I was today years old when I was told that the way I hold pencil is good for writing letters but bad for drawing smoothly flowing precise lines. I changed my grip from tripod to violin bow OR pen and voila...
Thanks helpyoudraw tumblr for a helpful illustration
I'm also very frustrated with the art teachers at schools. Either I didn't listen to them or they REALLY didn't explain the most basic things about drawing :/ Like "humans invented realistic drawing only some 20,000 years after they invented writing, and for the first few centuries needed hardcore math to get it right", or "every famous artist spends tons of time drawing the same line over and over until the line feels right" or "FFS of course you can use a ruler or whatever, as long as it helps you to get the result that you want".
The criticism I received from my art teachers in middle school was also far from helpful. I bet 99% of people who stopped trying art had terrible art teachers. And the 1% who didn't? Somehow kept drawing despite terrible art teachers.
> Hold the pencil like you would hold the writing pen, but much further from the tip. ... at about 2 inches (5 /cm/) from the tip the grip becomes suitable only for minute detailing, and less than that is impractical.
> This grip is good for detailing, and for small-size sketching on near-horizontal plane (inclined table or board set on tabletop). It is also the grip Wacom tablets are designed for.
SO I was also holding the tablet's pencil wrong, too?! :/
@nina_kali_nina I recently started learning how to sketch via https://drawabox.com/ and the first thing they teach is the grip. Makes such a huge difference.
@lanodan@queer.hacktivis.meAlso at least for pen&paper drawing and painting you can use arm motions like at wrist level but also sometimes elbow.