Line weight

[sin]

can anyone help me out here, cause line weight can really seem to make or break art. i cant get my work to pop off the page, it all seems so flat. i mean, ive begun to conquer motion and stuff but line weight is ... harder...any tuts? or suggestions?

[sin]

nobody at all?

[rimwalker]

It usually takes longer than an hour for someone to post you know... :rolleyes:

With regards to your question, what are you using to draw that you have trouble with line weight? Different drawing tools have different characteristics and properties when it comes to line weight. Try experimenting with different pens/pencils/brushes.

What do you use?

[sin]

sometimes ill use mech. pencils and sometimes ill use a bigger pencil, like a tichonderoga. i mean, ive noticed, like.... if you look at ::battle plan:: *fixed* by kress, his robots are phenomenal and the line weight is amazing! how do you know where to make lines on features thicker or nonexistent so as to convey depth and ...for lack of a better word: beauty.

i appreciate your help

[rimwalker]

Um, let’s see... that's a good question...

Generally speaking heavier lines would be seen in the foreground which would recede to lighter lines as it progressed into the background.

But looking at the example you cited, a lot of line variations result from two things:
1) Happy accidents. The drawing medium as well as randomness in pressure cause differing weight in line. Some tools give little variation while some (like brushes) have all sorts of random and spontaneous line weight going on.
2) Artist choice. Artists will just choose to light over one area and heavy over another. Sometimes this is random other times it chosen when say, rendering a dark area of definition or a lighter area of soft detail. It all depends on what the artist is trying to portray.

Post up something you've drawn and hopefully maybe more expert-y types will help point out suggestions.

[fletchgirl]

rimwalker said what i was gonna say. post something you want help with the line weight on. um,
a mechanical pencil?!?!!?! that could be part of it right there. ;)
uh, i just looked at the one you were talking about. and he used mech pencils, BUT i would say don't if line weight's what you want to play with, as it's so much faster and easier to experiment if you can use something thicker. and such.

[sin]

ill get something up soon then we'll work from there