Line Vs Mass sketching

#1

Disclaimer: These are just my opinions and I know nothing.

I’ve been asked by a few CGTalkers to do a tutorial. Initially I set out to do one about texturing a painting; however, at the last moment, I decided to dedicate one to “Line vs. Mass”. So here it goes:

When starting a painting, there’s two methods of putting your idea down: (1) Line Sketching or (2) Mass Sketching. Line sketches tend to produce paintings that simply look like colored drawings. While, mass sketching instantly produces atmosphere and volume. For instance, look at the two sketches below. The face on the left is rendered purely by line and has a linear quality to it. Now, the face on the right is rendered in terms of mass. There’s no line delineating every feature of the face, instead everything is defined by volume. Remember, when massing, try to apply paint in a left-to-right horizontal fashion. It can curve some, but don’t gravitate to far from the horizontal movement. This action will force you to think in terms of mass and not line.

Already it has a sense of atmosphere and mystery. There’s no need for laborious perfection, because so much of it is suggestive. For instance, the shadow on the face disappears in the mass of dark hair. Despite not seeing it clearly, we know her jaw is there. It’s simply subdued by the same shadow value of the hair.

In order to build upon this, I eyedrop the toned canvass and create a lighter value for the skin. Then I begin to paint with the same brush I used for the previous two sketches (note: brush is a slightly angled regular brush with pressure sensitivity turned on). I apply the paint strongest wherever the light hits the face. For the shadow areas, I simple use the exposed tone canvas – no painting needed. Since, I’m not using reference I just approximate where the light would fall and continue to paint in the skin tone gradually.

Once the general coat is completed, there are countless value transitions left over, which is not necessary. A good painting can stand on just three values. As a result, I switch to a regular non-sensitive brush and set it to about 70%. I try to eliminate alot of the unnessary values by eyedropping prominent values and painting over the weaker ones.

In the end, I place in an atmospheric backdrop and add a few highlights, then I continue to push it until it’s something I like.

Best Regards,

Dan

#2

Thanks Dan - thats interesting:

“try to apply paint in a left-to-right horizontal fashion, This action will force you to think in terms of mass and not line”

I never knew about that - its something that I will practice

so does anyone have anything to add about ‘Line’ (line VS Mass) or does Mass win with a ‘first round K.O’?!

#3

i think its a one round KO for mass, i never knew about this technique. i always used lines. maybe now i can get more realistic paintings. thanks so much dan!

#4

Hi Daniel,

thanks for the tut!

One crit:
When I saw the topic title and the first image I hoped you would develop both images accordingly to compare the rendered results of a line drawing and a mass painting. At the moment, the line drawing just stops after the first step. Would have been interesting to see how to establish masses with hatching a.s.o. in a line sketch.

#5

Thanks everyone, I’m glad you like it. One thing I would like to point out, is that one is no better than the other. My preference is a mass-like approach to drawing, but in the end, it’s a stylistic decision for all of us.

Mu - you are totally right. In fact, the original had a step-by-step comparison but it got lost when I switched servers. Afterwards, I got a couple emails asking where the images were to this tutorial, so I quickly drew some replacements. In my haste, I neglected to redo the line sequence. I will try and update it someday. Thanks :slight_smile:

#6

Mu - you are totally right. In fact, the original had a step-by-step comparison but it got lost when I switched servers. Afterwards, I got a couple emails asking where the images were to this tutorial, so I quickly drew some replacements. In my haste, I neglected to redo the line sequence. I will try and update it someday. Thanks :slight_smile:

Man, I am glad you reminded me, because I had a massive feeling of dejà-vu when I saw that tut, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Now I think of it, I might have even been one of those who bugged you for the original images a few months ago, lol…:scream:

finds a note in his pocket
reads
“You got Alzheimer!”

sigh

#7

for good painting you have to use line and shape altogether,u have put your shape in right spot and your line in the right angle,just throwing down bunch of random shapes that is falling apart is very careless way of painting,

your painting of human head have wrong perportion and r falling apart.lack of anatomy.

the shadows are apearing too dark or overworked.

#8

Hi boalid,

It all depends on how you define a “good” painting. My definition is probably a lot different then yours – to each, his own.

As I stated earlier,

One thing I would like to point out, is that one is no better than the other.

I do use line, but it’s very limited. I try to stick to blocking or massing as much as possible, because the artists I like generally use this approach. The thing about lines, is that they are a man-made construct and are not really seen in nature. Nature consists of form or mass which is defined by light – not lines.

Concerning anatomy, I suppose we could debate that :slight_smile: It may be off, here and there, but this tutorial isn’t an anatomy tutorial. It’s just a tutorial, I was asked to do, explaining my technique.

Thanks for the crits :thumbsup:

Cheers.

#9

Hi,

Sorry if these are kind of dumb questions, but I’ve always done line drawing on paper, so mass sketching on computer is kind of new to me. How exactly do you get from step 1 to 2 and so forth? I understand that you start out getting like the basic shapes at the begining, but where do you go from there? do you change to a smaller brush or something and do details? Or, how do you get the jaw properly, for example, when you start with what looks like a bunch of blobs?

Sorry if i’m being a bit dense about this, I understand the general idea, but I have no clue how to get there.

#10

danielh68, don’t listen to trolls, your tutorial is much appreciated here. Keep posting, if you have more of them :).

#11

Hi Carlg,

No worries. In hindsight, I should have titled this thread differently. It makes it sound like one method is a “loser” and one is a “winner”, which is not entirely the case. Anyhow, I will try and answer some of your questions.

Mass sketching or blocking is just a technique. I learned it from a life drawing instructor. I remember many students in his class had difficulties finishing a pose, because they were compelled to draw, line by line by line. One day, he took away eveyone’s pencils and replaced them with a piece of vine charcoal. If you have never worked with vine charcoal, it’s very hard to do clean line art with. What it’s good for is producing a very large mass when pressed on its side. As a result, this forced students to capture mass first and, then, details later. In other words, big to small.

With that said, that’s pretty much my process digitally. I go from a large brush to a smaller one as the painting develops. You may consider posterizing some b&W pictures in Photoshop to about four values. Then, in a new window, mass in the values you see with a large brush.

I hope this helps some. Thanks :slight_smile:

#12

Thanks, Fuss :thumbsup:

#13

Here’s a free-style sketch I did. I decided to post it here because I saved the massing steps for viewing. This was mostly a Painter job which I’m not very acquinted with. It’s very loose.

#14 
I think your tutorial is an excellent way to point out the differences in painting. While I was unaware that it was called mass, I use the technique for skin and coth shading and I am using even less lines for the animated (2d hand drawn) version of the artwork.

In the hand below, I started with lines. I needed them as reference points for key highlights or shading areas, but by the time the colouring was done, there was little sign of the original lines left. The actual flesh tone and volume was made in almost exactly the same way as you describe though.

[img]http://21cb.ascendant-online.net/images/Storyboard/efs-hand1.jpg[/img] [img]http://21cb.ascendant-online.net/images/Storyboard/efs-hand2.jpg[/img] [img]http://21cb.ascendant-online.net/images/Storyboard/efs-hand3.jpg[/img]

Cheers
Shad
#15

Thanks, foxwolfen. Nice job on the hands :slight_smile:

Here’s another sketch I did. I started simply massing until I found a shape and rythm I liked. In the next step, I did add some lines. The lines, for me, either represent accent marks or reference points, but most of the work had already been establish by massing.

#16

Outstanding. Very inspirational. Thank you for sharing.

Cheers
Shad

#17

Thanks, I think i begin to see the light. Maybe it would be a good idea to practice with an existing image like you said…

#18

I believe I get what you’re saying. The ways you use line and mass really come through in the last two examples.

#19

Thanks everyone. I’m glad it’s helpful :slight_smile:

#20

Both techniques are indespensible. Both provide very different functions. Mass gives you a sense of volume and lighting, line provides detail, flow, and contour.

Actually my last Anatomy study sketch was a good comparison of the methods-- I did one sketch with mass and tone, and then a line sketch separately, resized the two to fit and combined them.