Tag Archives: writing

Elements of Design – Line

This blog aspires to help people rediscover and reconnect with their own creativity, as well as to express their renewed creativity. This week’s theme is part of that second goal.

This is the first Creativity Blast theme based on the Elements of Design. To share some of what I’ve learned about design over the years, I plan on discussing each Element in different weekly themes, although not necessarily consecutive weeks. Later I’ll move on to the Principles of Design, which are how the Elements are applied to create intentional results.

The Elements of Design – the building blocks of intentional creation – are:

Line
Direction
Shape/Space
Volume or Size
Color or Hue
Tone or Value
Texture

There is no particular order of importance to the Elements of Design list. They are all present in visual design work, and all have commensurate equivalents in other areas of design such as writing and music. The Elements interact to define or change the values of the others; an obvious example Shape may be defined by Line, or Line may be implied by the meeting of two or more colors. Sometimes the Elements seem naturally to pair together such as Line and Direction, Shape and Size – but the truth is that they all interact.

This week I want to think about Line, and how to use this element in exercises to inspire creativity.

Since sketching and drawing begin with Line, one could consider it as the foundation of most art and design practices. Children first offered crayons generally begin with a joyous exploration of their ability to make linear marks.

Zentangle tags, lines for texture and form

Zentangle tags, lines for texture and form

Lines define shapes. Making lines includes a beginning and an end, even when you are drawing a circle or oval and the line returns to its own starting point. Engineering or architectural plans are lines.

Lines create texture or adjust tonal values, and indicate direction.

Lines supply an underlying structure. 3D computer animations start with a wire frame, that is remarkably similar to the early perspective exercises from the Renaissance. Geometry is a function of lines, meeting in mathematically predictable ways.

Lines can be used to join ideas or images, as well as to divide or segment. Lines are edges, borders, delineations – the very word. In topographic maps lines indicate terrain by showing elevations. The closer the contour lines, the steeper the hillside in that landscape. Bathymetric charts do something similar for ocean water.

Hand writing, from jotting down a note to the most beautiful calligraphy, is all about lines.  

Lines can be used to direct the eye, and impart emphasis – a big part of design. Examine the sets of movies, and notice the prevalence of Line as a visual motif. In “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) the yellow brick road is the most important Line. Cel animation, of course, is all about drawn lines, but if you get a chance to watch Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” (1959) notice the linear quality of the backgrounds, especially the trees and landscape. The movie “Wolf” (1994) contains subtle references to cages throughout the production design, much of it created by Line.

Jack Nicholson in

This still from “Wolf’ illustrates a great trick – notice the line of the branch bringing us straight to Jack’s eyes. That’s why they chose this frame!

In Doctor Who Series 5, the designers employ an eccentric line as the crack in Amy’s wall, that reappears in many locations as a crack in the fabric of time. The simple visual motif is a recognizable signpost for the viewer of the underlying through-line story.

Look for Line in art. Painters that emphasize Line include Kandinksy, Chagall, Klee and Mondrian. Look at Picasso’s “Guernica”. Much traditional art incorporates universal motifs created with line such as chevrons, waves, stripes, concentric circles and zig zags. These are apparent in the textiles, basketry and pottery of cultures as diverse as Native Americans, traditional Eastern Europe, and many parts of Africa.

Kandinsky

Composition VIII (1923) ~ Wassily Kandinsky. Oil on Canvas

Consider embroidery, Line created with thread. Look at “The Bayeux Tapestry”. Consider knitting and crochet – a single line creating a myriad of shapes.

“Singin’ In The Rain” is a linear song to me. The main tune goes up and down in waves. So does “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”.

Twinkle Sheet Music

Look at all those lines!

Once you start looking for Line, including the invisible line of underlying structure, you will not be able to stop noticing it.

Line as Metaphor

There are many phrases to do with Line with symbolic meanings. The ideas of “toe the line”, “lining up” something (like appointments) or “getting your ducks in a row” – all suggest the Line as a metaphor for clarity. “Underlining” can be literal, or metaphorical but in both cases means to create emphasis. The idea of “crossing the line”, doing something unacceptable also speaks to limits and edges.

People speak of their ancestors as being their line. “Down the line” means in the future. A product line is a collection of related items, often connected by a single aesthetic.

Writing

A linear plot is one that is straightforward, with a clear trajectory. The positive side of a linear plot is momentum and excitement. There are few twists or tricks, and subplots would serve the main story. Linear is the opposite of convoluted, but also the opposite of episodic, where the narrative jumps in series of seemingly disconnected episodes.

One tool I like to use in my writing is a time line – plotting out the events of my story (usually a screenplay) over time, including the backstory. If I get stuck, my favorite trick is to write the series of events diary-style by different characters. This also gives me the opportunity to define the character’s history, gives me a clue into their motivations, and helps me define their voice.

Finding Line, using Line

One of the most classic line drawing exercises is to draw something – an object, landscape, building or portrait – with a single line; that is never lifting you pencil or pen from the paper. Of course you can overlap and change direction as much as needed.

Another trick for drawing is to use a Durer Grid. Grids can be used to change the scale of a depiction, or in life drawing. See the Greenaway film “The Draughtsman’s Contract”(1982) for a Durer Grid in use, (and incidentally marvel at the triumph of gorgeous design over limited budget.)

Here are some more ideas for raising your awareness of Line:

  • Use road maps or topographic maps as your background for other art, drawing, collages, or scrapbooking.

Vintage Maps

Downloadable maps

  • Look for Line in nature – consider trees, wood grain and leaves, rock strata, flood plains, abalone, DNA, the circulatory system, marble. Notice similarities – leaf veins that look like river deltas, abalone that looks like a map.

  • Visit a maze – lines run amok!

  • Try Zentangles, doodling elevated to the sublime.

So there you have it – a brief introduction to Line.

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Writing Reviews

Bookshelf

If you want a baby steps way into creative writing, try book reviews. They are a great way to practice organizing your thoughts with brevity and clarity.

Perhaps some of you remember writing “book reports” for school, and cringe at the thought of having to replicate that onerous task as adult. But there are several key differences.

  • You are choosing the material you read for your own pleasure or information.
  • You are entirely in charge of the length of your critique.
  • It’s OK to dislike a publication. You don’t have to finish it, and you are free to either write a review including the fact that it didn’t hold your attention, or not bother.
  • No one else has to read it, unless you choose – although I do challenge you to take that plunge.
  • If you do publish your review, the criteria that readers apply to judge it are usually “helpful” vs “not helpful”, not “good” vs “bad”. Even a single word can be found helpful.

Here’s a link to a review I wrote years ago on Amazon.com.  At the time I was so inspired by this author that I couldn’t hold in my desire to tell the world about him.

Seven tips for creating helpful book reviews while enhancing your own creativity confidence:

  1. Jump start the process by jotting down single words that express your reactions. Add some descriptive words about the characters, or the information. Look for synonyms. It’s OK to use a thesaurus.

  1. Make some notes about genre – this is always a good lead in, especially for fiction..

  1. Use your adjectives to generate the first sentence summary with a strong verb (eg “This potboiler mystery thrilled me from first to last”). This may be all that a reader actually reads.

  1. No spoilers! Your middle school teacher was keen to know whether you had actually done the reading, so would encourage you to reveal your knowledge of the story. The readers of reviews generally only want a teaser of the plot, or subject matter. Keep the outline very brief – shorter than book jacket copy.

  1. Keep it personal. Explain your emotional reaction to the writing.

  1. Say why. If you have a conclusion about a book, explain why you believe this.

  1. Limit meta critique (or maybe don’t). If there are egregious factual errors in a supposedly informative book, you do a service when you show them. But if this is a novel, getting picky about facts might be inappropriate. No one really minds that Han Solo mixed his units of measure when he spoke of the Kessel run. No one likes a grammar snob, but no one likes being pulled out of the story by a succession of jarring typos and grammar flubs either. If a book contains errors to the point of absurdity, perhaps your review will get funny.

Goethe

Goethe proposed that all art works be evaluated in the light of three questions.

  • What was the artist trying to do?

  • Has the artist succeeded?

  • Was it worth doing?

It is in the nature of art, including writing, that divining the artist’s intention – interpreting the meaning of any piece – can be challenging. Art enjoins the viewer to collude with the piece to create interpretations. One could argue that the best art inspires lively debate as to the “true” meaning, or artist’s intention.

As for whether it was worth doing, the answer might be political or personal. The worth of an undertaking might be greater for the artist in his or her journey, than for the viewer or audience. Perhaps the meaning even of the questions has changed with time. Goethe died a very old man in 1832. Ideals of beauty and worth have certainly changed. Everyone brings their own past, baggage, life state and personal beliefs to every situation. Your assessment of what you see will always be slightly different from mine.

If you write your review in such a way that where you stand is clear, you will help more readers by establishing commonality.

Simple questions – complex answers.

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