Invisible Lines

An Invisible Artform

One of the things that constantly interest me are invisible lines.  If we consider the picture as a field of potential force, (from our last post on Composing Pictures) these invisible lines are a way to shape the energy of a picture.  It is one of the methods of not just being self aware of that energy but to bend it in a conscious way!

Sometimes the best way for me to be open to new ideas is to learn them from a completely different art form and see how the same principles might work in drawing or animation.  Here’s a graphic design example on these invisible lines from Kimberly Elam’s book on Grid Systems.

The “axial relationship” is another way to say that the edge of one shape can be connected with the edge of another to create an invisible line that runs along both edges. 

But invisible lines aren’t just limited to the outer edges of a shape.  Here’s an example of a Celtic Pattern from the book Designa: Technical Secrets of the Traditional Visual Arts by Adam Tetlo, Daud Sutton, and Lisa Delong.  As you can observe, invisible lines or “axial relationships” can also be felt running from the middle axis of one shape to another!

Here’s another different example from Composing Pictures by Don Graham.  The “rough” drawing with multiple strokes on the left can be deconstructed to a few graphic lines that are felt not drawn..

Another example from Composing Pictures where graphic “invisible” lines are created by a series of fragmented elements that indicate progressive force..

This one is a bit trickier.. Can you see this spiral of fragmented elements disguised as lines and contours to focus your attention towards his eyes?  Another excellent example by my favorite animator Milt Kahl..

Another brilliant example from Robert Fawcett but this time the “fragmented” elements that I see are the separate head angles from each individual in this composition. Again an aura of energy/force/line creating a spinning circle around the figure in brown.

To me this is that flow/space or water/air that was described in the previous post. Utilizing the invisible or empty space as a force/flow is what makes me excited about making pictures- hopefully this opens up new opportunities to play with for others as well*