Hatching (making parallel marks) and crosshatching (making parallel marks overlapped with parallel marks) are some of the most valuable tools for adding value, contour, movement, energy, and texture to a drawing.
For materials, a sharp pencil or pen on smooth paper works great. Old fashioned pen and ink is made for this.
Draft sketch from Goseki Kojima’s epic manga samurai series, Love Wolf and Cub (1970-1976)
If you’re new to hatching, you might find your first marks are uneven, but if you keep practicing rows of curved or straight parallel lines, muscle memory will develop, and your lines will become more even in pressure and spacing. If you have any hand control issues such as a tremor, you might try varying your materials to give you more or less traction. Ball point pen on typing paper can slip around very quickly, while pencil and felt tip pens on rag paper have more traction and move more slowly. Try different materials and see what you most enjoy.
Kathe Kollwitz, self portrait (1921)
Our shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers pivot in a way that tend to produce comfortable lines at 45 degree angles. Go with this! It’s much easier to pivot the paper to draw lines at a different angle than it is twist our bodies around.
Since this technique can be used to make drawings that take a long time, some artists who do very fine work have an extra sheet of paper to cover the part of the drawing they’re not working on at the moment, so they don’t get things smudgy. Be careful about that wet ink!
Georgio Morandi, Hilltop at Evening, 1928 (Patch or woven hatching style)
6 styles of hatching and crosshatching
1. Parallel hatching
Rows of parallel lines placed closely together. Can be drawn in at any common angle.
2. Contour hatching
Contour hatches follow the surface topography of the subject. This method enhances the sense of volume.
3. Crosshatching
After laying down one area of hatch marks, another set of hatch marks are overlapped on top, usually in a near-perpendicular direction to the first set. Cross hatching can be applied as simple straight lines, just like parallel hatching, or it can follow the contours of the subject. You can see great examples of this style on portrait etchings – like the one of George Washington on the dollar bill. Experiment with drawings made with bold or very finely drawn lines.
4. “Patched” or “woven” hatching
I admit that I made up the terms “patched” and “woven.” I don’t know what this is called, but it’s striking when used well. Rather than all parallel marks, patches of parallel marks are drawn next to an adjacent group of parallel marks in an almost perpendicular direction. The effect looks woven when done well, and they can be overlapped to darken the density.
5. “Tick” hatching
This is another very graphic style of hatching, consisting of very short parallel strokes or “ticks.” Sparsely drawn tick marks can also be used at the edge of a hatch, so there’s not a stark difference between the hatching and blank white areas. You can see hatching used like this in the second video below. I set the video to start where you can see his tick hatches at minute 3.07.
6. Messy!
If all of these drawing styles seem way too tight and tidy for you, don’t worry! Once you get the basic movements in your hand, you can apply the same techniques with a scribble and a schmear. You don’t have to be tidy to be descriptive. Have fun!
Rembrandt Self Portraits
Hatching tutorials
30SAL OBSERVATION DRAWING Challenge: Crosshatch
Today’s Challenge: Create something using crosshatch. #crosshatch
Post it
To be eligible for prizes (yes prizes!) at the end of the month, post your work to Instagram with #30sal and #crosshatch so we can find your post.
To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post:
The leaves of this chrysanthemum were an excuse for me to play with deep dark velvety burrs and light clean lines, the delights of drypoint. I have covered every table, easel, and palette-stand with my paintings and prints for this show. 12 tables, all covered with colorful paints, images of flowers, fabrics, drypoint plates, ink, …
Take a class with SAL – anywhere! In a V. Note from November 2016, I shared “Democracy Has Bad Taste”, and an audio interview on BBC with Grayson Perry. I’ve had pottery on the brain lately (I’m excited for our ceramics studio to open) so today I’m looping back to share some of Perry’s pottery. …
Minakata Kumagusu (1867 – 1941) was a Japanese author, biologist, and ethnologist. In his study of fungi, Minakata collected and drew thousands of mycological illustrations. Here are a few excerpts from his beautiful and informative sketchbooks. He discovered a new slime mold from all this sketching. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
Day 16: Crosshatch #30SAL
Hatching (making parallel marks) and crosshatching (making parallel marks overlapped with parallel marks) are some of the most valuable tools for adding value, contour, movement, energy, and texture to a drawing.
For materials, a sharp pencil or pen on smooth paper works great. Old fashioned pen and ink is made for this.
If you’re new to hatching, you might find your first marks are uneven, but if you keep practicing rows of curved or straight parallel lines, muscle memory will develop, and your lines will become more even in pressure and spacing. If you have any hand control issues such as a tremor, you might try varying your materials to give you more or less traction. Ball point pen on typing paper can slip around very quickly, while pencil and felt tip pens on rag paper have more traction and move more slowly. Try different materials and see what you most enjoy.
Our shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers pivot in a way that tend to produce comfortable lines at 45 degree angles. Go with this! It’s much easier to pivot the paper to draw lines at a different angle than it is twist our bodies around.
Since this technique can be used to make drawings that take a long time, some artists who do very fine work have an extra sheet of paper to cover the part of the drawing they’re not working on at the moment, so they don’t get things smudgy. Be careful about that wet ink!
6 styles of hatching and crosshatching
1. Parallel hatching
Rows of parallel lines placed closely together. Can be drawn in at any common angle.
2. Contour hatching
Contour hatches follow the surface topography of the subject. This method enhances the sense of volume.
3. Crosshatching
After laying down one area of hatch marks, another set of hatch marks are overlapped on top, usually in a near-perpendicular direction to the first set. Cross hatching can be applied as simple straight lines, just like parallel hatching, or it can follow the contours of the subject. You can see great examples of this style on portrait etchings – like the one of George Washington on the dollar bill. Experiment with drawings made with bold or very finely drawn lines.
4. “Patched” or “woven” hatching
I admit that I made up the terms “patched” and “woven.” I don’t know what this is called, but it’s striking when used well. Rather than all parallel marks, patches of parallel marks are drawn next to an adjacent group of parallel marks in an almost perpendicular direction. The effect looks woven when done well, and they can be overlapped to darken the density.
5. “Tick” hatching
This is another very graphic style of hatching, consisting of very short parallel strokes or “ticks.” Sparsely drawn tick marks can also be used at the edge of a hatch, so there’s not a stark difference between the hatching and blank white areas. You can see hatching used like this in the second video below. I set the video to start where you can see his tick hatches at minute 3.07.
6. Messy!
If all of these drawing styles seem way too tight and tidy for you, don’t worry! Once you get the basic movements in your hand, you can apply the same techniques with a scribble and a schmear. You don’t have to be tidy to be descriptive. Have fun!
Hatching tutorials
30SAL OBSERVATION DRAWING Challenge: Crosshatch
Today’s Challenge: Create something using crosshatch. #crosshatch
Post it
To be eligible for prizes (yes prizes!) at the end of the month, post your work to Instagram with #30sal and #crosshatch so we can find your post.
To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post:
#30sal #crosshatch #crosshatching #crosshatchdrawing #vnotes #creativechallenge #januarychallenge #drawingchallenge #drawing #art #sketch #artchallenge #artist #draw #artistsoninstagram #sketchbook #instaart #artwork #drawingoftheday #dailydrawing #oilpainting #mixedmedia #drawingsketch #artoftheday #creativity
Padlet
Don’t have Instagram? Post your work to Padlet.
DAY 16: CROSSHATCH https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/te6fxlcu5gprqywy
DAY 15: INVERSE PERSPECTIVE https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/80vscqhmgee5j1nn
DAY 14: TRIUMPH OF PAN https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/kr04aa7bsfsekk2j
Deadline for Prizes
Deadline for submissions: 3 days after each challenge post.
January prize winners will be announced in February.
To learn more about the 30SAL Challenge, click here.
Related Posts
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The leaves of this chrysanthemum were an excuse for me to play with deep dark velvety burrs and light clean lines, the delights of drypoint. I have covered every table, easel, and palette-stand with my paintings and prints for this show. 12 tables, all covered with colorful paints, images of flowers, fabrics, drypoint plates, ink, …
Grayson Perry’s Pottery
Take a class with SAL – anywhere! In a V. Note from November 2016, I shared “Democracy Has Bad Taste”, and an audio interview on BBC with Grayson Perry. I’ve had pottery on the brain lately (I’m excited for our ceramics studio to open) so today I’m looping back to share some of Perry’s pottery. …
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Minakata’s Sketchbooks
Minakata Kumagusu (1867 – 1941) was a Japanese author, biologist, and ethnologist. In his study of fungi, Minakata collected and drew thousands of mycological illustrations. Here are a few excerpts from his beautiful and informative sketchbooks. He discovered a new slime mold from all this sketching. That’s nothing to sneeze at.