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See art in a fresh way.

Drawing probably was born eons ago with dragging a stick in dirt, creating a line. Line continues to be an essential element in art making, from cartoons to fine art painting. It is most often used to show the edge of an image; for example, a line circle for the sun. Fine art tends to distinguish itself from graphic design by varying the tone of the line, instead of using an unchanging, solid outline.

One great way to vary the line tone of your image is to think spatially–think of the distance of the image's edge between you and the background, such as a wall.

An awesome benefit to varying lines through space is that it creates emotion in the viewer through giving the viewer a sense of moving through space. Michelangelo said it simply: movement equals emotion.

On white paper, the darker you make your line, the more it will "pop" forward toward the viewer. Above is an example of lines toned from light to dark. Notice how the lighter marks disappear into the distance, and the darker lines come forward.

Below is one of my hour and a half drawings done with the focus on accenting her edges based on "pulling" her forms off from the wall behind her. You can't see the wall, but it was about three feet behind her head, and five feet behind her knees.

Olivia, 2009, graphite on paper, 6 x 9 inches

I started with marking her distant right shoulder just dark enough to gently pull it off from the wall. Then I drew progressively darker marks for her hair, nose, left shoulder, and so on. The intensity of the darks increased based on how close her forms were to me, and how far they were from the wall behind her.

I hope you enjoyed seeing line in a fresh way.

Michael Newberry
Santa Monica, November 2009