Folks
This is a posting from ten years ago and is eternally relevant.
…….
In my nefarious travels through virtual space I have been summarizing what other artists are saying about the use and benefits of edges in paintings.
Here is a distillation:
One of the keys to good edges is variety.
Edges clarify and unify a composition and affect how the painting is read.
Edges have a role in defining shapes at their boundaries.
Too many distinct edges can stiffen and isolate/disconnect the subject from the background.
A few sharp edges focuses the viewer on the subject and anchors the center of interest. Our eyes are comfortable with this normal view.
Edges can be soft or blended with a smooth transition, lending depth and harmony.
Edges can be lost (+shape is the same value as the –shape).
Edges can be broken, with an abrupt path.
Edges can be inquiring, acknowledging and emphasizing small variations on the perimeter.
Edges can have a close value (perhaps a warm and cool version of the same hue), for example, showing distance effects on two parts of a same colored wall.
Shadow or soft edges can ground objects and avoid a floating appearance.
Any additions to these guidelines?
Denis
Comments
I would like to add a few points to the edge analysis above.
The best edge is no edge.
The more an edge is defined by a line the more it appears like a cartoon.
The turning human form is edge defined by an increasing shadow as the form turns from the light.
The turning human form is edge defined by an increasing value as the form turns toward the light.
No edges in nature are seen with an outline. Outlines are convenient conventions by artists.
Clean to edge nuanced values charge the image with grace and flow.
Yes, ‘the best edge is no edge’ was a bold statement to set the stage for a discussion about using lines instead of values for an edge.
I have been attending life drawing classes for some years and noticed how ‘locked in’ artists with pencils become. When I give them some charcoal or chalk the first complaint is that they can’t get the lines fine enough.
example; Ryder and Huston, both masters in life drawing, sometimes spoil a beautiful piece of work with dark lines:
Denis
Even though I know this is so, I still struggle with avoiding those damned lines. My instinct is to draw a line between forms. But that is not what is there.
They are usually hatching lines to bring up the chroma & add texture without overkill.
Or they are used to simulate movement.
Or a dark line along one edge of a big shape in order to push back that shape without having to make the whole shape too dark.
Denis
Love these wipe off monochromes. Done a few. I found this method to be simple, freeing and allowing a lot of creative freedom in composition and value creation.
The overall context to this examination of edges is to push a tonalist approach and to abandon a linear basis for drawing and painting. Tone not line and draw/paint from the shoulder.
Denis
Key Takeaways
Since many here on DMP are self-taught, the idea of not using a hard edge to define the object can be intimidating.
If an object has a shiny, hard surface, the reflected light will have clearly defined edges in real life; meaning that the two adjacent areas have noticeably different colors or values, How we choose to paint these edges can be different.
Constable's beautiful landscapes have lots and lots of well-defined edges. I have spent many hours staring at Wivenhoe Park in the US NGA.
Wivenhoe Park has well defined edges by values not lines.
By way of balance let me say I love Martina Shapiro and Roy Lichtenstein, both use steroid boosted black lines as edges. I have painted studies of their work because I love the graphic abstract power that those images possess.
Edges can be in many varieties, hard, soft, lost, broken etc chosen to best represent the object’s form under the prevailing conditions. Just so long as it is not a dark outline.
Denis
Even today hundreds, if not thousands, of professional painters can make really close approximations to modern and old time masterworks but they fall well short of the magic of the original master’s accomplishments regardless of how many people can’t tell the differences very well.
Jensen carves out a cow from a black canvas with large brushes using a mass drawing technique and no linework.
For me the end result was like I was seeing a cow through a rain soaked window pane.
The centuries old mystery/conundrum of how not to make edges solved:
Place a rain soaked pane of glass between you and your reference/still life.
Brilliant!