Course Highlights
- Learn how to draw
- Drawing Lessons
- Teaching Critique
- Learn to Sketch
- How to Draw People
- Affordable Art Classes
- Personalized Certificate
Drawing Lines: The Straight Line
Key to your ability to draw the four geometric solids shown above is your
ability to draw a straight line. Now, I know some of you are likely
thinking that this topic is irrelevant because we have rulers for such
things, but you will find that in many situations a ruler proves to be
impractical, inefficient and unnecessarily awkward. What is more, a line
that is drawn freehand has a certain lively, desirable feel to it when
compared to a rigid, mechanical line made from that of a ruler.
First off, hold your pencil in the way you would normally hold one to
write. The key is comfort. From here you want to glide your pencil across
the page with certainty. Be sure to move the arm from the elbow down and
make long, confident strokes. Do not rotate from the wrist as you would
when writing. This will make for short, curved, choppy strokes. (See
Additional Holds and Techniques for variations on this commonly used
technique) It may feel awkward at first, but persevere until you feel
comfortable. Practice drawing lines in different directions and angles.
Left to right, right to left. 45• angle, 180• angle and so forth. You will
likely find that you can draw a more accurate line in certain directions
and at certain angles over others so try them all out. Once you have
determined your own personal preference, all you need to do is rotate the
page itself to get a perfect line every time.
Additional Holds and Techniques
In the previous section, Drawing a Straight Line, a commonly used
technique for holding and manoeuvring a pencil was discussed. Depending on
the requirements of the drawing there are several other formations
available to you.
1. When rendering small details in a drawing, limit your range of
motion using just your thumb and forefinger to create lines/shapes.
2. When shading or blocking, hold your thumb and forefinger sturdy,
and allow your wrist to control the movement. (Blocking describes the
rendering of a quick sketch of the main components within a drawing to
establish its overall form)
3. When it's necessary to draw long, consistent encompassing lines,
lock the thumb, forefinger and wrist and allow movement to be carried out
from the elbow.
4. When very long, continuous, bold lines are required, movement
should be controlled by the shoulder with fingers, wrist and elbow locked.
Type of Lines
Lines are one-dimensional markings that define shapes in a drawing.
There are three general classifications of lines:
1. Straight (horizontal, vertical, diagonal)
2. Angled (two straight lines that join at an angle)
3. Curved (lines that bend in a way that resemble the shapes of the
letters ¨C¨ and ¨U¨) Within the family of curved lines, there is also a
Compound Curve (lines that bend in both directions, resembling the shape
of the letter ¨S¨)
All of these lines are essential for drawing. They will present themselves
in contour lines of subjects, inner detailing of subjects as well as in
different styles of shading. The following exercise will introduce you to
all three families of lines. Take a minute to practice drawing each type
of line by replicating the two sketches below. You can either print the
image and sketch a copy of it in the box beside each sketch or draw a
similar image from your computer screen.
Straight Lines and Angled Lines
Curved Lines
Other pages of interest
Left side of
the brain vs. the right side
More on art and
the brain
Negative
space and contour drawings
Fundamentals
of structure
Drawing
lines: The straight and curved line