7 Basic Lines of Drawing Video Lecture | Develop Drawing Skills: Basics to Expert - Art & Craft

everyone so before I get into this
tutorial I want to
give a really big thank-you for those of
you who have gotten my book so far I
really appreciate the support I hope you
enjoy it I hope you love it I hope you'd
be able to really see the amount of work
and effort that I put into making this
book as as clear and simple and
comprehensive and illustrative and as
helpful as possible and try to make it
really simple to focus on the key
concepts I think are very important
especially if you're starting out is
definitely a book for those beginning to
draw with pen and ink but also it's
definitely a drawing book and I think
it's something that you definitely find
resourceful I feel like it's really
really really really something that I'm
proud of and something I feel good
sharing with you you know so hopefully
you guys will you know treasure it okay
so of course I know a lot of people get
it just to support what I do here but I
hope that you really appreciate it for
much more than that and appreciate the
content that's in it all right okay so
initially I plan to continue the figure
drawing series and then do a video also
introducing the portrait drawing series
now I realize that there's something I
think it's more important to address
before actually you know continue on
those and it addresses what I consider
to be seven basic lines of drawings now
why is this important this is important
because it's important too because it
they form such an integral part of the
process of drawing in general that I
feel like it's it's so simple that
sometimes it's overlooked and that is
the very reason why I'm doing it right
now because I feel like because of how
simple what I'm going to share with you
is people tend to overlook it and as a
result of that they're drawing sometimes
suffers structurally because they don't
focus on these seven basic lines right
now the first type of line is horizontal
lines which pretty much means literally
what I'm describing a line that is
horizontal now why
I think is important because a lot of
times it's say for example you're doing
like a still life like say this is your
paper well let's just erase that line
that I've made there a lot of times I've
seen people do a so you're doing nice to
life something like that
you got some shapes like that now if you
don't have a horizontal line or even if
you don't visualize one things may not
necessarily lay flat and that's the
importance of having even a horizon in
your work so an arisin is not
necessarily just there just to form or
structure or give structure to the space
but also to make things lay flat see so
you can have you know I say this is a
ball you know when we have a cube see
all these things will just these shapes
will just be there you know we have like
a little cylinder here but until you put
a line say like this everything will
just float but see now by doing that
line what I've done is I've made
everything kind of sit see so what am I
saying here always be aware of the
ground always be aware of the ground and
a good way to establish that is using
your horizon for example it helps to of
course in addition to this it helps to
align things you know if you're drawing
if you're drawing the head you know it
helps to sketching in horizon line helps
you to get the eyes aligned you know
helps you to get the lips having both
corners of the lips aligned horizontally
helps you to determine that and also it
helps you to keep things not aligned so
for example you need drawing like you
know you're drawing the eye like that
like for example the corner the outer
corner of the
and the inner corner of the eye are not
on a straight line like this this
doesn't happen rarely okay in most cases
the inner corner is lower than the outer
corner so sometimes it's good to just
sketch in a little line like that I do
that okay and if not you visualize it
because it just helps you just in other
words you're you're training yourself
and training your eyes to establish a
reference it's always important to have
your reference because if you don't your
drawing can easy
I've seen many drawings where students
would do a still-life like this and the
the figures the the objects being drawn
would be almost like floating off the
paper like this see what I mean it's not
horizontal it's important to learn to
establish even when you're drawing the
figure like say um you know give a let's
just make it a little stick figure like
that see if you're not aware of you know
horizontal lines and how certain things
align a simple little horizontal line
can help you get the angle of the hips
the pelvis the angle the angle of the
the shoulder girdle the pelvic girdle or
the worthy knees because you for example
you know in a figure standing like this
you know that the leg that's straight
the knee is always higher than the knee
that's bent always okay because this is
straight and this is bent so the need
falls a little bit below it especially
if it's bent forward if it's bent
backward then you know so it's important
to have a reference always even with the
elbows it's always good to have some
kind of reference that you use
unfortunately um I'm not sure why but
many many artists were I've seen who do
the ministrations they don't I'm not
sure if it's a they believe it's a sign
of weakness or vulnerability or making
making them make it maybe it makes them
appear in fear or so I don't know but a
lot of people I know is do not like
showing construction lines in their
process and I know they use them I
they use them okay so be reminded of
that and the thing is also you may not
see some professional artists may use
construction lines because they have
used them so much so they can even just
visually they can visualize them and
they're so in other words you're using
visual lines just not literal ones okay
so it's important to do that now
another quick thing even with horizontal
lines that I would know this is like a
lot of students sometimes struggle with
drawing struggle with drawing cast
shadows now I'm going to show you a
little trick if you're drawing a still
life like this and the table is like
this I understand is horizontal that's a
table the edge of the table the edge may
be visible it may not but you should
always be able to visualize it okay now
a cool tip is sometimes the cast shadow
will actually be like this of course
depending on the position of the light
however sometimes you have to break the
rules if you will because see if I draw
a crash shadow like this that doesn't
really help to make the sphere look like
it's sitting on the table does it it
doesn't so drawing a horizontal line
helps to do that so for example if I
know I I sketch a horizontal line like
this that can help to actually make the
cast shadow sit so in other words I'm
using this horizontal line to bisect the
cast shadow and now the cast shadow is
helping to reinforce this sphere sitting
on the table that's something that's
very useful to to do and that's what
you'll see in a lot of fun you look at a
lot of drawings or even cartoons and you
look at the the character walking around
see I'm making this cast shuttle beat
the the in other words the axis or line
that's bisecting this ellipse is
horizontal and that makes it sit on the
surface you see I'm saying now of course
the next line that's also very important
to be aware of is your fur
pro-line okay so make sure you practice
horizontal lines and practice vertical
lines that's a second line now why is
this important because a lot of times I
can't tell you how many times I've seen
people through drawings where you know
this is the horizon or they heard the
surface and the thing is like this you
know like it this could be the trunk of
a tree or something like that and they
don't realize that it's not vertical you
know I'm telling you when you're doing a
drawing and you focus on so many things
these little things can slip you okay so
like for example even with the going
back to the horizontal line I'm going to
show it's the same thing with the
vertical line say this is the surface of
your paper this is something that you
can use to help you to ensure that the
line is horizontal this is the surface
of your paper right now you can look at
this edge and just guess the distance
from the base of the paper to here the
base of the paper to here make sure this
distance it's the same as this distance
so you know that the line connecting
these is horizontal okay because it is
parallel with this now going back to
vertical lines now it's important to
understand that vertical lines is not
just about literally something being
vertical it can also refer to
verticality in other words there's a
vertical axis there but not a literal
vertical line so for example look at the
figure for example I'm not sure if you
guys already knew this but the vertical
axis for the human figure it passes okay
say this is um if I sketch it with a pen
so this is so that's the head alright
the neck projects out like that and then
you have the ribcage and then you have
the pelvis
then you have the thigh and then you
have the leg right now did you know that
when the figure stands like this the
line that goes vertically centers the
body center of mass the line that
penetrates the center of mass passes
through the ear and the shoulder right
here and passes through the backbone
right at your lower back passes through
the hip bone or your greater trochanter
right here passes through the front of
the knee and right at the ankles all
right so that's when you know the figure
is standing erect so you can exaggerate
this you can exaggerate that you know
exaggerate the tilt of the ribcage and
hips and so on and so forth but these
things should be consistent and your
figure will appear to stand erect okay
so that's the importance I mean of
having you know a sense of verticality
in your joints and you can apply that
same same kind of a rule where you have
you know what what's this training you
to do is learn how to have a reference
okay so this could be your paper you
know you could you could even measure it
from this side or from that side but
it's always good to have and there's
nothing wrong with sketching this end
don't be concerned with all your
drawings look messy because you have
construction lines there's nothing wrong
your training your eyes it's almost like
learning to ride a bike and you're using
training wheels and eventually you won't
need those wheels anymore because you
trained your coordination and your sense
of balance where you won't need them but
initially there's nothing at all wrong
with using them and I think
unfortunately a lot of people have been
drawing did not go through the stages of
using the training wheel so now they
feel that there is stage where they
shouldn't be using the training wheels
anymore and they're embarrassed to use
them okay so it's very good practice to
learn how to establish these things and
you also
finding your sense of judgment when you
learn how to establish vertical lines
okay I've seen many many figure drawings
where you know you're drawing a clone it
looks like this
see that's not vertical and they don't
know it why because it's not trained
themselves enough to draw vertical lines
so when something is not vertical you
don't know it you said I'm saying and
that's the whole point you want to get
to the point where you you can't you
should sense when things are off see you
should sense when it's when it's not
vertical you should be able to look and
say no no something is not right this
doesn't look right you know I mean so so
that means when you when you when you
make it like this you intended it to
look like this you don't want to have
your drawings look like this and you
have no idea what's going on and I see
that a lot um you know join cubes and
they look like this or block you know
and the lines are and it was never
intended for it to look like this see so
practice drawing
um vertical lines and that leads into
the other types of lines and these are
perpendicular lines
what's a perpendicular line first of all
a lot of times I see people draw and
it's it's I'm telling you these things
are so simple I know that you think like
why is he doing this but it's very is
very important very important for your
drawing now again here is a horizontal
line okay now we can have a line showing
different angles okay so this line
formed a certain angle with this here
this one forms another angle this one
forms another angle this one forms
another angle to the point where it's
like this and it makes an L all right
it's almost like it's a is t-shaped or L
shaped why because this angle is 90
degrees now do I mean that you should
always measure and so on no you should
of course not you no one's going to pull
out a compass or protractor or something
like that to measure angles between
lines but you should practice lines that
are perpendicular and why is this
important this relationship is so
important to your drawing it doesn't
even make sense because first of all
when you're thinking about like for
example you're drawing a drawing of a
face right and you have a line like that
then you have a line like that now if
this line isn't perpendicular to this
line in other words if they don't if
they're not true T okay if it's like
this or if it's like this you know it's
going to happen we start placing the
figures the features right they're going
to be misaligned and you know all over
the place it's important to practice
being centered what you're doing is
you're training your sensitivity to or
or your sense of judgment your reference
point to know when things are
perpendicular and this is very useful
because you're not just concerned with
having that perpendicular quality or
property when things are just straight
on like this you're trying to think of
it even when you're you have to preserve
that perpendicular relationship even
when the lines are like this see this is
curving around like this and like that
there's two perpendicular you see I'm
saying this so perpendicular so and a
lot of times this is key to drawing
cones and cylinders and so on so for
example if I have a an ellipse like that
what will help me to make sure this
point this seems like a cone is to have
a line like that right and another one
that goes like this see there
perpendicular if your join us cylinder
that's you know in a position like this
the key thing to get the shark is to
make sure that these two lines are
perpendicular if not you will end up
with something like this see that and
you're intending to draw a cylinder to
look like this see these two lines are
not perpendicular so when you're drawing
things and you want them to be vertical
that's a key thing to think about the
horizontal is there and then the
vertical line is there and then you know
that this type of thing
whatever it is is standing erect you see
what I mean so you have this to
establish the ground and you have this
to establish the verticality so that way
if you have things that are tilted you
know that it's tilted you know if you
have something like this see that
verticality is still there all right and
it is perpendicular with the plane of
the ground like that so it's very
important and you should really practice
doing that and that's a key to drawing
with the head in a variety of poses you
know when you have the head that's
tilted like so for example and you have
this one like so this perpendicular
relationship is important for placing
the features see it's important to have
this because not if you're not you're
going to have something like this so you
have the set you're going to have
something like this and you have
something like that see see doesn't look
right see
so this perpendicular relationship is
very important when you want to draw
things you know in extreme positions or
in extreme angles try to maintain that
perpendicular type of relationship okay
all right so the next type of line
to consider our parallel lines now these
lines are very important as well I'm
telling you it I can't stress how
important it is to really make sure you
get a handle on these types of lines so
let's horizontal line vertical line
perpendicular lines and now parallel
lines now of course we all know parallel
lines or if case you didn't know
parallel lines are lines that never meet
there are lines that essentially forever
go in the same direction okay now of
course we know in terms of perspective
parallel lines appear to converge okay
these lines are actually parallel lines
of a railroad track they appear to meet
appear to me they don't meet but they
appear to now of course that's a mutual
situation we use that when it comes to
perspective but I'm talking about when
lines are actually parallel and you have
to make them parallel this is very
important in making sure the distance is
equally apart now how is this important
you want to test for yourself your
ability to draw parallel lines just find
a box find something that has a shape of
a block like this and draw it and you
see how difficult it is or our
challenging drawing parallel lines can
be in other words this line this line
and this line they're all parallel
pretty much okay going in the same
direction now when you're drawing this
so you're drawing it you know something
like this see what I'm doing I'm doing
here is drawing parallel lines I'm
establishing a vertical line I'm aware
of my horizontal okay making sure this
line is parallel to this line making
sure this line is parallel to this line
two parallel lines see
parallel parallel parallel parallel
parallel parallel parallel parallel
parallel parallel see I'm saying try
that and do this in a variety of sizes
so make sure your line is vertical
vertical vertical see they're all
parallel right and then make this in
this parallel parallel to this it's
important to be able to draw parallel
lines now of course we know that you
know you can have shapes that are like
this and I'm not talking about that of
course there's nothing wrong with that
but I'm talking about practice of
learning to draw parallel lines it's
very important and it affects your
drawing in so many different ways
because when it's time to not draw a
parallel line the fact that you know
when lines are parallel will enable you
to draw that a lot like even when it
comes to aligning the features of the
face drawing structures that are even
drawing the you know the trunk of a tree
or something like that and even when
things are not vertical but keeping them
parallel and that's that's the important
thing here that you're training yourself
to establish references okay parallel
lines enable you to establish references
so even with drawing the features of the
face you know like say for example
you're drawing the nose for example it's
important to be aware of the fact that
like the the planes of the note say for
example if the nose is in a 3/4 view the
top plane see it's really like two
parallel lines you know if you're
drawing the this is the tip of the nose
all right so even though this line you
may not necessarily keep it as straight
as is but it's good to use it as a
reference because it helps to get your
lines in place you see and by having a
parallel if this line is not terrible
then you may just destroy the structure
of the nose by doing that because if
this line isn't parallel or you're not
visualizing it as being parallel you may
in visualize it like this and see what
happens
you pretty much destroyed the structure
of the models by doing that if your line
is like this you destroyed the structure
of the nose by doing that and also it's
important when it comes to aligning the
features so for example if you're
drawing you're thinking about okay the
eye the eyebrows follow this line and
then the eyes follow this line this
helps you to align where this eye is so
I mean and then you can place this line
whether it's above or below this line
but it's good to have these parallel
lines as a guide okay and it helped it
just helps to keep to establish
reference and keep a sense of harmony
between everything else okay now the
other type of line that's important or a
type of I consider them parallel flowing
lines and I pretty much mean lines that
are like this see so the Alliance that
are parallel but they're just not
straight I just call them parallel
flowing lines and this is very important
I know just seeing this you can think of
20 million examples of where you see
lines like this you could be drawing the
petal petals of a flower you will see
lines that tend to flow with each other
the stem of the flower the trunk of a
tree the lips the eyelids the eyebrows
hair you know it's important to be able
to maintain this consistency because
when you have something like this
see this may look interesting to look at
but it may not be consistent with the
structure you're trying to communicate
in your drawing okay so it's important
to be aware of you know are these lines
following each other or are they not see
and the more you're able to draw lines
that are flowing the parallel the more
you're able to break the rule if you
need to you know or be aware of when
you're breaking the rule because a lot
of times we do it unintentionally and it
sometimes can when it's not discovered
in the beginning your drawing can
progress to a point where it's it's
already almost finalized and then you
realize those fundamental mistakes and
then you feel like your entire drawing
is ruined because you cannot correct
those mistakes because they're too tied
to the structure of the drawing see what
I mean
so these are things that will help you
to establish a solid foundation for your
drawing okay so the next types of lines
are I'll discuss are um send the center
line now center line is very important
enough I've overused this whole very
important term so of course we know when
it comes to establishing the features
especially we're drawing the face you
know straight on it's good to be aware
of or establish some kind of a center
line okay so at least this way you can
have an idea okay how far away or is
this from this so you can make sure that
both are positioned equally from the
center line center lines are very
important but of course the center line
will not always be like this so think of
a rectangle like that we have a center
line like this now
if depending on how you're looking at
this or even if you have something like
this and you have a center line like
that so here we have a vertical center
line horizontally splitting this thing
in horizontal halves and this is the
vertical half
eh either way it's fine but the idea
concept is having vertical lines now
understand how vertical lines are
effective new look at things in
perspective if you're positioned here
you're positioned here but if you're
positioned on this side now the center
line is going to be different the center
because remember when things are closer
to you they appear larger than thing
when things are further away here you're
at equal distance so that's why both
halves are the same but when you're on
this side this half will be bigger to
you so the center line will not be here
the center line would be here around
here it will be closer to this end okay
and vice versa if you're over here it
will appear closer to this end like that
okay also with this is the same concept
center line will be closer to the top
close to the bottom and here the center
line will be closer to the top okay so
that's why when you're drawing the head
you know from from different positions
the center line helps you to be able to
determine how things are positioned so
this is the head and it's say we're
going to use a center line you're going
to put it like that
the same center line here now you're
seeing it from a different position
because the figure the head is rotated
and tilted forward okay now I'm going to
put a perpendicular line to run around
that so this this line is not just
arbitrarily placed okay you have to
position it so that it forms a right
angle with this C in other words you're
thinking of it like here you have across
if you have this here you still have a
cross you have this series to have a
cross you have this like this so that
across you have it like this it still
have a cross you have to maintain that
perpendicular relationship always
maintain that perpendicular relationship
and that's how you determine your
how your your cross contour lines will
cut with this okay so in the same way
with this and once you make sure that
this perpendicular relationship is
maintained then establishing these cross
contour lines will be easy see what I
mean so of course we're drawing the
figure Center lines are very important
so for example if you if you have let's
say I'm using a manikin here and this
represents the rib cage right or the
upper the mass of the upper torso and
here we have the mass of the pelvis okay
now center line drawing some lines helps
you to be able to establish the position
of things very easily see with this you
know it's not really telling us much we
can see that the mass is tilted that way
this mass is tilted this way but by
doing something as simple as this that's
a centerline okay let's make it twisted
so this is a centerline you see so this
is the center line for the lower mass
and this is some line for the upper max
and just by establishing that I can say
okay now I know one leg will be here one
that will be here the arm will be here
not army be there what I mean so in
other words this centerline wraps around
like this so I can put a one Phi will
shoot out here one thigh will you know
may shoot down there see what I mean
one arm we shoot out like this one arm
may go up like that but the thing is
just by having that sense of centerline
there now I can I have an idea okay
where things are placed so they mean and
I use this a lot when I'm trying to
invent poses or figures in various
positions and so on it's really helpful
and you can even continue the center
line up to the head just like that
what I mean so it helps you in
positioning you know determining the
poses of figures and also it even helps
you say for example you're drawing the
file like that I've seen this mistake a
lot of times in drawing and you have
this is the lower leg all right and then
the foot is here it's somewhere whatever
now by it having an idea of where your
center line is it can help you with
placing the knee because it needs really
central you know like this is the thigh
you know the knees here and then the
lower leg is here the knees should
always be central like imagine this is
the center at the top
it passes directly through the center of
the knee and follow the shin right down
to where the foot is so if you're
drawing a thigh in a position like that
a little leg in a position like that by
having some idea of where the center
line is you can you can have a good idea
of how to position I've seen these
sometimes here that's not consistent
with the structure of the legs or the
thighs and how the the lower leg and
thigh meetup it the center line is very
important and this this applies to
drawing the figure from the front or
from the back you know if you have
something like this like that and let's
let's do it again where it's like okay
like that
now this can i can determine okay am I
going to draw I can make the center line
you can make a center line here see and
the figure will be like that see what I
mean
or you can change the center line and
the figure changes actually maybe I
should put them side to side and show
you how you know by chipping the center
line you can shift the pose all together
so let's let make the Sun line continue
here alright and this side line is going
to be here see so now you can have a
figure that standing like this okay
and with this one you can have the
centerline determining a pose like this
see what I mean so despite positioning
the centerline helps you to determine
the orientation of the figure okay now
really um the other line that's also
very important is the line of axis so
far that's the horizontal line the
vertical line perpendicular lines
parallel lines parallel flowing lines
Center lines and now the line of access
line of access is yes very important why
because it helps you to determine the
orientation of a form and also the
direction all right and the position and
also not just the position of the form
or the mass itself but also the
relationships of its surface forms now
that isn't very important especially for
the head so to show you how important it
is the line of access is basically the
line that passes through the center of
the length of a form like this like the
earth as an axis so here we have a
sphere and this is the line of axis
passing through it so just like the
earth has you know lines of latitude
going around it
here we have the axis going through it's
really really important to visualize
that sometimes as you draw because it
really gives you a big clue on how to
position things see if you have those I
can put if you put the the line of axis
here it comes out here that tells me
that okay the form is oriented in this
way if I put it like this run it through
the form like that that tells me the
form is oriented this way if I put it
like this like that that
me the form is oriented this way if I
put it like this that tells me the form
is oriented in this way the line of
access helps you to determine how a form
is positioned so when you're drawing the
head it's important to be aware of where
the axis is going through and even with
drawing features even with drawing the
nose so in combining all of them like
say for example even with the the
eyeball right you know if the you're
looking up for example like that you
know the axis is passing through like
that see and you know that you can even
make a a line going through like that
see all of them they have to be
consistent here you're seeing vertical
lines you know because this is giving
you a sense of you know how things are
tilted from the vertical axis is giving
you a sense of horizontal lines you're
giving your sense of parallel lines is
giving you a sense of perpendicular
lines it is just they all work in one
concerted effort you know they work
together harmoniously but it's important
to be aware of how they all function and
what they do for your drawing it will
really help to make your draw your
drawings structurally sound you know if
you're if you're drawing the atom you're
drawing like a site you're drawing you
know the head like this
alright that's like the mass of the head
like that yeah and say the neck is like
this alright and then you have the the
shoulder and the mass of the the ribcage
like that all right even with something
like this here you have see the axis of
the head it's at the top all right
remember that the highest point of the
head is right behind the ear so the head
is really tilted like it's tilted
forward okay
and here we have
these parallel lines see parallel lines
going around and we have the this
centerline of the head here and this
helps us to place the features you know
is how just to place the nose helps us
to place the lips you know helps us to
place a chin out and then we have these
lines going around see in this case
you're not horizontal but they're
parallel and they're perpendicular to
this line so even though even the head
is tilted so we know this is vertical
these are horizontal but when the held
is tilted yes is not vertical anymore
but this perpendicular relationships
this perpendicular relationship helps us
to maintain the position of things nose
nose nose mouth mouth once you have that
perpendicular relationship you can
establish anything even when the head is
tilted like that's the access the head
is tilted like this the same thing here
here first you see when you do this you
don't have to remember that okay when
the head is tilted up the ears fall
lower just by following the lines
everything falls in place that's what I
mean it helps it helps your drawing to
remain structurally sound regardless of
whatever position things are in the axis
of the neck is like this see this is the
column of the neck the torso this is the
axis of the torso she's facing this way
your imagine a line passing through the
main the length of the main mass the
underlying mass see what I mean
so it's important to be aware of these
lines you know they really help you to
make your drawing just sit you know
hopefully this this video was helpful
for you guys um I can't stress how
important being aware and proficient
with these lines really is for your
drawing it helps to make things
structurally sound it really helps to do
that and I've had to learn this of
course gradually like oh these lines are
parallel these eyes are important all
these lines you know but I'm I'm giving
it to you in one package like look
rather be aware of these seven lines
over the years my drawing I've learned
that these lines are very important to
my drawing and I've had to practice them
and get to the point where I developed a
sensitivity towards them so I know when
I'm making something tilted I think
about a vertical line okay and making it
tilted is easy if I want something to be
positioned in a certain way that may be
challenging I first established these
lines that will set the structural
foundation for me to build on okay so
hopefully you know you guys got some
stuff from this that you can use to
apply to your drawings