Hatching and Cross-Hatching
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| hatching/ˈhætʃɪŋ/ | A drawing technique using closely spaced lines to create tone or shading. |
| value/ˈvæljuː/ | The relative lightness or darkness of a colour or tone. |
| cross-hatching/krɒs ˈhætʃɪŋ/ | Shading with layers of lines drawn in different directions. |
Tone from parallel lines
- Hatching 排线 builds value with parallel lines.
- Closer, darker lines read as darker value 明度; wider spacing reads lighter.
- Pen-and-ink depends on it: ink has no grey, so density does the work.
In hatching, a darker value is made by ____.
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Density = darkness.
Layering angles
- Cross-hatching 交叉排线 layers a second set of lines at a new angle.
- Each layer deepens the tone one step — build darkness gradually.
- Keep one angle inside one plane; change angle when the plane changes.
Dürer built these hands from fine parallel hatching and cross-hatching; where the lines sit closer and cross, the tone darkens and the flat marks turn into rounded form
Read the technique
Sort each description by the mark technique it describes.
You should change hatching angle inside a single flat plane.
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Keep one angle per plane; change angle only when the plane changes.
Select all true statements about ink hatching.
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Random angles read as noise.
Hatching that follows the form
- Curve the strokes around the form — cross-contour hatching — so shading also describes volume.
- Straight hatching on a curved form flattens it.
- This one habit makes ink drawings look three-dimensional.
Curving hatch strokes around the form is called ____-contour hatching.
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Cross-contour hatching shades and describes volume at once.
Match the plane to its hatching treatment on a lit cube.
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Density steps with value.
Do not "colour in" with chaotic strokes in every direction. Random angles read as noise, not tone. Choose an angle per plane and keep the spacing even — control is the whole point.
Shading a cube in ink: the top plane gets sparse 45° lines (light), the front gets a denser layer, the side gets two crossed layers (darkest). Three planes, three densities — the cube turns solid.
Hatching = value from line density; cross-hatching = layered angles, one step darker per layer; curve the strokes (cross-contour) so tone and volume arrive together.
Write from 12 lines in a centimetre
- One patch has 12 parallel lines in a centimetre.
- Another has 4.
One patch of parallel hatching has 12 lines in a centimetre and another has 4. Which patch reads darker, and why?
More lines in the same width cover more of the paper.
Which patch is darker?
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Denser parallel lines leave less white paper.