, lines can represent many things, edges, patterns, outlines, texture, contours etc.
Why do we see the world in line?
Whilst there aren’t outlines in the real world, we interpret the point where two lines meet as a line.

Practical considerations:
Pencils & brushes move in any direction
Nib pens are better in one direction
Pencils, pens and brushes can vary in thickness, but fineliners can’t.
Take all these into consideration when drawing, depending on how you want to portray the subject.

Graphite pencils have only been around for about 500 years, before that metalpoint drawings were made using various metal wires as drawing implements. The most versatile was silver wire and the drawings are referred to as silverpoint. With these, small deposits of silver are left on a prepared sheet. Charcoal and chalk were used before graphite to make fine, detailed line drawing.

Line quality refers to the visual variations and graphic idiosyncrasies a line possesses.
‘Taking a line for a walk’ – Paul Klee. Very unhurried… Lines are traces of an activity.
‘Locking my hand to my eye’ – Turner describing the act of drawing.

Some lines need to be accurate, for plans and designs, architecture and product/industrial design plans need to be read accurately.
Speculative lines are done without rubbing out and form part of the drawing.

Dark or heavy lines look nearer, whereas light or thin lines look further away. Lines can be used to create tone as cross-hatching.

Research: Steven Braund, John Raynes, Lewis Campbell, George Stubbs, Raymond Sheppard, John Farleigh, Lucy Kemp-Welch, Honore Daumier, Ronald Searle, Dave McKean, Jacob Kenier, Henry Moore, John Sloane, Shelby Shackleford, Peggy Bacon, Martin Ramirez, Mauria Lendak, James E Allen, Angela Barrett, Hugh Cowling, Tim Ingold, Richard Long, Yuko Nishimuro, Raymond Briggs, Andy Goldsworthy, Sophia Vlazaki.

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