Tonight, I finally started doing actual exercises and actual drawing. Woo!
Specifically, I began Drawabox’s Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes and then started the homework. Much like in my school days, I did not finish my homework in one sitting.
The first section is on Lines and I did not quite make it through because I started late and don’t want to rush. I did finish the first two of three exercises on lines.
Superimposed lines
Two pages of lines where you start with a base line and then draw over it eight times, trying to achieve even, confident strokes that overlap as much as possible. My results are not exactly exact. I also noticed the copy paper I was using tended to almost create grooves, so if I got the pen tip into a certain groove, it was hard to get out of it. I switched to different printer paper after the first page.
Page 1:
Page 2:
The second exercise is Ghosted Lines, in which you trace out how you are going to draw a line connecting two points before committing to drawing the actual line. This is supposed to improve muscle memory, among other things.
Some of the lines are decent but I have a tendency to arc a little and overshoot the end point. The lesson addresses both of these things, so I am a bit of a noob here.
A few things I noticed:
- The exercises are designed to get you to draw from the shoulder, not from the elbow or wrist. My worst lines were when I forgot this and drew from the wrist.
- I often found I was gripping the ultrafine marker too tightly and would take a few moments to relax my grip before drawing. This definitely helped, but it is something I will need to keep on top of, since my natural tendency is to grip the marker like I must CRUSH IT TO DEATH.
Next up is the final Lines lesson, Ghosted Planes. I did a few as a finale for the night and my planes were not exactly air-worthy.
I need to better arrange my desk for drawing, too. Things are a little tight. I shall do so before completing the current lesson.
