Line art
2-dimensional art style without gradations in shade or hue
Line art or line drawing is any image that consists of distinct straight lines or curved lines placed against a background (usually plain). Two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects are often represented through shade (darkness) or hue (color). Line art can use lines of different colors, although line art is usually monochromatic.
Several techniques used in printmaking largely or entirely use lines, such as engraving, etching and woodcut, and drawings with pen or pencil may be made up of lines.
01Techniques
Line art emphasizes form and drawings, of several (few) constant widths (as in technical illustrations), or of freely varying widths (as in brush work or engraving). Line art may tend towards realism (as in much of Gustave Doré's work), or it may be a caricature, cartoon, ideograph, or glyph.
02Form
One of the most fundamental elements of art is the line. An important feature of a line is that it indicates the edge of a two-dimensional (flat) shape or a three-dimensional form. A shape can be indicated by means of an outline, and a three-dimensional form can be indicated by contour lines.
03History
Before the development of photography and of halftones, line art was the standard format for illustrations to be used in print publications, using black ink on white paper. Using either stippling or hatching, shades of gray could also be simulated.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Line art”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- The Survey October 1917-March 1918 (1918) (14781198345).jpg by Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions
- Dansk skov.png by AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain
- Leonardo da Vinci - RCIN 912516, The head of Leda c.1505-8.jpg by Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain
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