7 - Lost and Found Contour

Now for a little magic! With Lost and Found Contours the focus of the composition is obscured heavily by shadows. However, thanks to the lines in the composition the mind will "fill in the gaps" of what is missing.

Notice how the only thing you see of the form in the back is his partially obscured face and the outline of his glove on the candle. However your mind will begin to fill in what you can't see. You see the full form of the figure in the back, now you see it, now you don't!

6 - Line as Value

Once more I'll look towards the comic realm to really demonstrate Line as value. To create value, many implement a tool known as cross hatching. Cross hatching is essentially marking lines multiple times in different directions to make a shadow or a value in the composition.

Notice how Bryan Hitch hatches and cross hatches the muscular of the character to show the different value and shading of it. Also note how he hatches the clothing as well as the weapon in the forms hand in a different way to fool you into seeing the texture of each form as well.

5 - Gesture Line

The other form of line is known as gesture drawing. Gesture doesn't focus on the rigidity of form but looks more at the action and the motion of the form.

Both hands seem to be moving thanks to the idea of gesture drawing. You could sense the fingers moving back and forth nervously in the second thanks to the quick marks of each line.

4 - Contour Line

The common way to use line in composition and design is a Contour Line. Contour line follows the edges around the subject of focus.

The artist, Bryan Hitch, uses contour line to finish this sketch of a comic character. He uses bold and thin lines to add the folds of the clothing on the form.

2 - Line as Direction

Flat, horizontal lines looke lifeless, like the floor around you. Vertical lines, like the walls seem to have a bit more life, but let's face it, their dull. A diagonal line though, that is where you get to have a little fun and can imply motion in a flat design. Line as direction is a well known tool for adding a bit of excitement in your sketch or drawing

Notice how the main characters in this other inking by Mark Brooks shows the motion of the moving cars and the scooter in the front. Also, the lines under the scooter show movement and action. Even the bridge is at a slant to further promote the chaos of this bridge in New York City.

1 - Line as Shape

Line as shape, my bread and butter. Line is important for any sketch or drawing art. It forms the shape of the composition.

A lot is going on in this picture. A lot of different characters from a popular anime. However, with everything going on in this picture, there is nothing but lines as shapes. There is no value and all you see is line, however you can tell the difference between individual characters in this inking by Mark Brooks.Line has formed all the shapes seen in this composition.

22- Unity through Continuity

Continuity shows that there is now a visual relationship between individual designs. The most common form of this is a standard grid.

This collage shows the continuity of the grid pattern but with multiple pictures and designs. While each picture is different, the grid brings them together.

21- Unity through continuation

Continuation is something that is a bit trickier. Not as blatant as the other forms of unity, it is still quite powerful. It simple means that arts of the design or piece is continuing, such as a line or edge.

Degas shows continuation in his dancers here. Notice how you can draw a continuous line with their arms all the way from the tip of the finger of one to the end of the fourth and final dancer.

20- Unity through repitition

Something also used in unity is something known as Repitition. This can be something that repeats itself many times in the design. The element can be anything: color, shapes, textures.

This example by Escher shows the repitition of swans moving back and forth. He also repeats the black and white value of the swans.

19- Unity through Proximity

Unity is a congruity or agreement that exists among the elements in a piece. One of the easiest ways to do this is through something known as Proximity. Proximity is simply putting elements or designs close together to form unity.

The Last Supper by Da Vinci has much in the way of proximity. Notice how he grouped the figures together save for the one in the center. By using proximity he focuses the groups into a tighter arrangement, bringing them all a bit closer together.

18- Visual Texture

Visual Texture is a lie. This very clever trick is something you can do to fool the eye into thinking texture is there where none actually exists. Most still pictures have to rely on Visual Texture. I pulled an example from the book (p.165) since it is a painting I have always liked.

Max Ernst, who created The Eye of Silence tricked us visually by using his pigments and colors well. The mossy structure of this very odd architecture looks so realistic, you think you could touch the painting and pull your hand back wet and cool as if you had slid your hand along the vegetation.

17-Tactile Texture

Tactile texture is something that can be felt. Painters will add layers upon layers of paint to put a texture to their artworks. One of the first to really do so was Vincent Van Gogh.

In his starry night, he used a technique known as impasto where the painter uses thick pigment. Van Gogh used short thick brush strokes and pure paints to bring out the image, looking at this example you could feel each star swirling about the night sky.

The setup