Tuba Line Drawing

This piece was originally created as part of a larger series based on music. I felt there was a lot of visual interest in the construction of a tuba, so I set out to create a simple line drawing that would exemplify the winding beauty of the design. The stark contrast of pen and ink kept the focus on the subject.

There was intentionally a lack of line weight variety to bring the focus to the design itself and not create a sense of depth. As it stands, the sense of motion is within the intricate tubing that brings the viewer’s eye in from the horn and out through the mouthpiece; mirroring the flow of air through the actual instrument. To better compliment this, the image was tilted so the instrument would create a large diagonal cutting through a large portion of the canvas. Additionally, the image was cropped to create an open composition that doesn’t have negative space interrupting the motion. The figure-ground relationship is strong enough to the point where a viewer can immediately tell the instrument is the subject of the illustration.