are you tired of messy wobbly lines
tired of not having any control of your
pencil 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 hello again my name
is Stan Prokopenko you're watching proko
there are two common ways to hold your
pencil while drawing the first is the
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 it's 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 and the
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 and
use the tip that way 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 wrists
we have decades of muscle memory
developed for handling the pencil with
our wrists though there's nothing wrong
with using our wrists 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 wrists 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 okay to use
your wrist and hold the pencil with a
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 over hand allows you to use
the side of the pencil when sharpening
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 in 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
trend
positions from thin to thick this
variation in line weight adds a good
dynamic to our drawing 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 too right 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 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 over time 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 your 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 four 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 line weight by
shifting your curves from thick to thin
or if you struggle with filling in large
areas with clean
Hoan then draw a 6x6 inch square and
fill it in with a clean tone it helps to
shade only on the downstroke and lift
the pencil off the paper on the way back
up focus on keeping the distance between
each show consistent and using the same
amount of pressure each time a very good
exercise 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 by
the way a well sharpened pencil helps a
lot I think you should check out the
premium courses head on over to
proko.com slash store to check out the
full lineup you'll find cool things like
portrait drawing figure drawing art
model poses and a poster of human
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buh bye
hey again what's up my name is no figure
drawing art model poses and a poster of
human portions what what what what what
what whoo are you tired of messy are you
tired