![](https://www.frankching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Meet1.jpg)
Before the advent of computer graphics, meeting lines deliberately at a corner had long been a maxim in the manual drafting of architectural and engineering documents. This may appear to be a minor detail, but in freehand drawing—from direct observation—how lines meet, or not meet, can convey much about the nature of the forms we are capturing.
![](https://www.frankching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Meet2-1.jpg)
![](https://www.frankching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Meet3.jpg)
Take, for example, the drawings above, where meeting lines at corners can convey a crispness of planes and edges of volumes.
![](https://www.frankching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Meet4.jpg)
![](https://www.frankching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Meet5.jpg)
On the other hand, not meeting lines can convey the softness of curves and curvilinear forms, as in the sculpted nature of a marble bust or the contours of a landscape.
![](https://www.frankching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Meet6.jpg)
![](https://www.frankching.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Meet7.jpg)
At times, the deliberate gaps between lines can merely suggest a form or create context without calling too much attention and detracting from the focus of a drawing.