CHARACTERISTICS OF LINE

Sasha Mattos

Today we began our investigation of the art element Line. Sasha's drawing above is a Line Inventory illustrating various line types. The objective was to explore different types of lines and what happens to them when 1. the format changes, 2. lines are repeated, 3. lines intersect, 4 lines move outside of the format (cropping)., etc. Format in particular may stretch the line, or in the case of a "tondo" or circular format, the negative areas are drastically altered.

Kacie Brunk

From there students made drawings exploring straight, curved and angular lines individually as well as combined. Notice in Kacie's drawing how the dynamics become more powerful with the changes to line and weight. In addition, when a line expands at an end or in the middle it may look more like a shape. Observe the left tondo composition how the line becomes "almond" shaped.

Ma Samson

Lastly, students chose one of the thumbnails from the previous drawing to enlarge. Ma's drawing has maintained much of the integrity and interest witnessed in the original. Notice how the bold lines advance and the thin lines recede and the broken or dashed and dotted lines bring a different rhythmical quality to the image than that of the continuous lines. Furthermore, there is an "implied" line within the spaces between the "actual" lines. All of these lines create a sense of unity in there likeness (similarity)  but are visual interesting for their variations (variety).