Silverpoint

The broken line

The same old stone wall drawn with ruler-straight continuous lines, which looks like new concrete, and with Prout's broken wiry line, which looks like weathered stoneCONTINUOUS · READS AS NEWBROKEN · READS AS OLDLift the pencil mid-line. Let the line wobble, thicken, vanish and return. Suggesttwo stones per course, not twelve.Prout taught a generation that a broken line draws age. It is the most imitated trick in British architecturaldrawing.
FigureThe broken line
FoundationLine

The broken line

Copy a Prout wall, then draw an old wall near you

Draw weathered stone with a line that breaks, wobbles and returns, and know when not to.

Difficulty
Time
about 1 h
You draw with
HB and 2B, sharp long points
The broken lineMasonry coursingSix families of mark

Why this one

  • Unit 4 of the program: Line: the Draughtsman's Half.
  • A wall passage that reads as old stone, with breaks that come from looking rather than from a pattern.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood HB, 2B HB for layout and line; 2B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad
  • HB and 2B, sharp long points
  • An old wall, gate pier or step near you, or a photo

Watch first

All videos →

On the quality of each individual line inside a hatch, which is what separates Meryon from a beginner.

YouTube
Sketch like an architect: techniques and tips from a real project30X40 Design Workshop · Line weight hierarchy and when to stop, from an architect.How Rembrandt made his prints: a demonstrationChristie's · Filmed at the Rembrandt House. The clearest view of drawing with a needle through ground, which is why etched line looks the way it does.

The plan

4 stages · ~50 min
  1. 1

    Copy a Prout passage

    15 min

    Choose a six-inch square of the Louvain town hall: a stretch of wall with a window and a cornice. Copy it at the same size, tripod grip, sharp point, lifting the pencil every inch, letting the line thicken over a chipped corner and fade across a worn one. Not a regular dash. Break where the stone is actually broken in the print.

    Hotel de Ville, Louvain, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, Prout, 1833
    Art Institute of Chicago

    Prout, Hotel de Ville, Louvain, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, 1833. Lithograph in black on grayish-ivory chine, laid down on ivory wove paper.

    Prout, Hotel de Ville, Louvain. Choose a passage and copy its broken line.

    The Art Institute of Chicago · The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection

    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    Contrast with a ruled version

    15 min

    Beside it, draw the same passage with continuous, ruler-straight lines. Compare. One is a Gothic town hall; the other is a modern office. Nothing changed but the line.

    The same old stone wall drawn with ruler-straight continuous lines, which looks like new concrete, and with Prout's broken wiry line, which looks like weathered stoneCONTINUOUS · READS AS NEWBROKEN · READS AS OLDLift the pencil mid-line. Let the line wobble, thicken, vanish and return. Suggesttwo stones per course, not twelve.Prout taught a generation that a broken line draws age. It is the most imitated trick in British architecturaldrawing.
    FigureContinuous reads as new; broken reads as old.
    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    A real old wall

    15 min

    From life or photo: an old wall, pier or step. Courses as broken horizontals, more broken where lit. A few vertical joints near the top, the ends and the base. Tone in the middle. Twenty minutes.

    Checklist0 / 1
  4. 4

    Self-check

    5 min

    Tick each item honestly. If one is a no, the session is not finished; go back to that step.

    Checklist0 / 3

What it should look like

  • A wall passage that reads as old stone, with breaks that come from looking rather than from a pattern.

Where it goes wrong

  • A regular dashed line. Pattern instead of observation. Look at where the edge is crisp and where it is worn. Break only there.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~60 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextTone from line