Lines in Art

Week 2: Drawing

What are the five types of lines used in Drawing?

• Contour• Gesture• Outline• Sketch• Structure

Contour

• Contour lines are the outside shape and inside volume

• Define the edges• Creates the appearance

of three dimensions• Lines are typically

heavier weight

Contour

Gesture

Gesture

• Gesture lines show movement

• “Under drawing” • Messy Line Quality• Lines are light in weight

& thickness• Use your elbow, wrist

and hand in a fluid motion

Structure

Structure

• Structure lines illustrate the basic shape and forms of objects

• Think about what basic shape or form an object is made of; for example, the rotary telephone is the basic shape of a pyramid and a cube.

Sketch

• Sketch lines are used to create the basic drawing of objects and figures.

• Can sometimes be the finished look of a drawing like the example shown.

• Can be the “under drawing” with light line weights that can be smudged away

Outline

• Outlines are the outer edges of a still life or pose of a figure

• Typically used to illustrate the silhouette of an object or figure

Outline

Still Life Objects Using the 5 Types of Line

Contour Gesture Structure Sketch Outline

In Class Participation Week 2/Day 1:You are to use one still life object to illustrate the 5 types of lines in art.Divide your paper into 5 different sections. Draw the object using the types of lines listed. Remember it is what you see and NOT what you THINK you see!

Bell Ringer:Answer the questions on the slip of paper in complete sentences.

Jim Dine. “Tools and Dreams”. 1985. Aquatint and drypoint.

Bell Ringer: In your sketchbook or sketch paper, you are to use contour lines to draw this object.

Jim Dine

Inspirational ArtistOutline & Sketch Drawings

Scholastic Art Reading “Obsessive Images” Jim Dine

• Read the article from the Scholastic Arts Magazine

• Answer the following questions on paper:1. How does Dine build up a visual language or

“vocabulary” through his tool series?2. How did Dine create an ominous feeling in

Untitled (5 Blade Saw)?3. How can the pair of pliers in Red Handle be read

as a figure in a landscape?

Jim Dine, Ten Winter Tools, 1973

Jim Dine, Rackroom

Jim Dine, The New French Tools #3

Contour & Sketch Drawing Project

• Choose an object, a tool that you use regularly, that in order for it to function, you have to hold it in your hand.

• For example, screwdriver, hammer, stapler, scissors, eyelash curler, comb, etc.

• You are to use contour lines to create variations of that object to cover your entire paper.

• Variations would include different sizes and viewpoints (if possible)

• Placement on the paper is important too, such as going off the page

• Overlap the objects

Bell Ringer

• Grab your table’s artwork from the cabinet and the tools you need to complete the contour drawings.