Line Drawings - Line Art

Line drawings are simple, useful forms of art. Also known as line art, these styles are among the earliest forms of art but are extremely popular today.

Wikipedia defines line art as "any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a (usually plain) background, without gradations in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects. Line art can use lines of different colors, although line art is usually monochromatic."

Line drawings use form and outline rather than color to depict objects. In the absence of color, line drawings use varying line widths, dotting, stippling or hatching to create shading and texture effects.

Before the development of photography and of halftones, line drawings were the standard format for illustrations to be used in print publications, using black ink on white paper.

In the digital age, line drawings can be created using a computer, stylus and software. Artists may also use software to manipulate digital photos, creating a line art image based upon a real life object.