Grade 9 Art - Day 14

Continuing our study of art terminology, we will learn more about Line.

A line is a "mark drawn by a pointed, moving tool" according to our text "ArtTalk".  If you are an art student, you will be using pencils, paint brushes, coloured pencils, etc. to create your lines.  From our other text, "Art Across Time", figure I.12 on page 19, shows the various regular lines and irregular lines we use in visual arts:

The text goes on to explain that lines may have an expressive quality.  Straight lines are associated with honesty and that which is correct...think a straight shooter!  Crooked lines may mean the exact opposite.

Today we will create some simple cartoons together as a class, and really focus on the power of lines to create expressions on human faces.  Here are couple examples that I drew for you:

By simply changing the direction of lines, making some lines thicker than others, I can vary the expression of the subject, add shading, and alter the "ups and downs"!  If someone says, "Are you feeling down today?"...it's easy to understand where that expression may have originated.....Expression!!

So far we have worked with gesture line drawings. Gesture lines are rough sketch-type lines made quickly and perhaps somewhat inaccurately.  It is like "visual shorthand". Here is a quick example I drew:

We will soon be moving on to contour line drawings, where we focus on the lines that we see, such as the outline of the subject.  Think more about mass and volume and less about detail! Here is an example: