A drawing is valued by it’s quality and unique style of an artist. And what more can rise a quality of a sketch than a linear line. A straight and confidence line is a signature sign of a designer in a drawing.
It takes time to master a solid line and create well developed sketches. This article will provides tips and examples for learning to draw straight lines. Just remember that practice makes perfect. Make sure to draw everyday and after a while you will see results. You will notice that it is easier to draw and you will feel how lightly your hand is sliding across a paper.
All drawings that you see below were made specially for this article.
TIP 1:
The first thing you should do is a warm up exercise. Just take any drawing tool that you are comfortable sketching with. Find a blank piece of paper. It is better to have a sketchbook so that all your sketches are in one place. When you are ready to start, draw random lines in any direction. Sketch fast and don’t try to create perfect lines. Remember that it is a warm up.
Make sure that you are sketching with a whole hand and not with your wrist. Use an elbow and shoulder to draw.
TIP 2:
The next step is very simple. Create two points on a paper. For the start, place points not far away from each other. And try to join them with only one line. A straight and strong line – this is your aim.
Don’t worry if you can’t do this at the first attempt. You are here to learn and practice. Just keep drawing and increase the distance between points. Use a color marker for points to see them more clearly.
And don’t forget that it is better to miss a point than to draw a wobbly line.
TIP 3:
As you manage to complete the previous two tips, head on to another one. The third step could be actually combined with a second one. The purpose of this step is drawing lines of a certain length without a ruler.
This way you can practice drawing straight lines and training eye-hand coordination.
There are two ways to complete the step. The easiest one is to create a line segment and then try to guess it’s length by the look. After that, check the actual size with a ruler. Another way is to draw a straight line of a value that you have chosen. Check your result with a ruler.
TIP 4:
Your hand is warmed up and ready to start drawing parallel lines. Try to place them evenly and draw them without points -
just one solid line after another.
At the beginning you can pay attention to parallel line placing, but as you feel more comfortable sketching, think about line length. Try to create identical straight lines and draw in horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions.
TIP 5:
This step is quite difficult to do, but it comes with a practice. Create straight lines parallel close to each other. You can create different line compositions and variate with a space between lines.
This exercise will increase your skills sketching details because they request a precise line placing.
TIP 6:
Here is another exercise to practice. Create a main point and some points a small distance away (you can place them as far as you paper goes). After that,
connect those points with the main one.
If you can’t do it in one shot, create another line just make sure to join points together. You can also create a full line circle or any simple geometric shape you can think of – a triangle, a square.
ESSENTIAL TIPS TO REMEMBER
- Draw with your elbow and shoulder;
- Don’t bend your wrist;
- Rotate a paper to an angle that is comfortable for you;
- Practice every single day!
I hope that tips in this article will help you achieve better skills at drawing!
