contour lines

[MindCandyMan]

Hi everyone. Yesterday when I was riding the train something clicked in my head about using contour lines. I had read it and seen it before but had never really understood it I think. Something clicked. I know this isn't the greatest representation but it started to make sense to me and I wanted to pass this on to some of my fellow rookie artists. I was thinking alot about the direction and length of the lines you draw and what they denote when you place them on paper. I started messing around and was able to achieve mediocre results...but results none the less. Here is the page from my sketchbook. It started off with me wanting to draw wrinkles...skin folds...etc...

I would GREATLY appreciate it if a more experienced artist would expound on this idea (and possibly provide some examples) to benefit all of the new artists on this forum.

I know I got excited because I felt like a door was opening for me even though this sketch page may not show it. Thanks.


These are with a ball point pen:

http://www.phantomarts.co.uk/freeimagehosting/spiral bound 10web.jpg

[Darrell Bowman]

for lengths some times i use dots or ticks to establish length.

i like to see you draw the tree or foot or ball.
like it was sitting on a plane a floor.
then like a architect making a building.
draw invisible lines up from the floor skywards
to build it up like it got volume and your building it.
sculpt it up rather then mearly tracing the outlines
of a form.
if this is a monsters foot on the ground let feel it
let see the weight and that it supporting a 50 ton
monster.
then build it like 3d.

line - light shade and shadow - contour.
all good things to understand but also you
want to as a illustrator draw those cowboy boots
on a floor give it that old leather and wrinkles
make it a boot. rather then just a cast shadow and line.

so when your building it finding it people come along
and say how u draw that u be saying dont know was
just trying to capture it.

wether it stippling or crosshatching or contours.

you want to build wether it random shapes or walls.

in japan a floor has let say square on it and in each
square is a different texture.
now there is no walls but to them there are it a space
with invisible walls coming up from the floors in each
square that the surface texture changes.
so when you walk across a floor ther in a different
space. a zone.

so when you draw the foot on a floor draw lines up to the
top of the foot and to the nee etc like a grid for a building.
this will help located other points of toes etc.

[MindCandyMan]

Those are great suggestions. I think that's really good. The idea of drawing from the ground up to get a sense of weight etc... And also constructing a "building" of each zone is a great idea too. The more I get into drawing the more technical I see it actually is hehe...still loads of fun but it is technical. I will try those techniques out next time I am sketching something out...thanks again...helps a lot!

[Darrell Bowman]

so to find it length and position and to get a handle
on it volume i do this.
http://members.rogers.com/darrbow01/images/contour.JPG

now i have all my points this goes for horizontal as well.
once i kinda box it in like a chair legs rising from a floor.
i establish my points to start building form and volume
and contour inside those points.

good check points too

so if you draw a face as you would normally
try using the chin as the floor point and draw lines
up off the floor to find points and planes and masses
to check yur drawing.