Using Shape and Line in Drawing and Watercolor Painting
by Anne Kupillas.
Shape is one of the principles of art that serves as a building block for representing every variety of subject matter through painting, sculpture, and architecture.
In its most basic form, a shape is a two-dimensional area that is surrounded by an outline.
Within the context of art, shape is the external form - or the outline of a subject.
Though shapes are two-dimensional in painting and drawing, artists use other elements including line, value, and shadow to give a shape the appearance of a three-dimensional shape.
So, what’s the challenge? What’s the big deal?
The challenge is that the artist who desires even a touch of realism must look at a 3-dimensional subject, and translate it to 2 dimensions, while creating the illusion of 3 dimensions.
The tools at hand for creating the illusion are:
Line
Shape
and Value,
primarily, and to some degree color and atmospheric perspective.
2-Dimensional Shapes contain just length and width (or if you prefer, height and length). Common two dimensional shapes are the square, rectangle, triangle, circle, and so on. These are regular, geometric shapes.
3-Dimensional Shapes are made by adding a third dimension to a flat shape. Thus the geometric shapes we know as squares become cubes, a circle becomes the sphere, triangle a pyramid, and so on.
The same is true for organic shapes.
Artists can use shape to simplify any form from life.
Make it stand out
Once you start seeing objects in shapes, it’s easy to break each individual object down into a composit of shapes (and lines - but more on that in just a bit).
I translated this vase of sunflowers into circles, a rectangle and a triangle. There are also shapes within each shape, but I start with the larger shapes first. Get those right and then you can continue, breaking down the shapes as much as you need to.
After drawing the 2D shapes, then add the 3rd dimension.
Refining the nuances of each shape and edge is the final step in the drawing, before shading to add volume. Of course, as a watercolor artist, I prefer to do that using paint, thus limiting the amount of graphite on my paper.
Drawing with shapes is called construction.
Adding Contour Lines can help refine the outline.
But proportions and relationships are already in place, so contour lines will be more accurate.
This is a good example of how less pencil is advantageous in watercolor. Because the colors I used here are so light and airy, the pencil would show through in an obvious way.
Often I will sketch with contour and value in my sketchbook using Blackwing pencils, but when I turn to watercolor paper, I sketch very sparingly, often using a mechanical pencil and a lighter touch.
Form & Shape are related. Give a shape form by adding value to it to “Shade” the shape. You can shade and contour internally at the same time.
Pro Tip: Employ Negative Shapes. Observe the shapes in between on this rooster. Do you see them?
Line – think of it as “a moving dot”
This is a drawing I did in college or high school. I used to use line and dots all the time.
Contour Lines Define Edges/ Boundaries
These can be Outlines & Inner Lines
Outlines on their own are “incomplete;” value especially must be used in addition to create realism.
Consider the “quality of line” when you are utilizing line. Lines can be very expressive, and not just in their direction.
Thickness / Thinness
Texture : Rough vs Smooth
Shadows or actual thickness can be conveyed
