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Deteriorated ghosting

9:18 PM, Thursday July 28th 2022

I am a little into the 250 box challenge and my ghosted lines have become markedly worse. They wobble, bend and/or miss the mark by some way. This happened during the rough perspective exercise but seemed to improve again, however the problem has now returned and isn't going away. I retried a page or two of ghosted lines and yes, it's worse than my original.

Things I am keeping in mind that seem to help:

  • Sitting up, shoulders back

  • Ghosting the correct number of times (for a given line length, there certainly is a "correct")

  • Drawing confidently at the correct speed

  • Not pivoting the wrist, turning the page to draw only from the shoulder where possible

  • Not waiting too long between ghosting and drawing

  • Putting a bit more drag on the page with my hand/pressing harder with the pen

One last thing to mention is that whilst I'm ghosting I can see that it's inaccurate. One ghost goes over the mark, the next way off it, the next the other way, etc. It doesn't get more precise the more I ghost.

The fact that this is getting no better suggests I've forgotten something important. Any thoughts are appreciated.

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2 users agree
10:59 AM, Friday July 29th 2022

Reminds me of when you play an old school game that is really hard; back in the NES era you would gradually get better, but then you reach a point where you suddenly are kinda rubbish, which is just before you get really good.

I think it is you getting so used to ghosting lines that you are starting to subconsciously do it, which causes you to have a few hiccups. Work through the bad phase, or take a small break. Whichever seems best for you at the time.

8:52 PM, Friday July 29th 2022

Thanks. I know exactly what you mean, it's almost like "beginner's luck", I guess, where the first thing you do is get substantially worse at something before gradually improving back to where you were, whereupon you keep going. I am hoping that's the case here, Benj who gave me official critique feels I should keep going, which is promising.

0 users agree
8:08 AM, Friday July 29th 2022

Can you show a picture of how the lines looks if you can. I think you will get better with practice, keep at it . I looked as your submission and you struggled with the rough perspective. I think maybe you are not approaching these lines as you do the ghosted lines. Thats why working line by line makes it easier( as in when drawing in the lines, take your time to plot ghost and execute your line)

9:11 PM, Friday July 29th 2022

Thanks for replying. Here's some of the worse ghosted lines.. I'd have expected these not to show the issue if the problem is that I am not approaching the lines as individual lines, but I am making more of an effort to forget everything except the two plotted points once I get to the ghosting stage. It's looking like I should just carry on and they will hopefully improve.

6:02 AM, Saturday July 30th 2022

From how they look if you are using your shoulder and ghosting them until confident with the motion then you are not drawing the line fast enough. Ghost until confident with the line then in one sharp fast stroke draw it in. Try adding more speed, experiment with the amount of speed you add.

9:57 PM, Wednesday August 3rd 2022

I was hesitant about adding speed as it makes the line even less accurate. But the course emphasises confidence first, then accuracy, and erring on the faster end is making the lines less wobbly. So is watching my fingers, which turn out to have been a totally unexpected additional pivot.

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4:13 PM, Sunday July 31st 2022

From what i understood, the whole point behind ghosting is giving your muscles the short term memory of drawing the line. You mentioned you noticed that your ghosting is inaccurate. Maybe try to slow down your ghosting and so that its more accurate? I've noticed the more i rush my ghosting the worse the line comes out.

9:55 PM, Wednesday August 3rd 2022

You are right. It looks like slower ghosting tends to be better ghosting, which leads to more accurate lines.

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