Straight lines can be drawn in any direction and are used to quickly and effi ciently sketch and draw the shapes, forms, textures, and patterns of many drawing subjects.

Skilled artists who seem to render straight lines effortlessly have, in fact, invested many hours into the practice of drawing straight lines.

Three basic types of straight lines include (Figure 1): vertical (straight up and down and at a right angle to a horizontal line); horizontal (level and at a right angle to a vertical line); and diagonal (slanting or sloping at an angle).

Before you can draw straight lines, you need to be able to fi nd and examine them on your drawing subjects. Straight lines are easy to see on man-made objects.

Examine the straight lines marked in red in drawings of wooden objects (Figures 2 and 3).

Pattern: The visual arrangement of different values of a drawing subject as represented by lines and/or shading. Texture: The surface detail of an object which can be identifi ed by sight, touch, and/or a general knowledge of the subject.Angle: The size of the space between two straight lines that intersect or meet, usually measured in degrees. Angle line: A line created when two straight lines meet or intersect to form an angle (or angles). Angle lines are used to draw such shapes as squares, rectangles, and triangles.

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ISBN: 978-1-927365-02-1Copyright 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

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Identifying Straight Lines

Find and examine straight and angle lines in drawings and in your surroundings

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8.3Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 63.9Drawspace Curriculum 2.1.R4 - 7 Pages and 16 Illustrations

Figure 1

Vertical Horizontal Diagonal

2 Drawspace Curriculum 2.1.R4

You can draw everything you can see or imagine with straight and curved contour lines. When looking for straight lines in nature, be careful not to become overwhelmed by small details.

Look for the simple lines that defi ne the shape of your object. For instance, you can ignore little bumps on a tree trunk, or the uneven shoreline of a lake. Sometimes it helps to squint a little to get a view of the big picture.

In a simple preliminary sketch, tree trunks and shorelines present natural contours that can be quickly rendered with straight lines (Figure 4).

The same sketch looks quite different after a few extra details and shading are added to the contour drawing (Figure 5).

Figure 4

ISBN: 978-1-927365-02-1Copyright 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

Figure 2 Figure 3

Challenge!

Find at least fi ve straight lines in man-made objects around you.

Drawspace Curriculum 2.1.R4

In nature, you can also fi nd straight lines along the contours of such things as mountains, rocks, and trees.

Remember to look for lines that are vertical, horizontal and diagonal.

Check out an example of each of these three types of straight lines that are outlined in green in Figure 6.

3

ISBN: 978-1-927365-02-1Copyright 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

Figure 7

Figure 5

Figure 6

Challenge!

How many other sections of this same scene (refer to Figure 7 this time) could be represented in a sketch with straight lines?

ISBN: 978-1-927365-02-1Copyright 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

Figure 11

Figure 9Figure 8Angle lines are abundant in cityscapes, but can also be found almost anywhere humans live. In fact, almost anything man-made will have an angle or two in it.

Whenever two straight lines meet, at least one angle line is created (Figures 8 and 9).

While its important to train your eye to see angle lines, it is also important to learn to see the angles themselves. The ability to visually identify the approximate sizes of angles will help you draw them accurately.

Figure 10

4 Drawspace Curriculum 2.1.R4

For example, the size of the angle in this angle line is 90 degrees (Figure 10). This is also known as a right angle.

You need to be able to approximate the sizes of angles from any viewpoint when you examine drawing subjects. When two perpendicular lines AB and CD intersect, four right angles are created (Figure 11). As you can see, angle sizes dont change even when the angle lines are rotated.

Figure 12

Figure 13

Drawspace Curriculum 2.1.R4 5

An angle line can be drawn with an angle of any size. An angle that is as large as it can be is a straight line.

The series of angles in Figure 12 become increasingly larger (lines 1 to 5) until the two straight lines that make up the angle line become a single, vertical, straight line with an angle of 180 degrees (line 6).

A drawing of the famous fi shing village of Peggys Cove in Nova Scotia, Canada was rendered with angle lines (Figure 13). Several of the angle lines have been outlined in red.

Although most man-made structures have angle lines present, angle lines can also be found in abundance in rural landscapes.

Look for natures angle lines in parks, mountains, and wooded areas.

Straight-sided rock formations and trees have many hidden angles.

Challenge!

How many unmarked angle lines can you fi nd in Figure 13?

ISBN: 978-1-927365-02-1Copyright 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

Figure 14

Figure 15

6 Drawspace Curriculum 2.1.R4

The branches of a wonderful old tree (Figure 14) have more angle lines than anyone would try to count.

A few of these angle lines are marked green in a close-up (Figure 15).

ISBN: 978-1-927365-02-1Copyright 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.

Figure 16

Figure 9Figure 9

Drawspace Curriculum 2.1.R4 7

Challenge!

Examine the drawing of the Reid Newfoundland Railway station in St. Johns, Newfoundland. The station was built in the 1890s and presents a good challenge to any artists line-drawing skills (Figure 16). Identify at least three vertical, three horizontal, three diagonal straight lines, and ten angle lines.

Challenge!

Take a good look at your surroundings (inside and outside) and identify at least 15 contours that can be sketched with straight lines.

ISBN: 978-1-927365-02-1Copyright 2011 Drawspace Publishing and Brenda Hoddinott. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic, digital, mechanical, recording, photographing, photocopying, or otherwise, without the purchase of a licence from drawspace.com or the prior written consent of Brenda Hoddinott and Drawspace Publishing.