What is LINE or SHAPE?

A line is a continuous MARK, which if it joins itself enclose a SHAPE. Lines, Marks and shapes can be very expressive.
They can effect the mood of the piece or can help with the illusion of SPACE and FORM.

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Try:
Can you make a list of the types of LINES and SHAPES?

  Lines can be:
wavey,
woolly,
tents,
dots,
dashes,
scratches etc...		   Shapes can be:
round,
lumpy,
flattened,
measles,
 mountain peaks,
irregular etc...		  
Try:
You could be quite organised and make boxes to contain your marks and lines.
Give your marks ‘names’- ‘sheep’s wool’, ‘mountain peaks’, ‘raindrops’ etc.

Try:
you could make your marks in a more random way on your sheet.

Try:
 To use a variety of tools and materials.Here is a list of materials for you to experiment with:

PENCILS: Try different grades: 2H, HB, 2B, 6B
CHARCOAL: short sticks, compressed, charcoal pencils
CRAYONS
PASTELS: Oil and Soft
CHALKS
PENS: felts, dipping pens, biros, roller-balls etc.
COLOURED PENCILS

Take your time with each tool. Use it in a soft, gentle way or with increasing pressure. Look back at your list of lines and marks.

Try:
Can you find which tools are best for certain types of mark-making?
For instance, is charcoal the best tool to make fine detailed work?
Is black felt-tip good for soft graded shading?

Remember though, that there are NO RULES in Art-sometimes we discover wonderful effects when we use tools and materials in unexpected ways

Look at the lines in the focussed pictures.
Are the lines strong, weak, soft, hard, short, broken, meandering?
Do these lines enclose shapes?

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