Cross-Contour Lines Exercise - Improve your cross-hatching & Ink drawing

everyone so consider this video like
on two lines if you haven't seen that
video already I put a link up so you can
see it I think it's pretty useful
because I share some tips on about you
know the importance of using cross
contour lines when you're trying to
render forms to make them look
three-dimensional that's perhaps one of
the most important aspects of drawing
with pen and ink you have to be aware of
cross contour lines and how to use them
now if you remember I had shared with
you that one of the most important
things when it comes to cross contour
lines you should consider is the
structure of the form now of course I
have to take a moment to thank you guys
so much for support in the book it's
meant so much for all the support all
the feedback I've gotten whether it's on
Instagram or YouTube or Facebook even
via email I thank you so much guys and
for those are taking the time to go on
Amazon and left a comment it means a lot
that you guys do that and thanks so much
for that support you have to be aware
that if this is a form you have to be
aware of or you should be aware of the
orientation of this form so for example
you can have three forms like this and I
discussed this in the last video but
also a quick recap this could be this
way so if it's oriented away from you
most of your cross contour lines will be
in this direction
not necessarily cross like this but they
can actually be diagonal but the thing
is they would be accentuated the
orientation of this form likewise if it
goes like this then most of the forms
would actually be in another direction
so for example you could have lines that
actually are like this and you can
actually have lines that are like like
this one of the most important things
that I should mention when it comes to
cross contour lines the way to practice
it is to draw from life drawing from
life enables you to see things with
depth in a way that when you look at a
photograph you're not able to capture as
well even though the form is like this
now it is not flat it is not like like
this
it is not flat so imagine this like
being like a cut out of a piece of
cardboard or something like this all
right it's not flat it actually has a
lot of depth even though it goes like
this this part is further away from you
so that means your cross contour lines
is more go like this and as it comes
around then it would start going like
this you should I'm saying so it's
almost like this is going away from you
and this is coming around to you and
then it turns around so you have to be
aware of those subtle little things when
you're actually you know applying the
the cross contour like if you wanted to
look three-dimensional of course you can
just ignore that completely and just use
lines that have no respect for the form
whatsoever and that's fine if that's
your style but I feel like you know it's
good practice to observe the form where
does the form seem to project from the
surface or it seems to rise from the
surface and it seems to be in low relief
see here it's like convex concave convex
all these things would be reflected in
your cross contour lines you're not just
arbitrarily just putting down hatch
marks you'd actually be your eyes should
be flowing like this falling making and
trails over the forms even something as
simple as this see that so even here
that's actually furthest away from us
you should still feel like that's
further away and you could use lines to
actually accentuate that doing something
like this and then with each one treat
it differently so for example with this
you can imagine that it's going like so
and as it turns around
you see this is really good practice for
getting a sense of how to control the
orientation of a form with a different
cost contour lines and you should
actually feel as if you're going over
this thing and what does it feel like
but some of you can actually make it
concave so these are really useful
things you can do when you want to
practice cross contour lines of the of
the form all right so let's kind of
apply that to drawing the ear and
hopefully we'll get some tips from this
that you can apply to your own work I
usually begin my inking with a simple
line drawing but I decided this time
what actually is my pencil just for you
to be able to see how I'm thinking and
actually create some cross contour lines
across the forms so you can see the way
that I'm actually mapping things in 3d
before actually going with the pen and
then I actually go in first my pen to
kind of like reinforce some of those
crows contour lines in my mind so that
sets a tone for my further cross
hatching and whatever lines that I'm
going to be using afterwards so in my
mind or I'm already thinking in a
three-dimensional way I'm not seeing
this as a flat form but I'm seeing the
convolution of all the forms as they go
in and out front and back and you know
through space and I'm trying to follow
that movement and something you'll
notice is that the first marks that I
put down generally set the tone for the
orientation of the form or basically
indicates how I see it you know so
that's something that's very important I
think your first line should be you
should at least give them some thought
you know because they will set the tones
for the lines that will follow and
that's pretty much what I do most of my
drawings I make sure that the first set
of lines are the ones that kind of
establish things the structure of the
form the curvature of the formed
orientation of the form
and then afterwards you know I may add
to that based on texture light and
shadow and so on but you know
structurally speaking those lines or
stablished first okay so as you can see
all I did here was just follow the the
curvature of the form and then with
respect to the light and shadow that
will determine what size will I actually
render and you know just some simple
things to point out here when you have a
form that curves like this I've seen
sometimes people make the mistake of
having the lines come straight from the
sides like this or sometimes you'll see
like they're trying to have the the
lines come around but instead they'll do
something like like this now not that
this is necessarily incorrect but it
doesn't really essentially the curvature
of the form a simple thing that I do in
my practice is that you kind of start
it's almost like you're doing like like
imagine this curve and you're doing like
this you're writing the curve and then
you flick around you write the curve and
flick around and this is what I do I
kind of start from the edge and I write
it up a little bit and then see and it's
much more effective than this and of
course as I said pay attention to where
the forms are going and this is one of
the most effective exercises it can you
you can use to actually get some really
good practice in making chorus contour
lines and actually this is pretty simple
you can make this even more complicated
more convoluted and as you do that try
to use your lines to wrap around it and
even do the same exercise and then use
different cross contour lines and force
the eyes to interpret it in a different
way and that's the beauty and trick
about cross contour lines it actually
gives you the power to dictate
how that form would be interpreted
that's the power of cross contour lines
all right so hopefully this was useful
and you can find stuff in it you can
practice and apply to your own work you
know if you liked it
find something inspiring or useful
please give the video a thumbs up and as
usual thanks for watching and I'll see
in the next video guys