What is a Line?
Line
 A line is a moving dot.
 A mark made by using a tool, such as a pen or pencil and
pushing or dragging it across a surface.
 A line has qualities and characteristics. Thick, thin, light,
dark, fast, slow, they direct,they point, the divide, they
surround and they can be implies. They can even convey
emotions
 Lines can be made with many different tools and methods
and can have many qualities.
Line
 Lines can be curved or straight; vertical, horizontal, or
diagonal; thick or thin smooth or fuzzy; light or dark; and
continuous or broken.
 Examples of various lines to be discussed:
 Light to Dark Lines
 Mark making
 Gradation
Create your line
vocabulary
Criteria Sheet for line
composition
 Create thumbnail sketches for ideas in
sketchbook before starting. Thumbnail sketches
should be about 4x4 or about ½ your sketch book
page.
 Must come up with overall design for line
composition . Must include at least (6) different
lines you have created. Must use shapes to
overlap in some way in composition. All shapes
must be filled in with line. You can create as many
different shapes and patterns as you want
Criteria Sheet for line
composition
 Sketch must first be in pencil. Students may use
different mediums once sketch is complete to
show contrast and weight.
 You may use a ruler and stencils or free hand your
overlapping shapes.
 You design may include recognizable objects or
be abstract design.
Lines can curve . . .
The Great Wave Off Kanagawa
From "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji"
1823-29
Color woodcut
10 x 15 in.
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1970
This “artless” scribble
 Defines an area
 Creates an illusion of depth (volume)
Look
again …
Brice Marden
American, born Bronxville, New York, 1938
Cold Mountain 2, 1989-1991
Oil on linen, 108 1/8 x 144 1/4 in.
What lines
lurk in
this texture?
Jackson Pollock, Lavendar Mist No. 1, 1950
Consider the expressive
quality of the jagged
lines in this work . . .
Clyfford Still, 1957, No.1
Georgia O’Keeffe, Red, White and Blue, 1931
Lines create or imply shapes
Shapes can be open or closed
Lines around a shape are CONTOUR lines
Henry Moore
Abstract Sculptor and artist
Alberto Giacometti
Post Impressionist
Pablo Picasso
Cubist
Pablo Picasso
Cubist
What is a line in Art?
LINE
ON HANDOUT
Line – a series of points; an area whose length is considerably
greater than its width; an indication of direction, an apparent
movement. A line is a point moved or moving through space.
This applies to drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture,
clay/pottery, and architecture.
Characteristics of lines: lines can be actual or implied; a line
which denotes or describes an outside edge of an object is a
contour line. A contour line divides the plane or delineates an
edge of a volume.
A directional line points or moves the eye in a particular
direction. Horizontal – often read as across, quiet, stable.
Vertical: reaching up, spiritual, uplifting, rising. Diagonal:
dynamic, moving.
Lines can be interpreted as having expressive qualities; particular
qualities – thick or thin, weighty or straight, hard-edged or soft –
can indicate moods or feelings.