Here are a few examples from each of the three artists I asked you guys to look at. Don't depend purely on what I'm providing you here, though. Go out and find images from these guys on your own and study what they're doing with their use of line variation.
Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres
What do you notice about the way Ingres uses line in these portraits to place emphasis in the areas where he wants us to look or to define the form of the figure as existing in three-dimensional space? Is he using a different quality of line on the faces than on clothing? Look at his handling of arms. Notice how with the simple use of a darker, heavier line on one side of the arm and a thin, crisp line on the other side gives the illusion of form and weight. Study these drawings yourself and see what else you discover.
David Hockney
In these drawings, and others like them, Hockney is using a single fine-point pen. One would think that it would be difficult to manage any line variation from such a precision tool, but he dose it. Hockney had a great amount of control and patience, therefore when he needed a darker or heavier line he would repeatedly trace and retrace the line until he was satisfied with it. He doesn't do it with every single line on the picture plane, or else the drawing would be visually flat. Scan the drawings for line variations and see if you can figure out what effect each different kind of line is achieving.
Zak Smith
Zak SmithSmith is an extreme case. It is stating the obvious to point out that all of these drawings make IMMENSE use of line variation. Your job is to study them and observe the ways that line variation creates a push-and-pull. Do certain marks or objects seem closer to you than others? How was that achieved?
I can see how the first artist used darker thicker lines in places where the shadow would go, but i'm not grasping which objects are closer and which ones are farther away in Smith's work. can anybody direct me in the right direction?
ReplyDeleteWell, allow me to explain myself better. I have a tendency to use the word "closer" when what I'm really saying is that certain areas or objects stand out on the page more than others. For instance, in the first Zak Smith drawing I posted: notice how there are two drawings of complete head-to-toe figures? One on the left and one on the right, both seated. The one on the left jumps off the page more so than the one on the right, and this is mainly because Smith used stronger, bolder lines drawing the female figure on the left than the one on the right. There are lots of other examples in the Smith drawings if you look. I hope that clarifies a bit.
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