Why You Should Use Line Weight in Your Drawings
It dramatically increases the readability and aesthetic appeal of any drawing.
1. It communicates what’s important in the sketch.
There are lots of different ways you can communicate in drawing, and line weight is just one of them. In product design sketching, aside from drawing something that just looks pretty, we’re really interested in being able to communicate ideas well. The more straightforward, logical, concise, easy to understand it is, the better. I hear all the men rejoicing at that. Don’t take it personally ladies, communication between the female and male brains is just different biologically.
But in the case of this key, more so on the large sketch, I’m more interested in showing the cutouts on the key. Notice how it acts like a gradient starting from the top and moving down to the lightest line weight. It’s also creating contrast, which is exactly my next point.
2. It creates visual interest.
Drawing is like cooking a dish. Now, I’m definitely not an expert because a quarter of my diet consists of tacos (Yes, really, I need to get my protein count in for the day). But If I did know how to cook, I would know that there are little subtleties like spices that help make a dish far more flavorful as opposed to not doing it. Cumin here, rosemary there, garlic powder over there, et voila, you’re cooking like Gordon Ramsey. Your line weight is like the spice that gives your sketches that oomph. Who wants to eat bland chicken? Who wants to look at a bland sketch devoid of the piece de resistance that is line weight? Exactly.
I’m sure there are a couple of different explanations as to why this is aesthetic in the first place, but I think it has to do with the idea of contrast. That one punch line that goes something like,” You can pick any color you want, as long as it’s gray” used for socialist jokes is actually a perfect example for this. Imagine a world of monotone colors, no range of musical notes, or where everyone is just average looking (the horror!). That monotony is like death to the human brain and the thought of one thing, all the time, forever, is pretty depressing. In the same way, line weight is the variation your drawing needs so people don’t get bored to death looking at what you’ve made. Takeaway: don’t draw like a socialist — use line weight.
