Need help with drawing technique

[TheDrawingIrish]

I just bought myself a wacom tablet, nothing crazy, I got a 8x6 Graphire... I figure its good enough for me for now (mostly interested in digital inking, and some sketching).

I haven't drawn in many years and my work is terrible right now, so I won't be posting anything for a bit, but I'm pretty far from actually doing real sketches at the moment.

I'm having problems with the way I hold a pen / pencil, it has always made my penmenship terrible, but I sort of just shrugged that off as "I can type instead" sort of thing.

I think my biggest problem is that I rest the side of my drawing hand on the paper almost at all times, and my movement seems to come completely from my wrist... this makes it very hard for me to draw consistent curves quickly, and since Im using this tablet, if you draw really slowly, then small movements in your hand cause your lines to be very irratic (which is one reason I got the tablet, to actually learn how to do this properly).

I spent most of the night last night trying to draw circle after circle, clear the screen, and go again and again... and then I tried to do "S" curves in different orientations and try to do the same curve over and over. this helped me somewhat, but then when I loaded up a simple drawing from someone and tried to trace the lines, I reverted to using my wrist and often ended up with straight short lines instead of nice flowing curves of the drawings...

anyone have any tips for me? maybe pictures of how they hold their pen / pencil (or if they hold a tablet pen differently, that would be nice too), or if theres any videos out there of people drawing that I can see the hands clearly...

I really think that is my problem, but the way I apply pressure causes my hand to get "stuck" on paper, and then my wrist just pivots around the point of contact, pretty sure I should be drawing mostly from the arm right?

[Flake]

I've tried and tried with a wacom but I still can't draw using it.

Painting or colouring is fine but actual line drawing I find incredibly frustrating and inevitably end up grabbing a bit of paper, a pencil and just scanning it.

How long have you been using a wacom? It took me a few weeks before I was even remotely comfortable with the thing so you might just need a bit more mileage on it..

[TheDrawingIrish]

I used an older graphire 3 or 4 years ago, and didn;t really like it, but I never really gave it much of a chance I just got frustrated and gave up... other than that... I've been using this one for 1 day :P

but I used it quite extensively last night, and now I'm really tired heh... I dont think the tablet is giving me problems, its accentuating a problem I always had, so it should be able to help me get around that problem... but I dont know if Im doing any of this "right"

people say there is no right way, but there are some wrong ways, ways that make certain things impossible / incredibly hard... and can be eleviated by just fixing some bad habbits. a good example is guitar... you can pick however you want, but if you hold the pick a certain way, then your wrist movements are much more relaxed and easier to do leading to more time to think about your notes, etc since you aren't focusing on getting it right.

I think the same must be true for drawing, I just dont know what that "way" is...

[Flake]

other than that... I've been using this one for 1 day :P


Heh, there's your problem right there..:teeth:
Try it for another three weeks or so and see if you feel the same.

I also draw from the wrist rather than the forearm* btw and I don't think it's had any negative impact on my work. I've seen plenty of artists that do that and plenty from the "big swooshy arm drawing" school, it really does just seem to be a personal preference thing.
*not if I'm doing an A2 sized drawing obviously, that would be silly..

The thing that's likely to affect your painting experience far more than how you hold your pen is driver settings on your tablet, have a good play around with those over the next few weeks, see what you like.

Also, if you're using Painter, be sure and check out Edit > Preferences > Brush Tracking

[TheDrawingIrish]

I probably shouldn't have mentioned the tablet... Im having trouble with the movements when drawing on paper as well, or when drawing on a piece of paper on my tablet :P etc...

when resting on the paper and using my wrist, I just seem to lack the ability to move in a controllable, predictable way.

the only way I can draw is if I make very very light pencil movements very fast in a sketchy type of way, and then as I hit the same "correct" spot on average more often it gets darker there, looking like I know what Im doing when really I just draw a million versions of the same drawing fast in the same spot, so I get the sketchy "average".

this is fine for pencil sketches, but doesn't work too well for inking that sketch later when Im looking for nice solid lines on the first try (thanks to short cut keys and a tablet, I can keep hitting "undo" until its "right on the first try", but that sometimes takes me 20 minutes per line, with hundreds of undos! I just cant move consistently).

is there a way I can develop this? other than the excercises Ive already mentioned where I just draw the same shape side by side over and over again, it seems to be helping a bit, but maybe there is something Im doing wrong holding me back.

[Flake]

when resting on the paper and using my wrist, I just seem to lack the ability to move in a controllable, predictable way.

Try drawing with your whole arm, see if it suits you better. It's not for me, but it really does suit some people.

is there a way I can develop this? other than the excercises Ive already mentioned where I just draw the same shape side by side over and over again, it seems to be helping a bit, but maybe there is something Im doing wrong holding me back.

Practice. To take it back to the guitar analogy, you have to play a lot of mechanical repititions of scales before you can play a good solo. It's just a muscle control/memory thing.

Edit: show us some sketches, people can offer better advice and suggestions if we can see where you are at right now.

[TheDrawingIrish]

when you draw from your wrist, how do you make curves that are the other direction from where your wrist arcs?

for example, if you are right handed, then the left side of a circle is natural for your wrist movement, but the right side of a circle is not (and would require you to move some of your fingers to get the same sort of motion)

or do you turn the page a different way to do it?

[Flake]

or do you turn the page a different way to do it?

Yep, that's probably why I find pencil and paper so much easier.

Also Painter has a nifty "rotate canvas" button that Adobe will undoubtedly steal for the newest version of PS. (Spacebar and Alt), helps a lot I found.

[TheDrawingIrish]

hmm maybe Im expecting too much of myself to not have to rotate the page to draw curves in other orientations :S

I guess I'll just try to practice some more, and see what happens.

thanks for the feedback.

[drd]

I've found that, being right handed, I can take my drawing hand and place it backwards and use those fingers to draw with, but I'll have to draw my hand to show you...

Hope this makes sense ><;

[TheDrawingIrish]

not only is that an awesome drawing of your hands, but I think I see what you are getting at... and I think that could work for me.. I'll have to try that out!

thanks

[TheYellowDart]

Dude, just rotate your paper. Unless you're drawing on an easle or something, there is no rule that says your paper has to be stationary while you're drawing.

[drd]

Dart, he means painting on Ps >>

You can't just rotate the canvas with your hands, and he'd rather get better at doing lines without having to click Rotate Canvas every time.

[everWinter]

Those are some really good tips, I'd like to see more illustrations on how people hold and use their wacom pens as I am having the same trouble, or I just shake too much. Though my wacom is an old graphire2 business card size :P but I am hoping to get a intuos 9x12 soon.

p.s actually come to think of it - when doing warm-up shapes and lines I don't seem to concentrate as much therefore I draw smoother lines. As soon as I try a drawing for real concentrating harder the more irregular my hand becomes.