Lines in Art

The Difference Between Flat and Dynamic Drawings

Lines in art can make all the difference in your drawings. This was pounded into us in art school. From gesture sketches to animation, lines of varying weight and style can take your drawings from flat to dynamic.

What do I mean by line weight?

Photo Credit: https://thevirtualinstructor.com/line.html

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Line weight or the thickness of a line can and should vary depending on its location in your drawing. Line weight can indicate the direction light is coming from and/or the weight of an object. A thicker line should occur on an area in shadow or the back/under side of an object as seen in the line drawing of an apple.

A line is just a line, isn’t it?

No, it isn’t. There are a wide variety of lines in art and each of them adds something to your drawing. Life is not like a coloring book, with a solid, even line around everything. In fact, in reality, nothing in life has a line around it. It’s just the way our brains perceive things. In art, we use line in various ways to represent life as we know it. But if we used an even line for everything, our drawings would end up looking flat and uninteresting.

The solution?

First of all, know the types of line that are available to you.

Actual line

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• Actual line – Lines of varying width and direction. By varying the thickness of the line, you can imply weight of an object or direction of light. A prime example of using varying line thickness is comic book art.

Implied line

Implied line. The mind fills in Wonder Woman’s shoulder, arm, and hip.

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• Implied line – Broken lines which the eye automatically connects. Even though the line is broken, there is no question as to direction or even the shape of an object with implied lines. Implied line can be used to indicate the direction of light. In the line drawing of Wonder Woman, the light source would be coming from above her right shoulder.

Left: Sebastiano Florigerio, Musikalische Unterhaltung, Middle: Rembrandt, The Holy Family with Angels, Right: Francisco Goya, The Third of May

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• Psychic line – When one or more objects (or people) point to another object the eye connects the two “psychically”. Some might also group this with implied line.

By using one or more of these in your drawings, you create more interest which in turn, makes your drawings more dynamic. Take the time to study line in art and try to apply what you learn in your own work.

Further Reading:

Line in Art: It’s More Than You Might Think