TAPERED LINES
A line tapers when it gets thinner, softer, and lighter at the end. Both ends of this line are tapered:
Why does this matter? Tapering a line allows you to stop and pause while you draw, to observe, and to continue drawing that line, without making it scratchy. Let's say you want to draw something complicated, like a dragon.
There's no way you can draw the whole thing in one perfect line, you'd go crazy! Literally no one draws like this:
You need to stop and pause, so you can observe the shapes, angles, and proportions. But without tapering, your drawing will look disjointed and scratchy, like this!
To fix it, taper your lines. The dragon will appear to be made up of one continuous, flowing line. Only you will know it's not (your little secret).
Tapered lines are also great for loose sketching, where you don't worry about perfectly connecting every line. Loose sketches with tapered lines can look quite beautiful, without any level of finish. The loose, tapering lines are full of momentum and energy:
Ariel sketch by Glen Keane
Two Mesquite Trees, by Charles Hawthorne, watercolor, 1928
Windswept Girl, by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, oil, 1893
SEARCHING LINES
Sometimes it's hard to see exactly what your subject looks like - some ideas, like a horse and rider in motion, can be hard to study from life, and before photography, you just had to imagine it. Light, tapered lines are a great way to search for the right shape, drawing the same line over and over till you get an approximation of what looks right. Some artists call these "thinking lines".
Horse & Rider sketch by Leonardo Da Vinci, c. 1490
See how Da Vinci drew multiple legs in different positions, looking for the best pose, with the most action, while feeling the most natural? The result looks a bit sloppy, but it's not meant as a final art piece. This is more like taking notes, in preparation for a better artwork to be made later. For finding forms, loose sketches with searching lines are a great way to experiment and find the right shapes, angles, proportions, curves, etc.
PRO TIP: Be careful not to over-work your searching lines, or it becomes impossible to see which line is the right one. Searching should lead to finding, after all.
LEVEL 1 ASSIGNMENT - Loose Sketch of a Still Life
THE SET UP:
LEVEL 2 ASSIGNMENT - Loose Sketch of a Cat
THE SET UP:
LEVEL 3 ASSIGNMENT - Loose Sketch of Pedestrians
THE SET UP:
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