relaxing the arm

[Mel07]

Ever since I started getting serious about art I have had the same problem I could never relax. My drawing come out lifeless. I have taken private drawing lessons and read about 1,000 books. Also I can't seem to find a pencil that is right for me. hard lead pencils seem to make my art Stiffer and soft lead makes it just looks weird. I know this only sounds like a bunch of complaints but I'm getting to the point that I'm sounding desperate. I really want to learn. I just want my art to flow. Any help? Also if anyone could tell me about some good art school (not colleges) like afterschool programs on life drawing. once I get my scanner working I would love to post my drawing up so maybe people could better understand my problem.

[armando]

The ability to draw has little to do with manual dexterity, but with understanding. Pictorial art is a language and makes use of conventions to translate what we see, etc. There's a great book called "Art and Illusion" by E.H. Gombrich about this.
However practicing your instrument skills is neccessary so:
After you've done a line drawing in pencil, trace over it again with a pen and try to complete the entire thing without lifting the pen, tracing over each line with slow exacting care. Learning to handle an instrument must be practiced slowly in order to ingrain in the subconscious the proper manipulation, it's the same way with musical instruments.: exercise derived form Ruskin's "The elements of Drawing".
For straight lines choose a comfortable direction, usually a diagonal line, so if you're right handed it would be like this /. But of course the actual angle won't be as severe. It's easiest to master going in just one direction. Start with short lines, trying to keep them straight, then progressively draw them longer until you can cover the page.: exercise taken from Scott Robertson's perspective DVD.
I'm sure people will be mentioning "gesture drawing" shortly, but developing looseness of arm isn't the purpose of that type of drawing, I believe it's only purpose is to function as a sort of Rorshach image.

[Ishmael]

Also I can't seem to find a pencil that is right for me. hard lead pencils seem to make my art Stiffer and soft lead makes it just looks weird.

What's wrong with wierd? It's a heck of a lot better than stiff. Go with what feels comfortable. I started with a 2B and slowly moved to and 8B as my preferred pencil.

You should try and find a local art class to attend. That would be invaluable. When I started drawing, I had a very good tutor who was able to spot genuinely good things in my work, often that I hadn't seen myself. Plus great advice about where I was going wrong. If I'd have been working on my own, I'd have given up within six months.

[wil.whalen]

Expiramentation is really the only way to find what kind of pencil lead you like. Personally, I like 2b mechanical pencils. I'm not really understanding how hard leads make your art stiffer and all that; shouldn't it just affect the light or darkness of the drawing? I guess we'll get a better picture of this once you can scan some.

Theres got to be some sort of art class place or something around NJ (don't know the area so I can't help you out there). Just having an instructor around to help you with getting started and through the learning process will be immensely valuable.

[Fl3wk]

I LOVE my TK9400 Faber-Castell 4B Lead holder. It can produce the thickest darkist lines, or thinnest lightest lines. 4B is the way to go. Too soft and dark? Go for 3B then.

wil.whalen:

John Howe told me that harder leads dont flow as easily and tend to look 'stiff', while soft pencils in the range of 3B/4B tend to give more 'freedom'. So there we go, from a watercolour master who worked on LOTR's movie, I trust his advice :D

[egerie]

Relax your wrist ! I used to do a page of warm up exercises first thing in the morning ; two pages of QUICK circles (as perfect as you can) draw with the wrist, one page of the same but drawn with an over grip. Helps loosen up.