I need advise on the right use of the "line-weight" • KDE Community Forums (2024)

I need advise on the right use of the "line-weight"

Wed Oct 17, 2018 7:39 pm

Admittedly, I am improvising this term, it may go by a different word.
I am referring to the use of any brush, it typically gives you a tapered line: Starts out thick, but then it gradually ends thinner.
When drawing with this in mind, do you purposely chose where the thick parts will be?
For instance, you may want to be sure the thick lines are always in the beginning of the line.
Or on the part of the drawing that needs more emphasis.
Or maybe you want the thick parts of the stroke where there is less light for that object.
I am only speculating.
Or there is no consensus on this really. And people just draw disregarding this (?)

Thanks everyone!

Re: I need advise on the right use of the "line-weight"

Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:17 pm

I personally disagree with such things as the "right way" in many of the art standards, many of these dating back more than a century, but for what is worth, you are actually on point, as far as I remember reading somewhere (as art goes, I never have proper education for it, so books it is) that thicker lines "accentuate" while thin lines define, and there is also rules against it, such as no thick lines for a specific mood, or vise versa, etc. Is true that in some instances, it perfectly applies, and is a good practice when we start drawing, yet as you start "dissecting" some of the best artist works, you will see that the only consensus is "what feels good in your eyes".

If you ever used dip pen drawing nibs (calligraphy style) or dip in brushes, you will find that one of their main features is the ability to change the thickness of the stroke, this produce a "raw" feeling that is very enjoyable on the eye as much as on the hand. This feature is mimicked on art software including Krita. And there is as we mentioned in the other thread, sensors for it, the default parameter will just copy the real media, thick on pressure, thin on release of pressure, but there is much more one can do with this, thus affect the thickness with other means, time, speed, random, etc. Many of this are more fun than practical, but is always good to experiment.

There are some type of art that would "require" specific way of stroking, like Anime style is usually done without variation of the lines while its close related Manga style benefit plenty of the variation of the lines, this is, comics in general use a lot of this feature, yet not necessarily on a strict way, many a times is just a style of drawing, for example on black and white illustrations, thick lines are use to represent some shadow at times, while in another frame they could be use to "highlight" a mood or expression.

Would be interesting to read more opinions, but do not limit yourself just because is not "by the book/rule" way, in my humble opinion just experiment and have fun,

Re: I need advise on the right use of the "line-weight"

Wed Oct 17, 2018 9:22 pm

That was a great reply Quiralta
I appreciate your elaborating.

Quiralta wrote:... do not limit yourself just because is not "by the book/rule" way, ...

I concur with you.
I thought of opening myself to opinions and views to help me define my own path in the end. It'll give me a point of departure.
I'll just experiment with different approaches and see how it goes.

The only thing I have clear for now, is that I prefer the tapered brush lines, over the non-tapered marker lines. I had started with the former, and then I thought that maybe I needed to simplify the lines to their most basic style: non-tapered. But once I saw the same drawing that way, I was both surprised and disappointed at the same time. At that moment I reviewed back and forth each style. And it became clear that I do prefer the tapered lines. Now it's just a matter of playing with different approaches to further define it.

Yes, I am also looking forward to other replies.

Thanks again

Re: I need advise on the right use of the "line-weight"

Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:24 pm

Digital marking tools in Krita appear to me as a large box of art utensils. After experimenting for hours and rarely saving anything, what I needed was a subset of marking utensils that I could attempt to master before proceeding outside my lane. There is the comfort zone (pencils that act like pencils; pens, markers, brushes) and then there are wild things like Sketching-2 Chrome Large. Just scribbling makes me happy.

If you choose to use a marker that provides varying line weight with stylus pressure, I would hope you wouldn't disregard that marker's characteristics. I am in complete agreement that there is no "right way", only "the way you choose", no right marking tool except the one you want to use. Isn't art about breaking rules? Edit that sensitivity curve, make the tip massive, use a patterned tip. About the only thing you can't do is splatter stuff stuff on your canvas.

I like the digital bend-ability of rules AND I save money. No longer do I need to "ruin" a felt tip flair pen by mushing the tip on a hard surface so I can use it for washes. I don't have to use #000 steel wool on my pen nibs. After an hour my fingers are clean and I haven't ruined my clothing.

Re: I need advise on the right use of the "line-weight"

Sat Oct 27, 2018 6:35 pm

Great answers already. All I can add is some advice regarding creating depth in your drawings.
You can also use line-weight, texture, size and value to denote depth.

Typically, you will see a lot of artists following the rule that lines or edges closer to the light source will be thinner.
And lines in the shadows, thicker. But this all depends on the aesthetics you are after.

Draw what looks right to your eye. Don't other think it and trust your natural ability to detect what is 'wrong'.

Good luck and keep us posted with your progress.
Regards, Rob.

Re: I need advise on the right use of the "line-weight"

Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:23 pm

Maybe this thread is a bit outdated, maybe not. Generally I agree with most of the opinions stated here, but here's my point of view:
My impression is that calligraphy tool in Krita is intended to use mainly by cartoonists, but I have some experience with calligraphy-calligraphy, so I think that:

In digital scenario, calligraphers would possibly prefer a special kind of vector engine: How about curves that incorporate three types of nodes?

a: Besier direction nodes/tensors, b: Pressure nodes, c: Angle nodes.

Instead of vector surface created by stroking a line with stylus, how about single stroke Besier line along which the surface is created by dedicated type of kpp preset? And when you edit that single line nodes, you edit "calligraphic vector".

Few weeks ago I renewed my interest for letter calligraphy. I use cheap fountain pens, I cut the top of steel nib and I get 2-5 mm wide calligraphy pens.
While using them to write calligraphy, it is important to incorporate pressure and the change of angle.

In a case of digital calligraphy, I just don't know which kind of sensor I would dedicate to "angle" property of the stroke and to the out-coming (and editable) "calligraphy vector". I know there are tablets sensitive to "stylus angle".

The thing is, most of letter calligraphers would just say " I don't believe in digital calligraphy", but since Krita is so ambitious and promising, maybe one day Krita devs might make them change their minds.