Line

I have always tried to be both a cartoonist and some kind of fine artist, and line covers all areas of drawing. Line work is essential for its clarity of communication and tends to lean towards illustration, though I love to see it in Toulouse-Lautrec, Hockney and Van Gogh's work. There's something in the specificity of line that makes people and backgrounds come to life in a more recognisable way. You can add character and detail that tone and colour may obscure. Selectively including elements of the picture draws the viewer's eye. I try to notice what the right balance is, as I still aspire to be a full-time comic artist one day.
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The drawing above is of a couple of old men sat by the statue honouring my hometown's famous cartoonist, Giles, with his grandma character immortalised in bronze. I liked the idea of drawing the scene with a cartoonist's tool.


Any artist's use of line has a distinct signature to it. I'm not trying to draw in a particular style here and yet there probably is a recognisable aesthetic to my drawing that is not evident to me.

Above: Sketching with brush pens and fine liners in the pouring rain. Thankfully I found a spot sat under the shelter of a restaurant window. Using a certain amount of shorthand for the obscured details through heavy rain.

How much information is too much or too little? There are usually loads of details in any given scene, but constructing a picture requires prioritising the main elements, like a stage set. I remember omitting certain peripheral details in favour of emphasising the central family here.

The following shows several pages of people observed from life as they walked by.
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In trying to be true to what I saw, I drew as fast I could, as not to make up anything I didn't really see. This was the first day of drawing on the course and I got my first piece of direct constructive advice which was essentially to slow down. I have got into the habit over the years of working quickly just to handle a greater workload. I used to be much more careful in my drawing and grew more fluid over time. It's interesting to mix up the pace of working again in the opposite direction.
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I do like some of the results here though, it's hit-and-miss but when the instinctive gestures come across I think it benefits from a quick, fluid line. Going forward I will mix the effect of both careful and care-free linework, depending on the subject matter.





