"A line is a dot that went for a walk." - Paul Klee
This is one of my favourite quotes and one I often draw on when people remark on their belief that they cannot draw.
The essay starts with a reflective breakdown of the role of dots, lines and planes in image-making, and how they combine to create the massive variety of images we encounter. I thought it particularly interesting when the authors linked the relationships to the printed and then digital realms. It made me remember learning computing as a young boy. Printing from computers was much more limited than more industrial printing methods. One of the first developed for the home market were dot-matrix printers, which used a matrix of pins to percussively add dots to paper.
I discovered this very interesting talk from a programming convention [3] where a developer had taken the (now largely obsolete) technology and resurrected it with a modern programming language. Dot-matrix printers used the dot to create characters, but with a little thought, creativity and mathematics the developer was able to create quite sophisticated artwork.
One of my interests is comics and graphic fiction, so I have already done some work understanding how halftones and benday dots give the impression of tone to imagery, it was interesting to see where the above printing approach intersected with these techniques and also how they differ.
Point, Line and Plane
I found the descriptive similes used by the authors very compelling and really made the case for the power of the simple point. The way that it underpins everything else yet is able to stand authoritatively on its own. I also really appreciated the photography and images used to illustrate their point (no pun intended!).
I am not sure that I completely agree with the author's statement that "A line is an infinite series of points" but for all intents and purposes I can see what they are driving at. Maybe I am just biased in my preference for Klee's interpretation?
I like the way that lines define, contain and separate. I also like the expansive quality described in the text - a point can have a lot of variation, but when it turns into a line it can take on a wide variety of qualities depending on the medium used to create the line.
I also enjoy the way that lines can lead you: they can draw the eye, explain and connect.
The notion of a plane is interesting. The representation of a three-dimensional facet in two dimensions is fascinating. What is the relationship between a shape and a plane? The text posits that "Shapes are planes with edges" but really does a plane require the context of other planes in order for it to be a plane? I wouldn't call a rhombus a plane, but put two of them together and the planes emerge from the paper. I wonder if I have not fully grasped the design-focused definition posed by the authors.
Space, Volume and Objects
The text covered two contrasting approaches to visualising space and volume: Linear perspective and axonometric projection. Coming off the back of my last module, graphic fiction, I have spent a lot of time in the world of linear perspective recently. Perspective is something that I have enjoyed a lot, but I do find that I have a tendency to try and make my use of linear perspective as accurate as possible. I wonder if this tendency hampers me in some way - when is it ok to break the rules of perspective that we would expect, like the use of forced perspective or perhaps a fish-eye lens effect?
I have used axonometric projection in the past - in a personal piece of work I used an isometric perspective to create the illusion of depth and volume. As a die-hard gamer, I am also very familiar with this approach in god-like genres but also its use in hack-and-slash action roleplaying games like the Diablo series.
I find that this method of projection is very efficient - almost clinically so - so is very well-suited for giving the viewer a lot of information. It's well-suited for diagrammatic representations but I find that it's very difficult for axonometric projection to achieve softer, organic content.
I found the latter examples in the essay interesting, particularly the exercises described and illustrated. Whilst the specific exercises themselves seemed overly onerous and tedious for me to replicate, I did like the idea of how both of them used different approaches to explore the qualities and aspects of their subjects. I think using a combination of life drawing and photography could be an interesting blend in the exploration phase of my work.
Reference
Blumberg, N., 2015. linear perspective. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/linear-perspective [Accessed 21 December 2021].
Phillips, JC, & Phillips, JC 2014, Graphic Design: The New Basics: Revised Second Edition, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, NY. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.pp.33-47
Winningham, T., 2018. Bit Splotches: Dot Matrix Printing with Python. [video] Available at: https://youtu.be/45aeGWPRL0g [Accessed 20 December 2021].
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