Drawing

Drawing

There are many different types of drawing depending on the intent. Both sketching or any type of drawing will help you develop skills or the ability to manipulate line, shape, value, texture, or space, which are used to translate any verbal idea or message to an image.

Drawing

Drawing is defined as:

noun
1. a picture or diagram made with a pencil, pen, or crayon rather than paint.
2. the art or technique of representing an object or outlining a figure, plan, or sketch using lines.

verb
1. an act or instance of drawing.


Traditional

Are a 2D visual art form in which a person uses instruments to mark on paper or other two-dimensional surfaces. It includes the following for more information or resources on each type, click on the following:


Drawing from Life

Design or Creative

It includes the following for more information or resources on each type, click on the following:



Technical

It includes the following for more information or resources on each type, click on the following:



Non-Traditional

It includes the following for more information or resources on each type, click on the following:


Abstract

Techniques

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Non-Traditional Mark Making

Terminology

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Line

Lines are long, thin marks on the surface. Lines may also be created from the edges of shapes. They may be sharp, firm, soft, or lost in or out of focus. Lines may create boundaries or contours defining a shape or form. Lines may also create the illusion of motion or lead the viewer's eye through an image.

Line

Lines may also be implied, and their quality can be soft or bold. Lines can also convey emotions. For example, sharp or jagged lines portray a different feeling than elegant or smooth lines. Straight lines may be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Organic lines may be radial, spiral, or curved. Line lengths may be long, short, continuous, or broken, whereas the line width can be thick, thin, uneven, or tapered.

Straight lines may be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Organic lines may be radial, spiral, or curved. Line lengths may be long, short, continuous, or broken, whereas the line width may be thick, thin, uneven, or tapered. Lines may also be implied, and their quality may be soft or bold.


Shape

It is an enclosed area or figure. It is a potent tool for visual communication as one of the Elements of Design. When looking at an object or image, 'shape' is the first retinal impression the human eye registers before color, texture, space, or anything else.

Two-dimensional shapes may be manipulated with mathematics but lack three-dimensional visual information about their location, scale, or orientation within space. They have uniform measurements and are usually man-made.

Contours are the outlines or outer edges of a shape.

Contrast is the difference in value, luminance, or color that makes a shape distinguishable.

A Silhouette is a shape filled with a single tone or a color, usually black.


Form

It is an actual, three-dimensional shape or conveys three-dimensional information to the viewer. The term "form" differs from shape because it includes visual information regarding location, scale, or orientation with regard to the viewer.

Elliptical distortions, curvatures, or angles suggest perspective. Forms provide information to the viewer so they know how that object sits in space. It is well understood if they are looking up or down upon an object. Forms may be geometric or organic.

Cross-contours are lines that go across the form and may provide three-dimensional information on the form.


Value

It is the lightness or darkness of a color.

The lightness or darkness of a silhouette or color.

Tone is a single-color or color swatch with a unique combination of color characteristics. Note that tone is sometimes defined as any color or hue mixed with gray. In charcoal or pencil drawings, there are only gray tones. Each tone has a unique combination of hue (color family spectrum), value (light or dark), intensity (brightness or dullness), and temperature (cool or warm). 

Shade is created from any tone with the addition of black or dark (in a drawing, it would be a darker mark or darker pencil). A tint is any tone mixed with white (in drawing, it would be the lighter marks or the paper's white).

The Vocabulary of Value

A gradation is a minute change in value over several tones. It allows us to visually sense what we see when light falls onto a round or curved object, and the surface turns away from the light source. Soft lighting creates a gradual gradation. Harsh lighting creates a dramatic change in gradation.

Value Scale in Six Steps

A value scale is a tool used to measure a single tone's lightness or darkness. Next to other tones in context, the scale has a light or dark relationship.

Each tone relates to another, getting darker or lighter in equal increments. A complex scale may contain as many as nine to eleven distinct tones.

Any scale can be simplified into six, five, or even three tones. Light or dark shapes may be simplified using only two tones until the shapes are clearly defined.


Visual Texture

Texture or implied texture is an illusion. It is created on a two-dimensional surface, in drawing or painting, and makes the appearance of a physical texture. For example, paint-spattered from a toothbrush in watercolor will create visual texture.

The visual texture created may portray the subject matter realistically. However, the texture appears as a repeating pattern without a sense of structure or form (i.e., cone, cylinder, sphere, cube-type shading, etc.).

In a drawing, implied texture can be created by repeating shapes, dots, lines, stenciling, or mark-making. Remember to use the edges or contours of the object to enhance the texture (i.e., fur does not have a smooth edge around it; it looks furry).


Space

It is a continuous area or expanse that may be free, available, or unoccupied. It refers to the distance between shapes or objects. 3D space is recognized as having height, width, and depth and is referred to as space. Nothing exists without it and is the distance or area around each object, between, above, below, or in real places.

2D space is the illusion of depth. Visual Arts is primarily limited to height and width. It can be created by linear perspective, atmospheric perspective, magnified perspective, placement, elevation, or overlap.


Resources

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