Edges: Creating Volume, Depth, and Emotion
- 5 minutes ago
- 5 min read
By Kate Orr
As artists, we all know art is a lifelong journey of learning and growth. Most of us go through phases of experimenting or learning about specific techniques and mediums, manifesting spurts of development in different areas. One focus that has captured my attention for several years now is edges. The more I learn about the impact of edges, the more I am fascinated by them.
Today I’ll be covering three ways edges elevate your art: volume, depth, and emotion. Starting with volume, a few examples of artists who purposefully exaggerate edge variation to create volume are Colleen Barry, Gustavo Ramos, and Jamie Coreth. Below, I’ll use a few of their beautiful paintings to illustrate how they’re using edges to create volume:
First, in Barry’s work, you’ll notice that where the form is rounder and softer, the edges tend to be softer as well, even becoming completely lost between forms. The top of the head fades into the background as it has more fullness and recedes from the light. In contrast, we find the edge more clearly along the side of the head, where the side plane of the skull flattens slightly and shows more contrast between the lit skin and dark background.
This pattern continues through the painting. The soft transitions around the eye socket are diffused to connect all the small shapes and muscles, especially as the form turns away from the light source. Below the lit eye, the cheek comes forward and we see a slightly pronounced edge to communicate this distinction, enhanced by a cast shadow from the eyeball that stops where the fat of the cheek catches the light.
The very wide, diffused edge along the core shadow tells us the form is full and soft. The clear edge along the lit arm flattens the arm slightly and creates distinction between it and the background. On the other side, we see some sharper edges showing where two forms meet and the contrast of a cast shadow.
Note: With exceptions, we tend to see form shadows, fat and muscle modeled with softer edges. Cast shadows, flatter planes and bonier areas tend to be modeled using sharper edges.
Notice the same trends with the paintings by Jamie Coreth and Gustavo Ramos. High contrast = sharper edge. Form turning = softer edge. Bonier form = sharper edge. Rounder/softer form = softer edge.
Also note the areas of Coreth’s painting in particular, where the hair fades into the skin, along the hairline and especially the temple. Hair often has a much softer gradient with tiny hairs thickening into the main mass.
Note: Sharper lines sever. Softer transitions connect.
Where you want to create distinction between forms or contrast, you can use sharper edges. Where you want to soften and connect forms, you can use much softer edges and even lose them completely. Below is an example of my own painting where I was exploring this concept:
Our next point focuses on using edges to create depth. This is fairly straightforward I believe and is best described by a quote from Sherrie McGraw: “More brings forward!” Namely, more detail, more contrast, more sharpness tends to come forward in a painting, while softness tends to recede in a painting. This of course is contextual, and the more we study edges the more we see their relativity. The magic is in the subtle variety.
In this painting of John Singer Sargent’s, we see the figure disappear into the darkness, as if sitting near a window and only just catching its light. The effect has a great visual impact. Light doesn't interact this way with flat planes. The gentle gradation of value communicates the form has volume; that as it comes forward is it catching more and more light:
Note the areas where Sargent fully loses the form edge and where he clearly marks the edge. It's almost like a dance. Walk your eyes along her arm alone and observe the nuance. Where her shoulder blends into surrounding fabric, her tricep is brought forward with higher contrast and a sharper edge, then it effortlessly shifts in degrees of softness along her elbow and forearm, finally dissolving into her lap at the wrist. This beautiful brushwork is absolutely intentional and distinguishes her arm from the space behind her and her arm in relation to her body and our perspective.
Finally, we come to emotion. I think at this point, after studying edges in these paintings alone, we can begin to feel the sense of poetry beautiful edges create.
I feel it's important here to make a quick, albeit controversial, tangent. Portraits and likeness are famously challenging to capture correctly, and so many people use tools like tracing or projecting to help with proportion and composition. Although this can be helpful at the beginning, I highly encourage people to train their eye and hand in the art of proportion or likeness instead of relying on other methods.
Everyone is absolutely capable of learning to paint an accurate likeness. It's just about seeing and translating shapes relative to each other. “How big is this shape compared to that shape? How does the corner of the eye align with the nose?”
That being said, everyone who creates art has the right to pursue methods they most enjoy and find helpful. As long as choices are not made from doubt or fear of failure, our art is ours to create how we like! I hope this comes across as encouragement, as it's meant.
Continuing in this vein, when we can begin to use edges purposefully, it transforms our work. Consider the differences between these two examples of my own drawings:
The left was drawn in 2025, the right was drawn in 2018. In 2018, I was beginning to learn more about edges and was excited by the dramatic role they played in realism and sensitivity. Between the two, you can see the difference as I learn more about how to use edge variation. On the right, most of the edges are quite soft, which lends to the soft forms of a baby face, but on the left you can see more intentional use.
The value transitions are quite soft to communicate roundness, but I learned to use a few clearer lines to bring a form forward or show where two forms meet. The sharper and heavier edges are used along the middle of the head, in the area of the face that is closest to the viewer, with edges fading into the background to create a sense of depth. Additionally, emphasizing certain edges, playing with some delicate loose contours next to soft gradients creates more interest and personality.
Edges are a subject with endless opportunities for exploration and growth. I plan to spend my whole life studying them and learning how to use them in my art. What have you learned about edges in your own work or studying others’?