Tips on varying line-weight - How to use Thick & Thin Lines Video Lecture

everyone so in this video I'm going to
share with you some tips about line
weight variation or thick and thick
lines and you know just share with you
what I think it's important and just
some ways that I incorporate in my joint
okay this has been something that I've
been asked to do for a while and I
figured like you know what I'll just
make a quick video where I'll share some
tips with you
so um line rate variation of course you
know is pretty much that just varying
the thickness of your lines okay
that's it okay so of course you can vary
the the things of your lines in one
single line
or you can do it in an implied line like
a direct like in the same direction
alright I do that and sometimes I do it
I vary my line weight in different parts
of a drawing so for example I here and
in here you see them saying and that
adds a different effect
so there is line weight variation here
just in different parts of the drawing
yeah it seems pretty simple but it's
good to be aware of the fact that you
know I'm varying I'm deliberately
varying the thickness of my lines in
different areas as I see it suit the the
creative outcome you know what I mean
now quick thing I should point out first
of all is that this pen is not in a
circuit design or well suited for line
weight variation actually technical
joint pens are actually favored or made
to create lines with consistent width so
basically they're made specifically to
create lines like these see the weight
of the line or the thickness of the line
is pretty much consistent
how
let's see that that's as opposed to
doing like this
see if you notice the pen look what I'm
doing
when I'm making a lot when I'm putting a
lot of pressure down in the pen I try to
keep it vertical where as vertical as
possible but I'm trying to make really
thin lines i slant it see let's pressure
more pressure thick thin thick thin so
if I apply that to drawing another I see
see so a lot of times if I'm drawing
with pen I can actually create like a
light sketch just by keeping my pen
slanted then when I'm ready to commit I
started leaning it up a little bit
thin thick thin
SiC
sin
thick
and thick and so on okay another
important thing of course is that you
know I use these to create a variation
in my line as best as I can but of
course they're not necessarily me to do
that so one way of working around that
limitation is I use pens of and you can
find us in almost all the brands that
make pretty good technical drawing
printers I use pens of varying point
sizes see so this is a point two
millimeter point and this is a point
five see that so what that does is like
for example like I was illustrating here
like if I'm drawing an eye see for the
bold areas I can use this to fill in and
for the lighter areas instead of trying
to lighten the pressure I can just draw
as usual but use a pen with a lighter
point and this this is something I use a
lot in my drawings and I mix them as a
matter of fact one thing that I do too
is like um because we think drawing you
don't have the effect of like making
light marks like pencil you know you can
draw very lightly and draw very deep
when you're ready to commit with thee
sometimes I create like well in my mind
is like a light wash of value with a
very light pen like this for example so
if I have something like say a shape
like this right and if I want to create
a value if I want to make this seem as
if it's um a particular value I may just
put in a very light layer of hash marks
and what this does is it in in my
language of drawing it's like it colors
it so now it's no longer just the white
of the paper but now it takes on a
slight gray and just like in watercolor
where you have a first layer of color as
your background sometimes that's what I
do in ink and then I'll go over it with
a deeper point or a bolder um point or
larger size tip and then I'll go over it
and I'll render in whatever way I want
or whatever see what I mean
and then I also vary the outline so if
here is in shadow of course I'll make
sure outline is bold see and that pretty
much goes into the different ways or
areas in which I use line weight
variation of drawing one of the main
areas that a huge light weight variation
is in the contour of forms so for
example like like like the like this you
know like the nose for example
you see that what I did this is
different from just doing like this see
it now you see the difference this is
different feeling and what what this
does and I guess it goes into the whys
of line rate variation is that it one it
adds interest to your drawings it makes
it a lot more interesting to look at
okay it adds variety and variety is as
beautiful now in addition to variety it
suggests rhythm okay just like when
you're um if you're drawing the human
figure if you look at the human figure
the human figure is filled the body just
has these these rhythms okay you look at
water you look at movement period a
smoke fire they just have anything you
that has motion has this beautiful
rhythm what light weight variation does
it suggests a rhythm just by having
thick and thin thick and say even if
it's in a straight line
even just in doing that you suggests
rhythm now in addition to rhythm
it suggests volume okay it's open and as
a result of suggesting volume it's just
mass and density so if I do something
like this
see just by doing that what am I
suggesting I'm suggesting some kind of a
force pulling down I suggest that this
is heavy
you see what I'm saying so if I were to
well do that and then add maybe some
silly details here something like that
see all of a sudden it that makes sense
see see because I just varied the weight
of the line around the contour and that
suggests weight and mass and volume so
so rhythm is suggested volume is
suggested and it suggests light and
shadow and that's pretty much what I was
trying to illustrate here in that but
when I'm drawing the contour of the face
I try to anticipate where the light
source coming from so for example in
this case if the light source is coming
from up here right
I make sure that the lines that are
facing the lights the the contour of the
forms facing the light source will be
light and those facing away in shadow
will be deep or thicker and that
suggests light in shadow or actually
implies the light and shadow pattern
even without any shading of the interior
forms so for example if this continues
down to where the lips are I know that
the top of the lip or the mouth be
really light right and then this going
down will be in shadow
see then this will be really light then
this going down being shadow see top of
the chin will be really light and then
the bottom of the chin will be in shadow
you see what I'm saying so this is
implying light and shadow so the top
facing up will be light all areas facing
up will be light and air it's facing
down will be in shadow and I use this in
all my drawings and I'm telling you it's
something you can apply to virtually
anything you draw now in addition to
using it as I said one in the contours
the form of I use it in the cross
contour of the form so for example if
even if I'm like I'm drawing the nose
right here right if I were sketching it
if I were shading it the lines I would
use with taper as they go around say so
if I'm drawing like form like this again
all right these across contour lines
cross contour lines are lines that
basically go around the form okay they
basically follow the curvature of the
formula ORS I'm imagining this as if
it's three dimensional and the lines are
following the cross kind of course you
should always think about films like
this when you're German okay now see
notice these lines the weight is pretty
much consistent now if I did like this
and then now I make the lines vary in
weight so for example really thin thick
thin
and make them taper as they go around
see it's a different feeling now that's
being interpreted and of course I could
even exaggerate the degree of thin and
thick lines see so what I'm doing here
is I'm actually suggesting volume a lot
much a lot much more effectively than I
did here see here this is important you
know just having caught cross contour
lines but here I'm varying the weight of
those cross contour lines so there it's
almost like we think of it in the same
way as things that are further away from
us get harder to see see so and also as
it moves towards the light is getting
more bleached out so for example we
could have even exaggerated this by
doing like so first of all I'm not going
to let it go all the way to the edge and
I'm going to start it from say like
three-quarters up
and then
see what I'm doing is I'm actually
trying to have this feed into it so
because I am not able to create a thin
enough align with this one 10 I'm
actually using two pens and that's
something I do a lot just like I was
mentioning here about using the smaller
details leaving the smaller details for
the smaller point and doing the same
thing here but now I'm going cross
contour those are two of the ways that I
use I use it in the cross contour in the
contour of the form and in the cross
contour of the form and then I use it in
different areas so for example even if
I'm drawing like a like this like with
the eye I would make sure I use
different types of lines in the same
drawing and that also adds to the
complexity and variety in your drawing
so if I'm drawing like like the lips
again and let's say we're drawing one
half
all right like that and then for in
certain areas I would only use
this so you have to be able to use a
smaller point in certain areas of your
drawing
so the job for this point is done
already it does the outline and then for
all the detail work I'll use this
smaller point
see and it's a smart way to you know add
variety to your work but also learn how
to use your tools you know so for
example you don't have to make your
joining some monotonous or just you know
just be done with one thing you can
actually find ways to incorporate
different devices in your drawing in the
same way it's like you know you can use
a paintbrush you can use a brush pen you
can use depends depends of course or one
of my favorite ways of creating line
rate variation as well
really fun to use and you can create
some really beautiful drawings of course
even with texture you know five mom
creating a texture here and I do
something like this
see that's a completely different
feeling than if I just do that see by
having the the lines
taper they do a much more effective job
of suggesting texture than these lines
do okay so those are some of the ways
that I use line rate variation and these
are the concepts that I use actually in
guiding my use of it see and the point
I'm trying to make here and perhaps this
is something that I'll elaborate on I'm
thinking of doing like a series of like
art art advice or discussion or whatever
you know like where I discuss certain
concepts that I use in my drawings and
one of them is that just like with
science C my science background kind of
taught me this in that when you're doing
an experiment it's important to be aware
of as many of the variables that affects
the outcome of your experiment you know
it's in your interest to know as much of
them as possible and then be able to
control them at will see so then you
your your being able to account for
their impact on what you get
see we're drawing the process of drawing
involves several different variables
working at the same time and when you
have an element like line line has
different properties
it's good that you're aware of the
properties or the variables that are at
work in your drawing and sometimes you
have to try to consciously make yourself
aware like even sometimes if I'm drawing
like in the beginning before these
things work you know become second
nature as they are now I used to like
make a list of things that I should be
aware of when I'm drawing see so while
I'm drawing I remember okay remember
remember to incorporate that remember to
be aware of that so you may be doing a
drawing and you realize like oh crap I
never varied my outline damn it and then
because you know you know that in
drawing small things can make a big
impact and just by varying that you
could add another dimension to your
drawing so it's good to be of the
variables that can affect your drawing
so you can have more control of the
creative outcome that you get okay so my
hope you found something this useful if
you guys enjoy this found inspiring or
learn something you know please get the
video with
I appreciate it and you know thanks for
watching and I'll see you the next video
you