Chapter Three: Warm Ups and Drills
LESSON TWO
Whether or not you are going to stand during your actual drawing session, I encourage you to participate in a few warm up exercises. If you are struggling with any of these exercises give yourself a bit of time to learn them, as it is not always easy to get the hang of it immediately.
Why Stand?
Standing is important because we are often incapable of engaging in as wide a range of motion from the sitting position. Our legs, the chair, our surroundings, and our table or desk can get in the way, preventing us from using our whole arm.
Lets Get Started
Hang a Large Sheet of Paper
To do this you will need a large sheet of paper, preferably something at least 18x24 inches, if not bigger. You can use what ever you want, but I suggest a big pad of newsprint paper. I suggest newsprint because it is usually inexpensive and comes in large sizes.
Hang the paper up somewhere you can easily reach it. If you don’t have a standing easel, and are low on wall space - try a door.
If you choose not to participate in this activity on a regular basis, I encourage you to at least perform it a few times to get the hang of it.
Here you can see the general range of motion capable at each joint in the arm.
The shoulder (A) provides the widest range of movement, from way above the head to down behind your back, this is where your power comes from. This is how you can draw long smooth lines, round circles, and everything in between.
The elbow (B) can be out stretched but - have you ever realized you can’t touch the palm of your hand to your shoulder? It’s crazy! The role of the elbow is to be a pivot point when drawing from the shoulder, allowing your hand to navigate the page while your shoulder directs it.
The wrist (C) obviously has very little range and, when used, creates short, curved lines. This may be useful when drawing tiny details but for anything else, your lines will be shaggy and messy. You are better off locking your wrist and relying on the rest of your arm to draw.
Get Moving
Using your chosen medium, make contact with your paper and explore the surface. It’s good to see what your drawing utensil feels like against the paper. At this point we have no goal in mind other than making contact with the paper and moving our arm. You can draw circles, lines, curves, spirals… anything - just as long as your arm is moving.
Draw from the Wrist
Usually - and especially for beginner artists - we tend to draw from the fingers or wrist. This is either due to the fact that this is One: what comes natural to us since it is most similar to writing, or Two: we just tend to draw small drawings on small pieces of paper which makes it hard to draw from anywhere but our fingers or wrist. Changing this can feel awkward and uncomfortable for most, which is why this exercise is important and a good habit to instill early on.
Draw from the Elbow
Next, see if you can draw from the elbow. This can be a little harder, but try and pivot your elbow instead of your wrist. It helps if you keep your fingers and wrist still and focus in on just the elbow. Make big arching strokes from left to right and back again, as this is usually the easiest way to draw from the elbow. We want to expand our drawing area to make drawing from the elbow as comfortable as drawing from the wrist.
Draw from the Shoulder
Next is to see if you can draw from your shoulder. Beginner artists tend to struggle with this the most, because it is very unfamiliar and can feel uncomfortable. With time it will become more natural. To do this, try drawing the biggest circle you can manage on your page. This is why a large sheet of paper is important, because you need the room to explore these bigger arm movements. Keep drawing in a circular fashion and while you do this, take your other hand and place it on your shoulder to see if you can feel your shoulder moving. If you can feel your shoulder moving, great! Focus in on this movement and what it feels like.
If you can’t feel that movement you are going to have to explore your arm a bit further to see if you can transfer the movement into your shoulder. If you need to take your hand off the paper for a moment you can do that. Instead of drawing, just focus on just moving your arm. Earlier - during the standing exercises, we made big circles in the air with our arms starting at the shoulder. Start with that movement and feel it. Take a moment, but once you have it, try to transfer that movement into the drawing. Place your implement back on the page, stiffen your wrist and elbow, and draw that circle from the shoulder.
Trying Different Grips
Grip One: After you practice drawing from different parts of your arm, we are going to move onto drawing with different grips. Similar to step two, what you are drawing is much less important than how your are drawing. So, keep moving your arm and try out the alternative grips shown above. The first grip is how we tend to hold our utensil - although, yours may be slightly different - when writing. We consider this to be the default, and up until this point it is probably the only grip you’ve experienced.
Grip Two: The second grip is a slight alternative to the first, which is to simply grasp your utensil further back. This may feel as though you are losing control, but what this grip achieves is a softer connection between the utensil and paper. This means that you will be able to soften the marks you make with less effort to do so. If you struggle with adjusting your pressure, this grip can help achieve those softer, more delicate marks.
Grip Three: The third grip is an under-hand grip, meaning the pencil is literally under hand. You will put your index finger at the top of your utensil and grasp it with your thumb and as many additional fingers as is comfortable. But, instead of resting the utensil between your index and thumb, you will keep it in your palm. This grip helps you to use the side of your drawing utensil which will allow you to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time than if using the point of your utensil.
Grip Four: The last grip will probably be the more baffling of the set as you are not only loosening your grip and the connection between the pencil and paper, but you are reducing the control you have over where your pencil goes and what it is doing. You will hold your pencil so that your thumb is on one side, and the rest of your fingers are resting against the pencil on the opposite side. Your pencil will once again be on the palm side of your had, however, you might realize that from this position your hand, wrist, and ultimately your arm is capable of a much wider range of motion while still making contact with your paper. You will be able to move your wrist, elbow, and shoulder much more comfortably, especially when standing, as the pencil becomes just an extension of your arm.
I am sure that you are feeling a little uncomfortable right now as at this point you might feel like you are getting further and further away from having control over what you are drawing - and to an extent… that may very well be the case. After a bit of time however, the exercises on this page will make more sense as you find yourself with a much wider range of options when it comes to making contact with the page. Keep practicing this warm up exercise and it will become natural in no time.
Continue onto the next section Drawings Drills to practice your control and accuracy.