Linear Art

Jha'Meia · Post by **Jha'Meia** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:05 pm

When I first started drawing, a friend of mine (very critical, he made art critiquing an art in itself) would tell me, "it's easy to tell you draw firstly with the eye and go from there. You need to break away from linear art." From there, I understood "linear art" as "drawing from the eye".

So, I guess I'm just curious now, is that REALLY the term for it? What other art-y terms like that are out there?

Any and every bit of information will be immensely appreciated =)

Tarotreader3 · Post by **Tarotreader3** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:23 am

i'm just gonna bump this back up, because I'm also curious about "correct terminology"

JexKerome · Post by **JexKerome** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:49 am

Seems to me like he was shooting in the dark.

Wp · Post by Wp » Tue Jan 25, 2005 8:51 am

What I think he means is drawing with step-by-step processes. I do that all the time because I don't have the talent to start drawing at a random location. I always go in this order
1) head and neck
2) torso
3) abdomen
4) pelvis
5) shoulders
6) arms
7) legs
8) hands
9) feet
10) clothes
11) face (eyes -> eyebrows -> nose -> mouth)
12) hair

I used to start with the eyes as well, because it was easier to structure the face around it. The problem is that if you mess up on proportions, then it is a lot harder to correct without redoing the head/face. Always draw your characters naked first, otherwise your proportions will be way off (at least that's what I find).

He has a point. If you draw rigidly step-by-step, it's harder to be versatile with dynamic poses and weird angles. It also shows that you don't know your proportions by eye (which is more a self-educational tool than a pride thing). Unfortunately, that's just the way some people have to draw.

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:38 pm

Well, I don't know about "Drawing from the eye" but I do know that the term for drawing without use of lines is called (I'll pronounce it since I have no clue how to spell it) "kee-ya-ra-sku-ra" drawing. Learning how to do this is really a good idea as it will improve your line art as well.

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:40 pm

I think you mean chiaroscuro, CAS.

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:50 pm

THANK YOU! I was going insane trying to remember how that was spelled.

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:13 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro
Well, it's not what I thought it was.

I think the idea your critic friend was trying to get across was to draw the entire scene before adding the details. Place your characters. Decide where the major environment objects are (like a table or chair or whatever the characters interact with) THEN fill in things like eyes, hands, hair, etc.

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:56 pm

chibiartstudios wrote:Well, I don't know about "Drawing from the eye" but I do know that the term for drawing without use of lines is called (I'll pronounce it since I have no clue how to spell it) "kee-ya-ra-sku-ra" drawing. Learning how to do this is really a good idea as it will improve your line art as well.

...you know, somebody used chairoscuro to discribe my new style and I had absolutely no idea what it meant. THe words "nice use of" in front of it kinda waylaid me.

I am such a dimwit sometimes.

CW

KathleenJ · Post by **KathleenJ** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 6:04 pm

christwriter wrote: ...you know, somebody used chairoscuro to discribe my new style and I had absolutely no idea what it meant. THe words "nice use of" in front of it kinda waylaid me.

Hee hee, I think I said that!

Chiaroscuro is just "shading" - in other words, using light, dark, and the scale of tones in between to give things volume. You hear it most often describing things where the contrast is really high, and the darks are really dark...but really, anything where you're using light and shadow counts. I see Wikipedia mentions the artist Caravaggio - that's kind of funny, because in my art/art history school experience, Caravaggio was always, ALWAYS the example of what chiaroscuro is.

As for the original topic, yes, I think the posters here are right that your friend is advising taking an all-over approach - laying all the shapes out in general before you move into details. (I used to start with eyes too - it took forever to break out of it!) And by saying you should move away from "linear" art, he probably means that you should try out methods of constructing a drawing other than outlining the edges of things. That's where good old chiaroscuro comes in - using light and dark areas to show how objects are shaped without outlining them. Of course, not everyone wants that lineless style, but it's a good thing to practice.

Alaina · Post by **Alaina** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:08 pm

When he says "linear art", I think he meant contour drawing. That's drawing the outline/shape of the object, without really shading or line personality (like drawing with a pen--you can't vary the width of a line easily). Some people can pull this off great (Schiele, for example. MAN I love him!), but most of the time it looks drab. What he's possibly saying is, add some depth to your art.

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:47 pm

Basically yeah. Using non linear methods you learn interesting things about the figgure you may have otherwise hame missed. I think that may have been what he mean. That or maybie to add some shading or something.