View Full Submission View Parent Comment
5:10 PM, Sunday April 28th 2024

Thank you for your thorough critique Laura,

I do have to say you quite well critiqued the parts where I had some kind of trouble. I think my biggest problem with smooth lines is when I draw from shoulder, the way I have the pen in hand, I always create friction from my bottom part of the pinkie to the table im drawing on. On many occasions this is not a problem because I can rotate the paper and have the underside of the pinkie on the paper (there it wont create friction as much) but when Im nearing a corner and cant rotate the paper in any better angle the lines get really bad even if I do manage to get it going from shoulder because of the friction. Do you have any advice here what I could try to do differently? Should I try to draw so that I dont use my pinkie as an anchor to the table or paper or something else?

Thank you for your thorough and well placed critique, I will reply with the improved homework.

11:05 AM, Monday April 29th 2024

As for the finger friction, this talks about it a bit: https://drawabox.com/lesson/1/2/hoverhand

Having your hand touching the desk/paper should be fine as long as you're aware of it and counteract the drag/friction it creates, without falling back to drawing from lower pivots such as the wrist or elbow.

You can get one of those "drawing gloves" that sometimes come with drawing tablets where it provides a sleek surface to reduce friction on the side of your hand.

I personally hold my pen pen in a way that either has the whole arm and hand hovering, or just a fingernail touching the desk/paper to provide a bit of stability without friction, those are both rather tiring initially, but would help in the long term by training your arm muscles more than dragging.

For more answers to that question you should post a question(same way as submitting your work, but check "question/discussion topic" instead) about it, or ask on the discord.

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
Color and Light by James Gurney

Color and Light by James Gurney

Some of you may remember James Gurney's breathtaking work in the Dinotopia series. This is easily my favourite book on the topic of colour and light, and comes highly recommended by any artist worth their salt. While it speaks from the perspective of a traditional painter, the information in this book is invaluable for work in any medium.

This website uses cookies. You can read more about what we do with them, read our privacy policy.