Beautiful Line Drawings

When you first picked up a pen or pencil and started making marks on paper, you began with line. Whether through self-taught trial and error, or the helping wisdom of others, we learned how line defines form, creates structure, divides a frame, traces contour, creates tonal variation (cross-hatching, for example) and leads the eye from one part of a work to another. Initially a mechanism for getting outline onto paper: identifying edges (a crucial but perhaps unappreciated step in the process of applying tone, texture and colour) lines begin at last to be applauded for their own merit: celebrated for their presence – whether a casual flick of charcoal on paper or a gentle and quiet streak of graphite.

Here is a collection of beautiful line drawings. I hope you enjoy them.

Aaron Earley:

 

Peter Root:

 

Hung Lin:

 

Paul McClintock:

 

Maurizio Anzeri:

 

Tornwing:

 

Karolina Cummings:

 

Qubik:

 

Daniel Mathers:

 

Roz McQuillan:

 

Wang Tzu-Ting:

 

Nina Smart:

 

Ultima Thule:

 

Andy Mercer:

 

Vital Photography:

 

Mimi Yoon:

 

Doug Bell:

 

Pablo Picasso:

 

Matthew Dunn:

 

Rod McLaren:

 

Andreas Fischer:

 

Nicholas Weltyk:

 

Swoon:

 

Liliana Porter:

 

Hong Chun Zhang:

 

Bruce Pollock:

 

David Sweeney:

 

David Eskenazi:

 

Matt Niebuhr:

 

Albrecht Durer:

 

Il Lee:

 

Victoria Haven:

 

Marianne Laiti:

 

Carne Griffiths:

 

William Anastasi:

 

Sky Kim:

 

Charles Avery:

 

Did you enjoy these line drawings? If you are looking for more inspirational artwork, you may like to view our collection of artist work on Pinterest!

This article was written by Amiria Robinson. Amiria has been a teacher of Art & Design and a Curriculum Co-ordinator for seven years, responsible for the course design and assessment of Art and Design work in two high-achieving Auckland schools. Amiria has a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, Bachelor of Architecture (First Class Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching. She is a CIE Accredited Art & Design Coursework Assessor. Follow Amiria on Google+