Hello.
I've just started learning how to draw a few weeks ago, and so far it has been pretty fun. I love playing around with shapes and perspectives, and my focus so far has been edges (with a little shading here and there), but one thing that has been very frustrating is my lines. I can't make the line I want to make most of the times, straight lines come out wobbly, and curves are hard to control, even if I know exactly what line I want to make. When I try to make a quick line it often comes out straight, but I feel like I have very little control over it. It's really annoying when I say to myself "ok, I want to make this form, and I want to draw this line", and then I go to draw the line and it's not even close to what I wanted to do. This happens both with my tablet and with paper, so yeah.
I was wondering if you guys had any tips or exercises I could do to help improve this faster. I've decided that I would not concentrate in just one arm movement, I want to be able to draw any line without rotating the page (I've heard of people who can only make one or two movements right), since I think that will save a lot of time in the future. So yeah, how do I practice this properly? Should I just repeat one line over and over again until it becomes easy to do so, or are there better ways to practice?
I also still am very divided with the wrist vs arm thing. Should I be practicing both or should I try to always use the entire arm (shoulder, elbow and wrist) for every line, even the smaller ones?
Thank you for the help.
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>>2383719
1. there's a question thread, go there in the future.
2. you just keep drawing to get a better line control, there are some excercises like doing elipses and tracing lines between point a and point b.
I reccomend you the first 2 lessons of this: http://drawabox.com/
Most lines you draw should be with your entire arm. Most people normally draw with their wrist, so assuming you aren't a special snowflake focus on that. The big thing here is to avoid wrist injury and fatigue. Hey Carpel Tunnel Syndrome
There are a variety of exercises you can practice to improve on your line work.
Draw a set of random dots on a sheet of paper, in one stroke connect the dots. Start a little bit before the first point, go through it, and then go through the next. The goal is to draw a straight line, even if you miss your points. With practice you will get better. Fill a page. Be sure to practice drawing lines from all directions incoming and outgoing. TIP: Glance at the first point bring your eyes to the next point without focusing on your hand. Your hand should follow the eyes.
>>2383760
>Most lines you draw should be with your entire arm. Most people normally draw with their wrist, so assuming you aren't a special snowflake focus on that.
I didn't quite understand, are you telling me to focus on the wrist then? If it is just a "to start out" thing I would rather just get it out of the way now and start using my arm (like I've already been trying to do (poorly)).
Hi, Anon. Your linework is very important, but it is one of the things that will take along time to get right. Best thing, in my opinion, is not to make it your primary focus, but rather keep it in the back of your mind as you work on studies.
Peter Han's Dynamic sketching has some great drills for you to do; Do them as "warm ups" before you draw.
https://youtu.be/wgDNDOKnArk
It's best to get used to using your entire arm; its just good practice and will prove invaluable when drawing large and small; You'll have a hard time without it, digital or traditional.
https://youtu.be/pMC0Cx3Uk84
As a side note, as a beginner, the sooner you grasp the concept of form the better for you as an artist. While this is digital it absolutely applies to traditional. As you get better you'll drop actually drawing the frames and begin to "draw" them in your mind.
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/form-not-shape
I'd like to make a personal recommendation you get a set of pens/pigment liners, a sketchbook and only use them as your primary utensils; I'm not saying you can't use anything else, but it will help you in the long run to stick with the pen. What drawing with a pen will do is make you conscious of your decisions when drawing, it will make your mistakes more apparent and will stick in your mind. It'll be extremely tough and will absolutely be an uphill battle just because how unforgiving a pen can be, obviously.
Nothing is wrong with pencils, but its just to forgiving for beginners; Erasing away your mistakes can easily make you forget them and likely make the same mistakes over and over.
Good luck, Anon.
Draw with your arm is great advice. The sooner you embrace and practice this, the sooner you will be abetter artist
>>2383823
>As a side note, as a beginner, the sooner you grasp the concept of form the better for you as an artist.
I don't know why I call volumes shapes, but yeah, that's what I meant by "having fun with shapes." It just feels so right to me, it becomes simple engineering, and I like that. Loomis speaks to my soul man.
