hatching

1 the production of young from an egg [syn: hatch]

2 shading consisting of multiple crossing lines [syn: hatch, crosshatch, hachure]

English

Noun

1. A method of shading areas of a drawing or diagram with fine parallel lines.
2. A group of birds, reptiles, fish, insects, etc., which emerge from their eggs at the same time.

   We got a good hatching from the Swallowtail eggs.

Verb

hatching

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. (It is also used in monochromatic heraldic representations to indicate what the tincture of a "full-colour" emblazon would be.) 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. In Western art, cross-hatching developed in the Middle Ages, and especially in the old master prints of the fifteenth century. 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.

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.

References

• "hatching" article in ArtLex Art Dictionary

Printmaking, Hatching system (heraldry)

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