

That is you would pluck up the string the drawing would unravel. Typical contour drawing makes it look like it was made out of string. Seeing the artist’s hand in the lines of the drawing). You do not want boring lines (must be thick, thin, fat or hard.

Vary the weight of the line – line quality.Draw and focus on the positive and negative shapes.Draw through the forms as if they were transparent.Keep your drawing implement constantly in contact with the paper.Use an unbroken line for the entire drawing.Use an implement that permits a free-flowing line (Graphite pencil, Koki & charcoal works great).You go right through any shapes Helpful Guidelines “Pro-Tips” for continuous line drawing: In contour we are gliding up and down our subject, going in and out – following all the little crevices.

Think of a mountain that has ups and downs. Vary the weight of the line, pressing harder in those areas where you perceive a heavier weight or a shadow, or where you see the form turning into space, or in those areas of abrupt change in line direction. Let the shapes go off the page on at least three sides. This, too, will insure compositional unity. The resulting composition is made up of large and small related shapes.Īgain, as a gesture, try to fill the entire surface of your paper. A continuous, overlapping line drawing has a unified look that comes from the number of enclosed, repeated shapes that naturally occur in the drawing. Not only are outside edges described, internal shapes are also drawn. The line connects forms, bridging spaces between objects. Rather than using multiple lines, you use a single line, however, as in gesture, you draw through the forms as if they were transparent. The completed drawing gives the effect that it could be unwound or unravelled. Once you make contact with the paper (you may begin anywhere: top, bottom, side), you are keeping the line flowing. The drawing implement stays in uninterrupted contact with the surface of the paper during the entire length of the drawing. The line in a continuous line drawing is unbroken from the beginning to the end. A drawing is simply a dot going for a walk –Ĭontour (n.) 1660s, a term in painting and sculpture, from French contour “circumference, outline,” from Italian and Medieval Latin contornear “to go around”
#TYPES OF CONTOUR LINES IN ART SERIES#
The series consists of 15 lessons presented by artist Lillian Gray.
#TYPES OF CONTOUR LINES IN ART FOR FREE#
Elevation contours are imaginary lines connecting points having the same elevation on the surface of the land above or below a reference surface, which is usually mean sea level.Watch the lesson for free on our YouTube channel Free Drawing Course by artist Lillian Gray This is a video and blog series teaching the fundamentals of drawing in an easy to understand way. The distinctive characteristic of a topographic map is the use of elevation contour lines to show the shape of the Earth’s surface. What are contour lines on a topographic map? Across the gap in the line is the “implied line,” and your mind fills in the gaps. In its most basic form, an implied line is created when the artist lifts the pen or pencil from the paper, continues its direction of travel, and then applies pressure again and draws another section of the line. Index lines are the thickest contour lines and are usually labeled with a number at one point along the line. There are 3 kinds of contour lines you’ll see on a map: intermediate, index, and supplementary. It is, essentially, the outline or silhouette of a given object or figure. In the world of art, a contour line is a line which defines a form or an edge. What do contour lines look like? Is contour a type of line in art?
