line art

line art

The Evolution and Impact of Line Art in Visual Communication

1. Introduction to Line Art

So, to shed light on the value of this medium, to clarify its potential in regards to providing visual support for efficient visual communication, and to guide prospective line art developers, this study has been designed to examine the use of line art during four media development periods. These periods are defined as prior to the digital media age, the early years of the digital media age, and the twenty-first century visually oriented digital media dyad, which consists of digital media and line-based paradigm, and digital media and pixel-based paradigm periods. A contribution to the architecture of the medium will be made by describing its technical aspects based on its classification, presentation-related needs, and its history. Before the architecture of the medium is presented, however, it will help to understand the foundational and the subsequent period’s positioning of the medium and its importance within the general context of visual communication. At that time a prototype of the architectural system used in a functional manner will be presented.

Line art is one of the foundations of visual communication. It has evolved from drawings in caves to petroglyphs, hieroglyphics, and the most commonly seen modern line art image, the photograph. With the ongoing explosion of computer technology and the digital age, the role of line art, and specifically digital line art, in visual communication is evolving. Digital line art can now be animated, transformed in a number of ways to provide varying styles and functions, and used in numerous ways to provide visual support for a major vehicle of communication, television. The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution and impact of the two-dimensional digital line art image as a component of visual communication. Some of the work presented in the following sections has been reported in part in some prior studies. However, the author believes that looking at an overview of the major stages in the development of the line art medium enhances the understanding of this medium and leads to an appreciation of the further possibilities that this medium might present.

2. Historical Development of Line Art

Indeed, line art representation features in many early cultures across the world, with the Greeks, Chinese, Arabs, Hebrews, and Aztecs. However, many other old and ancient cultures also feature this straightforward graphic style.

The notion of describing a spatial object lying in three dimensions using an ensemble of lines, which in appearance suggests a correspondence with that object when viewed either directly or, more often, when drawn on a sheet of paper, is apparent to archaeologists. These early cave artists seemed quite advanced at depicting moving subjects, both animals and humans, with apparent foreshortening on vertically oriented surfaces—a cartoon-like quality. Foreshortening is the act of portraying an object or figure in a picture so as to represent the lines of projection of its planes at angles with the plane of the picture. This notion anticipates the implementation of linear perspective, a concept developed by the sub treasure hunt and mathematics, and highlighted in Latin by Leon Battista Alberti and Filippo Brunelleschi in the Renaissance in the 1400s. At that time, Brunelleschi and Masaccio used it to create artwork that appeared to have a three-dimensional feel.

Linear representation can be found in the oldest existing cultures in a variety of forms. On the walls of caves or in nomadic artifacts, these cultures show simple depictions of the world about them using nothing more than lines, and they reveal quite an advanced understanding of the basic rules of how to make a representation of an object projected onto a two-dimensional plane look like that object. In particular, the laws of perspective seem to appear quite frequently.

Linear representation of objects in two dimensions has always been an attractive idea to mankind. Simple drawings are an excellent vehicle for the transmission of knowledge from one person to another, and it must be remembered that visual communication predates written communication by several tens of thousands of years. As such, the needs, tools, and motives for their evolution can be seen to exist in a wide variety of styles across all known human cultures.

The origins of line art

3. Techniques and Styles in Line Art

Using Technology to Speed Production As the computer has become an essential tool within all forms of visual communications, it is little wonder that people of all skill levels will use it to produce their line artwork. This is most commonly accomplished using scanners to capture artists’ sketches for reuse or replication as part of print, website, or animation graphics. With various software selections, it becomes relatively quick to convert a scanned image into a clean black line artwork suitable for the most stringent professional uses. Line art relies on simplicity to express shape and form and has been used to convey both complex messages and simple thoughts. Although the theories and concepts that make it work can be complex, learning to produce effective line art requires a straight approach.

Styles within line art can differ greatly due to the wide array of tools that can produce the desired results. Sketching is often considered the most basic form of line art, and even that can be achieved with the most primitive writing tools available. When more control is sought, various pencils of different harnesses and lead thicknesses are commonly used, as pen and ink methods yield highly defined lines with built-in permanence, though erasing and correcting can cause great frustration. Even traditional local incisors such as used by woodcarvers and scrimshaw artists are used to produce engraved line art to this day. Each art form requires time and skill to use the tools effectively, gaining insight into the power which line art holds within the visual communications field.

4. Applications and Significance of Line Art in Modern Visual Communication

In terms of the length of use of the techniques and the current benefits offered by modern technology, the comic strip is perhaps the most interesting area of study. The art form of the Broadway musical was well established for years, then redefined as new technologies emerged on the eve of its demise as a popular means of entertainment. In competent hands, the comic strip can embody a rich experience founded on sound principles and capable of impacting generations of readers. In recent years, the daily comic strip has not been the most prominent form for communicating a comic story. The graphic novel may serve admirably for longer stories.

Despite the constraints of providing realistic detail, line work remains a powerful means of communication in visual images across a wide range of fields of study and everyday life. In some fields, line work is not overshadowed by modern technologies such as photography, but instead is justified because of what the line does. Every artist who uses line communicates ideas by creating and exploiting visual experiences that result from appearing lines. In particular, the notion that line work can render powerful vicarious experiences is widely exploited by the comic strip artist, the animator of cartoons, technical illustrators, cartoon illustrators, and calligraphers.