Line. You know, that one art principle that you see for the first time and the
little handout that your teachers give you and you go "WHAT? A thing that I struggle to
draw if I don't have a ruler?" Why do I want to give that a second thought?
OR you're the type who thinks more in the mathematical sense where lines are more for
measurements or graphs and if that's the case, then make a beeline for the door because that's
not happening in this video. Line is a principle you really want to think about because there's
loads of factors that make your lines great. It's in loads of things that you
use everyday but also sometimes the line isn't even there at all. "Wow Jessie,
that's wild," you definitely didn't say, "tell me more!" Glad you didn't ask. Let's keep going.
Our friend Google states that line is an element of art used to define shape,
contours and outlines; also to suggest mass and volume. It may be a continuous mark made
on a surface with a pointed tool or implied by the edges of shapes and forms. In English, that means
that lines have tons of different uses in art, not just the line art you see in illustrations
and some of those uses might not even be literal lines that you see in front of you. Examples? You
got it buddy -- let's get a move on. Let's take a peek at Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night for a sec,
yeah? He literally used lines to paint. Zoom in on that bad boy. You see all those little guys?
In this case, he used these lines as stylistic choice where rather than blending in all the
colours meticulously, he used multiple layers of lines to give an impression of the scene in front
of us. I mean -- he was part of the impressionist era and these lines aren't the smooth single track
lines you're generally used to when it comes to clean line art. These lines are very thick, short
and broken up: a signature of Van Gogh's style. That's an easy one though, isn't it? Moving on.
Tower of Babel by M.C. Escher. Staring at anything by Escher honestly gives me a headache since I
only have like two activated brain cells at all times but with this one, it's a little easier on
the eyes compared to like Relativity which makes me spontaneously combust every time that I look
at it. With this one you can see a couple things where the first that's less literal is his use of
leading lines which are used to get the viewer to look at and find the focal point easier. In
this case, he's using them with the perspective of the tower to really get you to look hard at
the top of there. The other thing that's how is he employed line to really push exact perspective
which I mentioned before. It's made even more obvious with this one because if you zoom in real
nice and close in this one -- let's just -- let's just get right close up in there. You see that?
Everything in this piece is made up of long lines that would follow a perspective grid exactly. This
piece is a very harsh three-point perspective emphasized greatly by the precise and almost
mathematical lines done here. Pretty well the opposite of dear Van Gogh from earlier so let's
meet somewhere in the middle next, shall we? BAM. Here's a few panels from the One Punch Man
manga. Bet you didn't expect to see that in our principles video. Side note at how much I love
this manga; one because it's completely ridiculous but two because I adore the way it's illustrated.
let's take a look at the first couple panels here. The shading technique on King on the
right here is called cross hatching -- my personal favorite way to shade with pen or pencil. Cross
hatching employs the use of thin lines that go in multiple different directions to simulate
the look of shadows without the need for intense blending. The more you layer the lines, the darker
the shadow looks. When done properly, the effect is absolutely beautiful. Looking at the panel to
the left, while it also employs hatching, it also has something else that's important to point out.
The use of lines to show movement where in this case, it's meant to look like he's practically
jumping out of his skin. Movement is also another principle of design all of its own. No principle
is more important than the other. They all work together to create harmonious pieces. Let's look
at that final panel now. This great panel of Saitama punching Garou like a stone on the
sidewalk has a great use of line all around. Not only is the line employed on poor Garou himself
showing how quickly the kick has hit him but also the explosive line work coming off Saitama's boot
that shows how intense the kick itself was. And not only that but the background you
see loads of lines spaced differently to emphasize, another principle I might add,
not only how fast he's moving but also to emphasize a little bit of perspective.
Line is used in many different ways whether it's for perspective, shading, emphasis, stylization,
shifts in emotion, action, or just good old plain line work. As a comic artist who adores line work,
a lot of the time I have intensely clean thick line work that I utilize to emphasize perspective
and emotional change. For your next piece, try to use line in the way you haven't before! Never done
heavy line weight? Never cross hatched before? Never used lines of action? Use them! Experiment
with what you can do with your lines and if you want a quicker rundown online as a design
principle, feel free to check out our worksheet on the topic on our blog full of art resources for
teachers -- link down below. But if you liked what you saw, make sure to leave a like on this video.
Comment down below to tell me what you'd like to see me draw next and hit subscribe so that you
never miss an upload. And hey, we art nerds gotta stick together so join our little art community
with the links down below. With that said, thanks for watching and I'll see you next time!
Buh-bye!
Not only is line employed on poor Garou himself showing how quickly the kick has..
nope. Staring at anything by Escher honestly gives me a headache since I
have like two (thump) activated brain cells at all times -- nope. But this is a little easier on the
eyes compared to like Relativity which makes me spontaneously combust the second that I watch it.
Watch it??? Look at it. UGHHH. BAM. Here's a few pan-- nope. (Laughter)