Mar. 28th, 2011

tealin: (Default)
I am one of nature's noodlers – I am naturally inclined to be very hesitant about my lines, very careful, detail-oriented, reluctant to do anything bold or expressive. My artistic career has been (and will undoubtedly continue to be) one long education in how to loosen up and get some life in my work. I will share with you today some of the techniques I've learned for doing so, but I want to clarify before I get started that I am far from being an expert on these things and more often than not could do with a good dose of my own advice.

First off: why should you loosen up? Well, primarily, because the human brain tends to smooth things out, make them simpler, or more constrained. Possibly this is a way to compress them for easier processing, I don't know, but the fact is that even if you want to draw something accurately, you have to do what feels to some degree like caricature. Going beyond accuracy, getting a gestural drawing of what your subject feels like, can bring out its inner truth, and depict the idea of it more purely than its mere appearance can. And on a practical level, getting a loose base sketch down quickly can vastly improve the speed at which you draw, something you will come to value immensely if you're drawing a moving subject, or while travelling, or (heaven forbid!) to a deadline.

Also, by jotting down a quick, loose sketch of what you want, if you have to change something, you only have to erase a few lines and a few seconds' work, rather than a whole lot of laborious detail. It makes it much easier, both emotionally and physically, to correct yourself until you get it right – and it's through these self-corrections that you learn.

Most of these tricks involve lessening your control over your line. The more you can finely control your line, the more cerebral it is, and the less you get that raw expression of energy straight from the heart or gut or wherever it comes from.

Draw from the Arm )

Pencil Grip )

Change Media )

Time Restrictions )

Loosen up, man! Just let it floooow... remember, you can always go back in and tie it down later.

December 2023

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