Line Art For Self Expression

Line Art For Self Expression introduces the basics of line art drawing within a framework for self expression through visual arts. Includes a personal story that chronicles the author’s experiences with substance use, the criminal justice system and eventual use of visual arts as a pathway to self improvement.

  • Explore opportunities for expressing your own personal story through art
  • Understand basic components of line art drawing
  • Know about the effects of line weight
  • Learn how to draw hands, feet, faces and figures

Guide number 4121321. 5,269 words, 23 illustrations. Updated to version 3. First released on November 24, 2019

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Table Of Contents

  • Introduction
  • My Story
  • Line Weight
  • Hands
  • Feet
  • Faces
  • Figures
  • Self Expression and Stylization Through Art

Introduction

Line art and gesture drawing techniques capture a moment in life: motion, movement, a feeling. They are quick, messy, gritty, and in that they become graceful and fluid. They make you go to a briefly frozen moment in time. Line art is a safe way to look back in time and find a safe space to let your feelings reign. It is also a way to be alive in the moment. You can drown out all the outside noise and just be — you, your pencil, your paper. 

Line and gesture drawing is not meant to be perfect. Quite the opposite: imperfection is encouraged. The focus is not on finishing a work of art, ready for critique and sale. The purpose is to explore the brief moment, and often realistic moments in life are not perfect. They are real and raw. This style gives you freedom and encouragement to make mistakes, let go, and move on to the next moment. My primary goal with this chapter is to encourage each artist to just dive in and draw.  

We’ll focus on human subjects in this chapter. We will be studying the face, hands, feet, and the body, along with the language and feeling that each displays. Every artist, experienced or not, can create a line drawing that is powerful, refreshing, and raw with emotion.

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