How to draw 3: Rythm

Welcome back to the third lesson where I want to talk about "rythm". This is a very important aspect of drawing, which is often not articulated well enough in modern drawing books, or overlooked entirely. Basically it is about how a flow of movement connects the different parts of a subject, creating a unity of both form and line (or "contours"). Static, lifeless objects also have movement - a movement "in the form" as it were. Before I get too philosophical, have a look at these sketches I hope will clarify what I mean. Notice all the color arrows: - these are put down to show the main "movement". A lot more arrows could be added, as rythm really affects everything.

The green line running through the horse is trying to show how the figure is connected from one end to the other. The red line is emphasizing the arch of the neck continuing down through the front leg. The top backside of the horse and the chest, for instance, should be considered together. Like I tried to show in the previous post, it is good to keep working on opposite sides of the form, not just trace a line all the way around, hoping you will end up in the right place...

There is also a flow of movement in the mane, going through the tail. The line of the belly can be traced like a curve around to the chest.

Being aware of these lines not only gives the drawing more flow, power and unity but I find it also really helps to place the different parts accurately. Although you might not understand anatomy well, drawing this way will automatically tend to right drawing, because anatomy is about movement.

Strangely the same applies to the mountain, even if it is not living and moving. It has of course been shaped by living forces. But really you can look for rythm in anything.

With the mountain I felt there was a movement along the ridge, through to the other side of the peak in the middle. So I drew a dotted line and continued it. The peak rises sort of wave-like and then turns down again The furrow create a motion toward the top. (These are drawn from real photos, see the web address noted on the drawing..)

Here I am trying to connect the previous lessons with the basic forms and drawing some imaginary trees, emphasizing the rythm and movement. Not sure how successful this is. But what I will say is think of movement as movement in space, not just up, down or sideways on the paper.

In terms of the marks I actually put down on paper, I don't typically draw the colored lines you see here, rather I imagine them, and they play an important part in the intitial markmaking.

I will write more on this later. I might be getting ahead of myself and should probably have written more "basic" lessons, so hope this all makes sense. Please do comment or ask questions on the blog, I would greatly appreciate it!

I do this as much for my own sake as for anything else. It helps to clarify my thoughts and push my own practice. And I am very much a student - so could be wrong about things. But i don't think I am very wrong any more.

P.S.There could be other words for this aspect of drawing than "rythm". "Flow lines" "gesture of form" "movement" "drawing aides", etc. What rythm is not in this context is a repeated mark or object on the paper, like ta-tata-ta-tata-ta etc in music... Any way. Happy drawing!