58 Problems with Drawing in Line

One of the problems in using line alone to draw with is that there are very few lines in nature. Even the outline of an object is not truly a line, because if the object were turned one-quarter on its axis toward us, what was the edge would now be the center.

If we think of that circle as a head and put a round nose on the profile, when it is turned toward us it will still be a round nose.

But if we have a real human head with a real human nose on it, the complex shape of the nose changes drastically as we look at it straight on. What was a line on the profile becomes a non-line on the front view. The principles of perspective help to overcome this dilemma. For, instance the rule of overlap

tells us what is in front and what is behind, and helps us differentiate between the two and to draw them that way. The human face (head) is a very complicated set of planes with very few areas that can be described by line alone. But if the areas that are in front (closest to us) are seen and drawn as such, then at least it presents something to work with.

A face straight on in reality is a conglomerate of planes molded on top of each other — very few lines. So for a line drawing we invent some symbols to indicate which shape or plane is closest to us and its general shape. For instance, a nose in rendering might be drawn this way.

While in line alone it might have to be done so.

Depending of course, on the type of character drawn.

In animation the symbols we use for noses are kept simple. The fewer lines there are the less chance of jitters, and when lines have no anchor point it is hard to keep them from “drifting.”

I didn’t mean for this to be a “how to draw noses” paper, it is really about drawing layers of things in line alone, using the simple rule of perspective and overlap.

There are many ways of stating it and infinite ways it can be used, for it happens on all parts of every drawing you will ever make. Knowing the problems you are dealing with and better yet, how to deal with them is what we are really getting at.

What I am suggesting is everything in a third dimensional environment is one thing overlapping another in space, whether they are connected like the parts of a leg (or a nose) or are separate. Even then, nothing is really separate, for all things are connected by the matrix of space that they occupy. In painting we can use atmospheric perspective to show where the objects are in space if they don’t overlap. In drawing with line we can use another of the principles of perspective: diminishing size or surface plus diminishing size.