Albrecht Dürer, Veronica, engraving 1513. Albrecht Dürer (ˈalbʀɛçt ˈdyʀɐ ( May 21, 1471 &ndash April 6, 1528) was a German painter, Printmaker Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it Example of hatching (eg background) and cross-hatching in many darker areas (visible if viewed at full size).

Detail of Veronica.

Hatching (hachure in French) and cross-hatching are artistic techniques used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing (or painting or scribing) closely spaced parallel lines. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people (It is also used in monochromatic heraldic representations to indicate what the tincture of a "full-colour" emblazon would be. In Heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to Emblazon a Coat of arms. ) When lines are placed at an angle to one another, it is called cross-hatching.

Hatching is especially important in essentially linear media like drawing and many forms of printmaking, like engraving, etching and woodcut. Drawing is a Visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium Printmaking is the Process of making artworks by Printing, normally on Paper. Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it For other uses of etch or etching, see Etching (disambiguation, for the history of the method see Old master prints. For the origins of the technique and non-artistic use see Woodblock printing; for the related technique invented in the 18th century see Wood engraving In Western art, cross-hatching developed in the Middle Ages, and especially in the old master prints of the fifteenth century. An old master print is a work of art produced by a Printing process within the Western tradition (European or New World Master ES and Martin Schongauer in engraving, and Erhard Reuwich and Michael Wolgemut in woodcut were pioneers, and Albrecht Dürer perfected the techniques in both media. Master E S (c 1420 &ndash c 1468 (previously known as the Master of 1466) is an unidentified German Engraver, Goldsmith, and Martin Schongauer (c 1448 &ndash February 2, 1491) was a German Engraver and painter. Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it Erhard Reuwich ( Reeuwijk) was a Dutch artist as a designer of Woodcuts and a printer, who came from Utrecht but then worked in Michael Wolgemut (formerly spelt Wohlgemuth) (1434 &ndash 1519 German painter and Printmaker, was born and died in Nuremberg For the origins of the technique and non-artistic use see Woodblock printing; for the related technique invented in the 18th century see Wood engraving Albrecht Dürer (ˈalbʀɛçt ˈdyʀɐ ( May 21, 1471 &ndash April 6, 1528) was a German painter, Printmaker

Artists use the technique, varying the length, angle, closeness and other qualities of the lines, most commonly in drawing, linear painting, engraving, and ethnic art.

Technique

The main concept is that the quantity, thickness and spacing of line will affect the brightness of the overall image. By increasing quantity, thickness and closeness, a darker area will result.

An area of shading next to another area which has lines going in another direction is often used to create contrast.

Line work can be used to represent colours, typically by using the same type of hatch to represent particular tones. For example red might be made up of lightly spaced lines, whereas green could be made of two layers of perpendicular dense lines, resulting in a realistic image. In Geometry, two lines or planes (or a line and a plane are considered perpendicular (or orthogonal) to each other if they form congruent

References

• "hatching" article in ArtLex Art Dictionary

Printmaking, Hatching system (heraldry)