Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)Female Nude Praying, 1497-1500, Pen and brown ink on laid paper, 8 7/16 × 5 3/8 in (21.5 × 13.7 cm)
THE SYNTAX OF DESCRIPTION
In the Western tradition, drawing is a complex array of approaches to description and notation. The choice of a particular technique or strategy depends on the artist’s intention for the work.
• Simple outline
A line is drawn around the shape of an object. It can be modulated in thickness, continuity, and strength of movement (see Linear Basics on page 104).
• Contour
Lines are drawn along the contours of a form, describing the interior in more or less the same way that a contour map operates. This allows the artist to make a precise description of form, an approach often favored by sculptors.
• Hatching
Multiple lines are drawn closely together in parallel to create areas of tone. The lightness or darkness of the tone depends on the concentration of hatched lines. This technique is often used in etching and pen and ink. The lines can also be built in crisscross fashion, a technique called cross-hatching.
• Contour hatching
This is a combination of contour drawing and hatching in which contour lines are placed only in the shadows and built running across each other in crisscross fashion. This allows for both the accurate description of volume and the creation of a strong tonal illusion. It was a technique much favored by Renaissance draftsmen and became the basic vocabulary of engraving.
• Tone
Tone is built into the shadows to create an illusion of light. This can be achieved in many materials, including charcoal, conté crayon, pencil, and wash (see Tone as Structure on page 194).
• Line and tone
Simple linear description can be combined with areas of tone to create a hybrid form of great flexibility. The most popular way of doing this is by combining pen lines with monochrome watercolor wash.
• Colored pencil
Modern colored pencil technology allows for the addition of color to any of the approaches listed above. Hatching or crosshatching with a variety of hues allows the artist to build rich and subtle areas of color.
• Pastel
Pastel techniques can combine the strengths of drawing and painting. Pastels create a much denser surface than colored pencils and can be built in successive layers to achieve a richness rivaling that of paint (see the Degas pastel on page 19).
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
Female Nude Praying, 1497-1500, Pen and brown ink on laid paper, 8 7/16 × 5 3/8 in (21.5 × 13.7 cm)
The artist combines outline with contour hatching that builds into a loose tonal rendering. The varied weight of the line contributes to the sense of space and movement.
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
Two Studies of an Elderly Man’s Head, 17th century, After Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Pen and brown ink with brown wash on laid paper, 7 5/8 × 5 11/16 in (19.4 × 14.5 cm)
The form is laid out with a pen line and the tonal areas are then established with a wash. In some sections, both contour hatching and wash are used in combination.
