Drawing Lesson - Lines and Shapes in Fine Art

To become more efficient in drawing in any area, especially in fine art there are few design fundamentals that must be learned. In this drawing lesson consider the lines and shapes in a drawing. Variety in drawings are dependent on many factors. Such as variety of shape, tonal values, edge shapes, texture and gradation. This is a long list, but each is important when considering the rhythmic quality of drawings. Upon further study, we learn that the variety of shape is found frequently in nature.

Try to draw a row of trees, make them all about the same height and same distance apart. Use your imagination to make this drawing interesting and show lots of life. Do you see how hard it is to accomplish this? No matter how much you draw from your imagination, or how far you are able to go with design, there comes a time when you need to study from nature. Study enough that there is no addiction to painting trees in only one style. This leads to boredom on the part of the viewer because there is no variety.

An example of lines, the horizontal lines creates a feeling of calm and contemplation. Can you imagine the long line of the horizon on a calm day at sea? This line gives a sense of peace and rest, a touch of infinity that no other line can communicate. The vertical line creates a feeling of elevation. For this example, picture a pine tree and how it is typical of the sublime that we associate with the vertical in nature. Churches often use their spires to create this vertical feeling of line for their impressiveness.

The combination of horizontal and vertical lines, as seen in the Cross, is a combination of lines that instantly rivets the attention, and probably has the most powerful effect upon the mind that could have ever been devised. These lines and shapes signify solidity in the foundations of drawings. They also help drawings have a natural appearance. An emotional significance, depending on some arrangement of abstract lines is to be found underlying the expression in every good drawing, usually hidden by the artist.

Source : ezinearticles