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Rotating the pages

3:59 AM, Sunday April 19th 2020

Hi, I am working on lesson 2 exercises.

Up to 250 box challenges, when I drew a line I've been rotating the page to find the angle where I can draw it comfortably. My lines became confident, and I got better at using my shoulder.

However, I had a hard time applying rotating the pages to drawing outside of the drawabox challenge, and because I am not comfortable with other angles, I tend to draw from my elbow more. Also, rotating the page changes the orientation of my drawing, which makes it harder to see what I was drawing. By the way, I haven't seen any painter rotating the paper when drawing.

In additon, now I am drawing curves and not just straight lines for lesson 2, the angles do not matter as much, since even if I align the page with a comfortable angle, the line can curve to an uncomfortable angle.

Should I keep rotating my boxes, or should I start practicing drawing lines in any angles?

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2 users agree
4:11 AM, Sunday April 19th 2020

Keep rotating. There will be angles from which even curved lines are more comfortable than others - I particularly find this with more arced lines like the sides of funnels.

4:34 AM, Sunday April 19th 2020

Do you rotate when you draw something like animals for Lesson 5?

It would be helpful if Uncomfortable could demonstrate doing it for different types of drawings, on different mediums (paper, drawing tablet, iPad, sketchbook on an easel, etc)

4:45 AM, Sunday April 19th 2020

Yeah I do. Lesson 5 particularly uses a concept of a sausage that joins the torso and pelvis but is built from two masses attached together. I found it almost impossible to approach from certain angles. Similarly, I needed to rotate my drawing around to help me see certain things as solid 3D objects before rotating again to execute my line. I was streaming my lesson 5 stuff but I don't have any recordings saved anymore to demonstrate.

You'll get used to rotating if you keep doing it. I do it a lot even in my own drawings now... it gets annoying occasionally coz I'll rotate and smack my sketchbook into my keyboard. Haha.

4:52 AM, Sunday April 19th 2020

Thank you! I will keep rotating then. However, how come none of the artists I see on YouTube and Instagram or TV rotate their paper? Will there be a point where it makes sense to stop rotating the paper and draw from different angles?

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