help - hatching direction?

[rituals]

Trying to refine/practice my pencil shading, but it seems my understanding of the technique is very insuffisent... look at the image here please:

http://www.portrait-artist.org/basics/shading-explained5.html

is there any logic behind the hatching lines? why do they change direction?

(like having a value represented by vertical lines, but in another area, the same value is represented using 45 degree lines...)

and while we are at it, if you know a better hatching/shading tutorial, i'd appreciate a link too.. :)

[Syrogen]

the lines change direction because they follow the form of the object (i hope thats the answer youre looking for) if youre rendering a sphere, your hatched lines will curve with the contour of the sphere, if youre rendering a cube, your lines will be strait.

i hope that helps, cheers :)

[mentler]

When in doubt look at the Masters (no not me)
Leonardo's hatching techniques are pretty good for an old guy!!
Remember is was left handed ::: that is why hatching lines go left to right instead right to left.

General hatching is done at a consistent angle then he follows the direction of the form cross contours like my buddy mentioned.

http://www.tsofa.com/?faculty
Hope this is helpful will be much better organized in a weeks with better stuff :::: I will post all new stuff here as I develop the final versions of the figure formulas

[Mike Frank]

I've recently been trying to put more thought behind my strokes as well, this is my take on it. I couldnt tell you why sometimes it is better to go in one direction or the other on a form, but it can be. Maybe someone else can help enlighten us more about hatching. Sorry for the crude drawing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/some_guy/Strokes.jpg

[rituals]

Thanks for all the infos guys. I'll keep an eye for high rez sketches and try to watch closely how the hatching was done.

what i do now is use 2H pencil and make light circular movements for shading, if an area need more value i circle over it, then change areas while comparing the tones with each others. The problem is how slow it is, not very practical when you want to do quick practice sketches for and so on...

[mikel]

When you are cross-hatching you are relying completely on line to convey form. Take a look at Rembrant's etchings and what other printmakers have done (also look up Joseph Clement Coll).

True you can use contour lines to convey form, but you don't have to. I use to do a lot of cross-hatched pen and ink work. All I used was a straight edge and a rapidograph to build up form. It's sort of like using a line screen for half-tones. Here is an old example and hopefully what I am saying makes sense.

The second is a pencil drawing. I only did a little smudging on the bottom most layer. It was built up starting with a 2H and finishing with a 2B. As far as what direction to make the lines, it has to do with the pattern created by their overlapping.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/michael_lavoie/45.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/michael_lavoie/Skull-2.jpg

Hope these help.

[MadSamoan]

Yes, look at the turn of the century pen and ink illustrators like Franklin Booth, Joseph Clement Coll, Howard Chandler Christy, and Charles Dana Gibson to see hatching pushed to its limits.

[grinn]

A lot of people here may disagree with me..but the best advice I can give was given to me awhile back. Hatching will look best if you dont worry about direction. Just ignore it..and just hatch to lay downt he values you need. Over time you will start to realize that your hatching isnt as random as you first thought. Random hatching gives a really nice texture as well.

[mentler]

I agree with the last post!!!! Art is not science ~ technique is something you look for if you can not do art ~~~ just hatch feel the form !!!
Check Domenico's gallery for hatching>and cross hatching!!!!

[jett]

i dont know if this'll help but this is the way i was taught to crosshatch

link (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27611)

but my teacher never taught me to crosshatch in a certain direction or anything

[makotierra]

jett: Kind of a weird question, and i know the chances are reeeeally slim, but is your teacher's name Mr. Fang? I'm just wondering cause a lot of the technique/subject looks really familiar (especially the color of the blue backdrop in that pear) and the water bottle (when I clicked on the link you supplied.)

[jett]

haha actually yes, my teacher's name is mr fang

[Dahsramu]

i asked Coro this same question when i met him at the austin workshop and he told me what has already been mentioned - go in the direction of the form. he also told me to use the shortest strokes possible.

while explaining this to me he drew a few doodles in my sketchbook to illustrate these points (denoted with arrows):

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/uarshad/art/sketchbook/Canson_1/Page07.jpg

though this advice was very helpful, i've also found after practice that if i dont think too much about it, i usually end up with pretty good results :)

-Umar

[sone_one]

the technique i use atm is probably heavily inspired by bridgemans hatching...

http://members.chello.at/sone_one/hatching1_1.jpg


i sadly got no scanner (it would look prettier then) but i think it explains my approach quite well.

comments on how to improve (or why to even trash this) are greatly appreciated ;).


the reasons... its easier for me to put down a stroke at a particular width and changing it (the width/pressure) following the form, rather than controlling a changing width within one stroke (i hope this makes sense...)

[makotierra]

haha actually yes, my teacher's name is mr fang
haha, cool, i take lessons from him as well...i'll actually be back during the fall taking more lessons from him.

[jett]

cool, maybe i'll see you around
[even though i dont know what you look life]

[Patton Art]

I talked to Ted Seth Jacobs about this before... he's a well known artist and teacher, he taught Tony Ryder, among others.
He explained it to me, and I understand it in my head, but I'll TRY to put it into words on here.
Usually, draw your hatching parallel to the light source, this way you will be able to draw the light washing across a form.. To see what I mean, put a lamp next to a wall. You see the light diminishing, right?
Now think of the best way to render it: verticle or horizontal lines? I'm going to make a diagram with text here, but think of what is better. (the I's or -'s represent pencil marks or brush marks.)

light --> I I I I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

or

light --> - - - - - -----------

the verticle lines will look better, because you can capture the wash of light across a form better. Drawing a line in the direction of the light doesn't give you that same effect.
So basically, when hatching, you want to keep in mind the direction of the light AND the shape of the form.