Notebook

Notebook, 1993-

RELATIONSHIPS

Line

From: Collier, Graham. Form, Space & Vision, An Introduction to Drawing and Design. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1985.

Lines
A Line is the result of a point or substance being pulled, pushed, or stroked over the surface, calmly or excitedly, for long or short distances. The media or substance of the line may be more or less concentrated as it moves, producing a tighter or looser line. The tighter or more compact the line, the faster the line seems to move; the looser or more spreading the substance of the line, the slower the line appears to move. Thus motion and pace of motion are prime characteristics of the line. Yet motion must take a direction, and therefore line provides the surest graphic way to direct the eye over the two-dimensional surface and, as we see later, into the illusory three-dimensions of pictorial space. Hence line is dominantly directional. A line moving through space also demarcates space--that is, sets limits to the void. It therefore, by mental association, becomes the obvious graphic means to "outline" a material object--which is, simply to separate it from space. Any such outline will necessarily show the shape of space now surrounding the object, which inevitably allows one to see the shape of the object itself. Consequently, line provides definition; it serves to define both matter and space by separating them.

Characteristics of Line: Motion, pace, direction, and definition are characteristic of line.

Physical Characteristics: Continuous, broken. Angular or curvilinear. Multidirectional: up, down, across, in.

Speed: from static to fast moving.

Weight: thick to thin; blunt to sharp. Suggests dominance and spatial position [and speed].

Weight in the one line: constant or varying.

Light or dark value of stain aids spatial position and dominance

[[Collier, Graham. Form, Space & Vision, An Introduction to Drawing and Design. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1985.]




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