![definition of contour lines in art definition of contour lines in art](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/57/96/a5/5796a5261e30bb217f060a8d37ed7558--contour-drawings-fragile.jpg)
It would be thousands of years before cartographers (map makers) could chart large areas of terrain with any real accuracy. The first known maps to include geographical features were found in Ancient Rome. Essentially, topographic maps represent the three-dimensional landscape of Earth within the two-dimensional space of a map. Topographic maps use a combination of colors, shading and contour lines to represent changes in elevation and terrain shape. A map with contour lines on it is called a topographic map. Topography is the study of geographical features on a landscape. Beyond backpacking and hiking, countless other professions use them - land surveyors, foresters, engineers, miners, geologists, hunters, to name a few. or lifesaving in a desperate survival situation. This information can be helpful when selecting a hiking route. If you trace the length of a line with your finger, each point you touch is the same height above sea level. If you were to walk the path of a contour line in real life, you would remain at the same elevation the whole hike, never traveling up or down.Ĭontour lines are critical to understanding the elevation profile of your terrain or a particular land formation. Put simply, contour lines mark points of equal elevation on a map. What are Contour Lines and Topographic Maps? Contour LinesĮver noticed those squiggly lines all over your hiking map? Other than the obvious trails and rivers, these squiggly lines are contour lines.
#Definition of contour lines in art series#
When you see something like this, you will probably describe it as a single dashed-line, rather than a series of individual dashes. Implied lines act in a similar way, but instead of being physically there, they are created by our minds via suggestive prompts. As a very primitive example, take the following series of dashes:Īs you look at these dashes, your mind is actively joining them together to create an implied line. If you draw a line on the paper in front of you, that is an actual line.
![definition of contour lines in art definition of contour lines in art](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b4/91/33/b4913310bddc4a150efbe9caeaaf2fe9.jpg)
![definition of contour lines in art definition of contour lines in art](https://www.studentartguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/blind-contour-drawing-shell_0.jpg)
Create a sense of movement (for example, to illustrate a windy sky)Īctual lines are fairly straightforward.Some of the other important uses of lines are to: I sometimes refer to the use of lines to lead people through your art as leading lines. If you have two objects, your eyes will be more inclined to travel between them if there is a line joining them. In this post, I will go into more detail on what implied lines actually are and how you can use them to strengthen your compositions.īefore I go further, I will briefly touch on the importance of lines. Simply put, our eyes like to follow lines. These are lines that are not actually there but rather implied or suggested by the context of the artwork. But we tend to overlook the importance of implied lines. A line is the first thing we learn to draw. We all understand the importance of lines in art.