Line-art styles

Three ways to draw the same photograph

Line art is not one thing. The same photo can come back as a few confident outlines with room to colour, or as every strand of fur in its right place. These are the three we have built, drawn from the same photograph by the same model, so the difference is the instructions and nothing else.

The same dog, three times

One photograph, three sets of instructions

One staffordshire bull terrier on the decking, drawn three ways. All three keep where he was; what changes is how much of it is drawn. Bold takes the scene down to a few strong lines, gentle simplifies it, and faithful keeps every board.

A staffordshire bull terrier lying on decking, drawn in the bold style: heavy, even outlines, the decking boards and fence behind him reduced to a few strong lines, and large empty areas across the body with no fur texture at all.

BoldThe easiest to colour

Big shapes with very little inside them. The decking and the fence behind him come down to a few confident lines, the coat is left open, and what remains is something a small hand can stay inside.

Line weight: Heavy and even
Background: Kept, reduced to a few bold shapes
Detail: Large open areas, fur only hinted at the edges
Suits: Younger children, thick pencils and felt tips

The same dog drawn in the gentle style: medium-weight outlines with light, sparse fur strokes across the chest, muzzle and brow, with the decking and the potted plants behind him drawn in simplified line.

GentleThe middle ground

The same simplification, then a little of the coat put back. Enough marks to read as fur and to keep the face familiar, with the setting drawn in lightly so it frames him rather than competing.

Line weight: Medium outlines, fine interior marks
Background: Kept, simplified behind the subject
Detail: Simplified, with some coat texture kept
Suits: Older children and anyone who wants room to work

The same dog drawn in the faithful style: fine pen lines covering the whole coat in dense fur texture, with every decking board, the fence and the potted plants all drawn in behind him.

FaithfulThe closest to the photograph

Nothing is thrown away. Every board of the decking, the fence behind and the plants in their pots stay exactly where they were, and the coat is drawn strand by strand. Lovely as a drawing on its own, and by some distance the hardest to colour in.

Line weight: Fine pen lines throughout
Background: Kept, every board and plant included
Detail: Everything, down to individual strands of fur
Suits: Adults, fine liners, or framing it uncoloured

Look closer

The same patch of coat, enlarged

A detail from the same part of each drawing, magnified. This is where the three separate: not the outline, but how much ink lands inside it.

BoldOne confident contour, and white
GentleLight strokes suggesting the coat
FaithfulFur drawn strand by strand

Same region, same magnification, straight from the files above. Nothing has been redrawn for this page.

A second photograph

It behaves the same way on a different photo

A family on the grass with their dog. Bold reduces the tree and the sky behind them to a few clean shapes. Faithful draws every blade of grass and every leaf.

A woman, a small child and a golden retriever on the grass, drawn in the bold style: clean heavy outlines, smooth open coats, and the tree, clouds and grass behind them reduced to simple shapes. — **Bold**Shapes to colour, and space to do it in

The same family and dog drawn in the faithful style: dense fur across the retriever coat, every strand of hair, and the grass and foliage behind them drawn blade by blade. — **Faithful**Every blade of grass, coat and all

Only two of the three were drawn from this photograph.

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