One challenge that I still face sometimes while sketching/drawing/illustrating is my hand control with lines. It's not too serious of an issue but sometimes it interferes with the execution of an art piece. And therefore I definitely want to improve my confidence with strokes. I thought why not to take a day off from creating and just start with some exercises.
Now, before I reach to the following image let's talk about how I began. I used my Brustro sketch book (last picture) for this as it can easily be used for pencils or markers.
I started with simple horizontal lines on my first attempt with this and the pen used is Uniball eye micro pen 0.5 mm. The beginning was so bad that I almost thought of dropping the whole thing but I swallowed it up and kept going! I practiced a few horizontal, vertical and diagonal motions. The vertical and diagonal (from left to right) hand motions are something that I really need to work on.
Next up was circles and I failed. Miserably! I realized that I cannot make a perfect circle in a single motion which was pretty embarrassing. However, the practice was completely worthwhile. At least I know where I lack and this gives me something to improve now.
I watched a few videos to understand if I was doing something wrong and I realised that I completely forgotten to change my grip! Yes. They might not look important but can make a HUGE difference. For example: If I used my regular writing grip for the "quote" shape, I am sure it would have been shaky and wobbly but as you can see just by changing my grip the strokes look cleaner and much more sturdy.
In the 2 picture (right) I used 3 grips to make a circle & even though they are nowhere near a perfect circle, there is a visible difference. The goal in the following exercises was to keep repeating over the lines of a shape and not go haywire. The rounds mean the number of laps I went over it.
I am gonna go and start with some new exercises and might actually do it everyday or every alternate day to get better. Let me know if you art people have any tips/exercises that you personally find helpful for a better hand control :)
Keep Creating
Lots Of Love <3