LINE AS MOVEMENT

Simple single lines amassed in intriguing movements across a page can be a very rich drawing, full of intricate rivelets of various sizes and curvilinear swings which surprise and please the eye.

This is an excellent drawing scheme to develop line drawing control. Here are a few rules to follow:

  The first line begins from any edge and moves in a flowing manner to exit at another side. Additional lines are added from a new side or from an existing curve.

  The third rule is most important as this achieves the soft, gliding movements of ebb and flow as line movement begins and merges away. All beginning and ending lines must MERGE with each other, just as cars merge from ramps to the expressway. No right angles allowed! Beginning lines start behind the area from where it will eventually emerge, and continue to blend with the line a few millimeteres after it is joined. This guarantees a curvilinear blend.

  Last, a variety of small, intricate movements are not only a challenge but effect the surprise element of compact design in a sea of long, overflowing lines with varied open spaces.

Of course, several practices for seeing how lines can move, blend and flow, is a must. Here are 3 small sketches from a page of 12 that helped a student get started.

        Below are 4 completed drawings developed from practiced trials. Which one was developed from these sketches? (Oh, ok. I'll tell you---it's the top right one.) Click on images below for larger view.

        These represent efforts from non-experienced art students and each has unique effects. Where one is tightly lined another moves in expansive space. One may suggest knarled wood and another undulating waves.

        Line as movement drawings can be composed of hundreds of lines. The exciting design aspect is that it is always being created and continues to change until the very end. It's a composition that is unexpected, planned from line to line, space to space and allows the artist full control of movement from here to there. Lines begin and blend into each other, the path sometimes hard to discern.

Truly, line is a beautiful element, all by itself.

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