10. Line Basics - Line Direction & Modeling

It might surprise you to learn, before a car manufacturer agrees on a new car model, they sculpt it in clay:

While drawing is a 2D art, we can give it a 3D feel by sculpting, or modelling forms with lines that follow the forms - like the cross-contour lines we learned about in Lesson 1. Imagine lots of those together, used as shading, that also emphasize 3D form and volume. 

Concept Sketch, by Luc Desmarchelier

This is a crucial step in perfecting your shading technique. All the great draftsmen do this - and it's hard to see, initially, which lines to use where and in which directions. This is where drawing studies from masters really helps you. I've done it, and I encourage you to do the same. Draw as many studies from these works as you can - don't merely copy the proportions and angles, look at the direction of each and every line, and try to mimic it:

Birds by Rich Anderson

Illustration by James Montgomery Flagg

Denis Diderot, by Jean Greuze