Contour line art meaning how to#

Practicing this technique with an actual apple - one you’re willing to throw away - is a suggestion Phil Davies makes in his excellent tutorial on cross contour lines. We can tell where indentations occur, and we can see how the stems fit into recessed areas. In a cross contour line drawing like this, we can see the shape of the apples. Apples are often used to illustrate the principle. In a similar way, we can use cross contour lines to show the topography - the surface features - of objects. Lines that are close together show steep inclines lines farther apart represent a gradual slope.

Contour line art meaning how to#

If you’ve forgotten the details, an excellent explanation of how to read a topographical map can be found here. The main point in understanding topography is that each contour line represents a change in elevation. Probably you learned about topography in the same way. I first learned about topography in school when the concept of topographical maps was introduced. Cross contour lines give us a closer look at the topography of the objects we’re drawing, showing us the lumps, the bumps, and other details we need to make a realistic illustration. You can refer to it as a principle of good art, or you can just call it good, old-fashioned common sense, I think. So, yes, I’m familiar with contour lines, and I’ve learned how to use them in drawing and painting.Ĭross-contour lines, however, do more - a lot more - than define the edges of an object or guide us in our shading. On the roof, my brush strokes will be more diagonal. The wood of the barn clearly goes up and down, so I’ll use up and down motions with my brush. Suppose, for instance, I’m painting a farm scene with a barn - not likely since I’m not good at drawing buildings, but bear with me, please. The same holds true in painting, and I’ve learned to use brush strokes that represent the direction of the object’s basic contours. In shading a round object - an apple, as an example - we want our shading to follow the general shape of the apple, that is, to follow its contours.

Next, I learned about using contour lines in a directional sense. Drawings like this are usually referred to simply as line drawings. It defines the outer edges of the object we’re drawing. Contour is a French word that means outline, and a basic contour drawing is essentially an outline of an object, much like you might see in a children’s coloring book.

I first worked with contour lines in my beginning drawing lessons. I’m learning to use cross-contour lines in drawing, a practice that is helping me become more observant about the objects I draw and showing me how to best represent their three dimensionality on a two dimensional surface. Today I’m working on a skill that’s somewhat familiar yet still quite new to me. Learning new things is always a sign of progress. It feels good to practice new drawing techniques and know that even if I’m not good at the skill yet, I’m moving in a positive direction.