5. Line Basics - Line Weight

Much of this lesson comes from this free video by Stan Prokopenko on Youtube.

All lines have weight to them - this is their power. Some lines are bold, dark, and powerful:

concept sketch by Tyler Crook

Some are soft and light:

sketch of Zachariah, by Wesley Burt

The amount of power, or weight, a line has depends on its thickness, value, hardness (or softness), and most importantly, its contrast. The more contrast a line contains the more powerful it will appear.

NOTE: Thickness, value and hardness are factors that give a line more or less contrast.

Heavy lines are not always the darkest. On a dark surface, the brighter a line is, the heavier it will be:

Portrait of a Man, by Pavel Gazur

Just as with power, line weight is relative. Lines are heavy or light, strong or weak, in relation to each other. As Stan Prokopenko shows in this example, using the same heavy lines for an object makes it look flat and boring. It's thoughtless:

But, by adding weight selectively, Stan creates a much more interesting and believable form. It has more presence and impact:

Line weight is a useful tool in drawing. By varying your line weight you can enhance depth and form, indicate light and shadow, and create a hierarchy of what's most (and least) important in the drawing, thereby improving your compositions.

To Enhance Depth & Form

Generally, if you use heavier lines in the foreground, and progressively lighter lines as you go into the background, it will emphasize depth:

 

Engelsburg (now Pokrzywno, Poland), by John Singer Sargent, 1872

To Indicate Light & Shadow

If you use heavier lines on the shadow side of a shape, and thinner, lighter lines on the light side, it will indicate light and shadow. Comic book artists often do this to their contour lines. Can you see where the sun is shining from?

Batman sketch by Tyler Crook

To Create Compositional Hierarchy

You usually want to use your heaviest lines for your focal point, so people will see it first. Notice in this drawing, how most of the darkest lines are around faces - telling you to look at the faces first, to figure out what the people and animals are doing. This was done on purpose:

La Rue, by Theophile Steinlen, 1896

LEVEL 1 ASSIGNMENT - Contour Line Still Life with Line Weight

THE SET UP:

LEVEL 2 ASSIGNMENT - Loose Sketch of a Seal, Adding Line Weight

THE SET UP:

LEVEL 2 ASSIGNMENT - Loose Sketch of a Landscape, or Building, Adding Line Weight

THE SET UP:

LEVEL 3 ASSIGNMENT - Loose Sketch of a Portrait, adding Line Weight

THE SET UP:

LEVEL 3 ASSIGNMENT - Loose Sketch of a Rhinoceros, adding Line Weight

THE SET UP: