Nov '21

Hey. I started drawing this year and really enjoyed it. I started digitally with my huion h420. it's super small, but I thought it would be good to start with and see if I liked digital or not. I've been working with the pen control assignment every day for a week now, but it's still pretty bad. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Nov '21

I also did the image adjustment assignment and started figure drawing. last one was hard -.-

I think I will continue to do daily pen control drawings for a while

Nov '21

Heya fufufan,

First of all, welcome!

Second of all, it seems like when you are doing the pen control exercises you trying to be careful. This is going to sound unintuitive but you want to be faster with your strokes. This is because faster strokes turn out smoother It's going to be difficult at first because of how inaccurate your strokes will become, but after sustained practice your lines will become smooth and accurate.

Also, I want to ask: have you been taught to draw from your shoulder and elbow instead of your wrist? If you draw solely from your wrist I recommend you to try using your elbow and shoulder too.

This is a great effort! Keep it up!

Nov '21

Welcome to the forums! great practice so far. you did a great job on that Mei image adjustment

Nov '21

Reply to

alexander.n.smith.z

I tried drawing with elbow and shoulder some times since I know how damaging it can be for the wrist, but I went back to wrist because it looked beyond bad. I'll try doing this exercise not using wrist from now on.

Thank you for advice.

Nov '21

it will look bad at first but once you get used to it they turn out just as great if not better

Nov '21


I still struggle a lot with circles, but I tried going faster. Connecting the lines seems to be the hardest for me. I'm not sure if this is better or not, but I'll continue tracing the circles and start figure drawing more too. I feel like I must get better at the pen control though.

Nov '21

Yes, you definitely improved quite a bit over your first try. Well done!
You're right, going faster helps quite a lot. I find it helps me a lot to "ghost" my lines a few times - practice the motion of the line before actually drawing the line, then when your arm is used to it, you can draw your line with more confidence. Since we're working digitally, if you mess up too bad, just undo, call it a practice, and have another go :wink:

Nov '21

Hey again. This weekend I've mostly practiced circles. I find myself pressing ctrl+z less and less which feels kinda good -.-
still not great, but I think it's much better.
I also did human proportions assignment...

My shoulder started hurting after drawing for 1-2 hours without proper break. Is this normal or should I take more breaks and maybe stretch or something. Sorry if this is shit question, but I thought it was better to ask.

Nov '21

If you rarely draw from your shoulder than yes it's common, had it to at the very beginning when I got it taught on draw a box. If your shoulders starts hurting I would definitely recommend taking a break or doing some streches, you don't want to damage it permanently. I quess it's a good sign too because that way you know that your shoulder is really doing the work. It will only get better from here on out and you will be able to drow for longer.
Have a great day ^^