Line

A line is a path left by a moving point, it is a mark or stroke that is long in proportion to its width. Lines are fundamental elements used in design. They can act as a symbolic language, or they can communicate emotion through their character and direction.

TYPES OF LINES

Actual line

A visible mark made by a pencil or paint or any other medium.

Psychic Line There is no real line yet we feel a line... Da Vinci's Last Supper

For example, eyes looking in a direction... a hand pointing in a direction.

Shape boundary or edge

The edge of a shape or solid object reads as a line.

František Kupka

Implied Line

A series of dots (or other marks) can read as a line as in this close up of a mosaic.

FUNCTIONS OF LINE

Lines can function independently

To define a shape
To divide space
To create movement
To create emphasis

Saul Steinberg

Lines can be combined with other lines…
To develop texture and patterns To create shading To decorate or embellish		Lindesfarne Gospels

	The use of multiple lines can result in form and value, which are other elements of design, as seen in the Rembrandt etching to the left.

Lines can define a shape

Outline

An outline is a line which marks the outer limits of an object or figure; the exterior line, boundary or edge.
Georges Roualt	Disney Co.

Contour

A contour is a line that defines or bounds anything -- defines its edge. Most lines in art are contour lines. An object does not have a line around its edge, nor anything that looks like a line. Yet when you see a line drawing you have no trouble interpreting the image as representing something in the real world.
There are more contours on any complex object than just the outside edge. More subtle contours like folds and color changes can be represented by contour lines… anything that appears to have an edge.

Pablo Picasso "Stravinsky"

Lines can divide space

Line can be used to define the edge of space as well as the edge of an object. The red line above divides the information about defining shapes from this section about dividing space. The line that forms the rectangle below separates that shape from the rest of the page. The line through its center divides the rectangle in two. Lines have many uses in design.

It is even possible to use a long, thin, negative shape as a line to divide space. For example: this takes place between two columns or rows of type in a book or newspaper.
	Notice how the above articles are more legible (if you can read German) because they are in columns as opposed to those at the left. (The article at the left is also all-caps... again making it more difficult to read.)

Movement

The lines streaking behind the drawing of a car imply motion… as do the lines in Balla’s “Car Fetish” painting

Emphasis

Lines can emphasize the direction of eye movement in an image… or they can demand more attention than another part of the image.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Texture

Notice the use of line to create the texture of Rembrandt’s hair and fur collar.

Shading

Rembrandt used line to create a feeling of solid form.

One common use of line in drawing is to shade using hatching and/or cross-hatching.
Hatch lines are multiple lines that all go more or less in one direction and represent value in an area. The closer together the lines are the darker the shading.

Cross-hatching uses lines that cross in two or more directions.

Decoration

There are many ways line can be used to decorate. Linear shapes and/or patterns decorate many objects.
Fabrics and wrapping paper.	Even natural surfaces like wood grain or hair sometimes look like linear decoration.
Mimbres Pottery	Mandalas
"The Mimbres occupied the somewhat isolated mountain and river valleys of southwestern New Mexico from about 1000 to 1250 AD." "...the deceased were buried in an upright crouched position with a bowl (often, but not always painted) placed over their heads. The decorated bowls were “killed” through the use of a sharp object, which served to pierce a hole in the bottom of the vessel. Archaeologist J.J. Brody suggests that the act of piercing the bowl and placing it over the head of the deceased allowed the spirit of the dead to escape the body." ~ http://anthropology.si.edu/cm/mimbres.htm

LINE DIRECTION

Horizontal lines seem placid and stable	Kenneth Nolan
Arundel cathedral interior	Vertical lines are also stable, but lend an upward thrust to the image, often conveying a feeling of loftiness and spirituality
Diagonal lines imply action.	Rubens "Elevation"
De Chirico "Italian Square"	Diagonal lines can also be used to indicate depth.

Strong Curves can suggest confusion and frenzy, as in da Vinci’s violence of waves in a storm.

Gentle curves suggest comfort, familiarity, relaxation. They recall the curves of the human body,
and therefore have a pleasing, sensual quality… as in these drawing by Matisse (left) and Modigliani (right)

LINE QUALITY

• Line quality influences the overall emotional impact of the design.
• Line quality adds interest by increasing the variety in an image.
• Line quality describes the appearance of a line -- the way it looks… not its direction.
• Different line qualities like thick, thin, light, dark, solid, broken, colored, etc. will change how the line is interpreted in an image.

http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/line/lnqual.gif

Pablo Picasso

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

It is usually not enough to accurately delineate the edges of the objects in a drawing. You must help the viewer make sense of the information by telling what is most important, what is less important and what kind of changes are taking place as the eye moves over the surface of the drawn objects .


Notice how the uniform lines of the humming bird on the left keep it from looking as dynamic or as dimensional as the drawing on the right with its varied line qualities

LINES CAN CONVEY INFORMATION

Some lines are commonly understood to provide information… such as these lines of text which you are reading.
	Calligraphy is recognizable as a representation of words, even when we do not know the language
Calligraphic imagery is often used by modern artists, such as Brice Marden, right, because of the mysterious messages implied in the "code" of unknown language

Map lines are readily recognized as a symbolic representation of a roads and rivers.
	Lines also communicate emotion and states of mind through their attributes.
Edvard Munch "The Scream"

LINE ASSIGNMENTS

Create and label a variety of lines (at least 10) on separate 2" rectangles cut from Bristol board and glue them into your sketch book. For example:
Diagonal lines
Horizontal lines with an implied line
Curved lines showing softness

Assignment for Homework

Lines exist in nature as structural features such as branches or rock layers, or as surface design, such as striping on a zebra or a seashell.

Take your digital camera (cell phone, iPod, Canon PowerShot) outside and photograph some lines in your surroundings… obvious lines… inspiring lines… just lines. Take shots of some “natural” lines… and some “manmade” lines. Back “home” review your images and select the “best” two to four images. Print them out and glue them into your sketch book.

Title the images “Lines” ...plus anything else you might want to add to the title.

Twitter

Did Paul Klee, in 1922, foretell the existence of Twitter?

Twittering Machine ~Paul Klee

ARTS 111 | Design I | Line