Are you only capable of using a series of short strokes? Well don’t throw in the towel

just yet! Try drawing from the power of your shoulder! With just a few short years of practice

you can draw gestural, fluid lines like you've always wanted. By using this patent-pending

new arm motion we guarantee you’ll be able to complete that curve with one beautiful

stroke! Stay tuned to find out how you can CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

There are two common ways to hold your pencil while drawing:

Tripod Grip - Holding the pencil with your thumb, index and middle fingers, like writing.

This grip is more comfortable for using the tip of the pencil. Not practical to use the

side. It’s also comfortable to control with your fingers to draw very small precise lines.

So, it’s good for small strokes and thin lines that are uniform in weight.

Overhand Grip - Holding your hand over the pencil. Your hand should be relaxed with the

fingers and thumb lightly holding the pencil. You can still use the tip of the pencil by

one of two ways. If drawing on a horizontal surface like a tabletop, simply bend the wrist

forward a bit. If drawing on a vertical surface such as a pad resting on your knees or an

easel, you can flip your wrist upside down to use the tip. Along with the tip, the overhand

grip allows you to use the side, which is much more versatile than the tip. You can

get thick soft lines, thin lines, and a transition between the two.

Controlling the Pencil

Since grade school we are accustomed to using the pencil for writing. Since writing only

requires our wrist, we have decades of muscles memory developed for handling the pencil with

our wrists. Though there’s nothing wrong with using our wrist when it makes sense,

we would be limiting ourselves if we didn't go beyond the wrist.

The wrist serves well for small strokes and details.

The shoulder serves well for short AND long strokes. It’s much better for steady lines

and fluid gestural lines.

Your shoulder provides a greater range of motion than your wrist. So, when drawing larger

shapes, curvy lines, use your shoulder. This is especially useful for gesture drawing.

Once you need to add some little details, you can switch to the tripod grip. Again,

it’s ok to use your wrist and hold the pencil with the tripod grip for smaller details,

but watch out for this...

Since using your wrist doesn't allow longer strokes, we end up drawing a bunch of short

lines to create one longer line. This can get messy and you may end up with hairy lines.

Using the Overhand Grip

Holding the pencil overhand allows you to use the side of the pencil. When sharpened

correctly (as I explained in the pencil sharpening video..) this allows you to get larger strokes

of tone. If you press lightly and layer one stroke over another, you can get soft gradations.

You can roll the pencil forward or backward to control the thickness and edge quality

of the line. Use the area closer to the tip for a thinner sharper line and use the middle

for a thicker softer line. And everything between..

Also, you can change the angle of your stroke to control the line thickness. Stroking perpendicular

to the length of the pencil creates a thick line like I just showed. Pulling the pencil

downward, parallel to the length of the pencil creates a thin line. So you don’t need to

use the tip, though you can.. With a slight turn of the wrist while you’re pulling the

stroke, you can create a line that changes from thin to thick. This variation in line

weight adds a good dynamic to our drawings. It’s kind of like using a calligraphy pen

instead of a ballpoint pen.

The combination of an overhand grip and using your shoulder allows for the widest range

of motion and line type. Most of the drawing can be done this way.

Muscle Memory

When we first start holding it like that it feels weird because we don’t have good control

of our shoulder. We've only practiced using our wrists to write. We need to train our

shoulder. It’s like playing sports. Repeat the motion so many times that it becomes intuitive.

Our friends at Wikipedia say Muscle memory is "a form of procedural memory that involves

consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a movement is repeated

over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be

performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates

maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems.”

So, at first, drawing in this new way is a distraction. Our mind has to focus on moving

the shoulder correctly instead of making decisions about the drawing. Fight the temptation to

revert back to just using your wrist with the tripod grip. Overtime as you develop the

muscle memory you won’t need to think about it and you’ll use the pencil like a Jedi

master.

Exercises

Start training you shoulder by filling pages of curves, circles and straight lines. Draw

two dots and connect them with a straight line to train your hand eye coordination.

Or draw 4 dots and connect them with an ellipse. Try “ghosting” the lines first by practicing

the motion before making contact with the paper. This is a great warm up before starting

your drawing session.

You can also practice controlling your line weight by shifting your curves from thin to

thick.

Or if you struggle with filling in large areas with clean tone, then draw a 6x6 inch square

and fill it in with a clean tone. It helps to shade only on the down strokes and lift

the pencil off the paper on the way back up. Focus on keeping the distance between each

stroke consistent and using the same amount of pressure each time. A very good exercises

for hand-stability and pressure sensitivity. If you end up with dark and light lines, it

means either your stroke distance or pressure is inconsistent. btw, a well sharpened pencil

helps a lot…

***

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line up. You’ll find cool things like Portrait Drawing, Figure drawing, Art Model Poses and

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Buh Bye!