![]() ![]() The same is true of artists adapting to new techniques or equipment. Sure, there’s a period of adjustment as muscles and the nervous system learn a new way to work, but ultimately performance and efficiency improve. Whipping out your sketchbook on the subway and drawing what you see, develops your artist’s version of what a scientist might call “ the coordination between gaze behavior, fingertip movements, and movements of a manipulated object.” Or a golfer might call “ hand-eye coordination.”Īthletes adapt new techniques and equipment to help improve their performance all the time. When you practice drawing, you are building skills the same way any athlete would. Remember, drawing is a physical skill, practicing drawing builds coordination as well as efficiency. Do you work with a lot of variation in your line? Do you value expression or abstraction over detail? Do you mix expressive line with precise line? Do you work on a larger scale? Do you fill in large spaces with charcoal or pencil? Might you benefit from exploring another style of stylus grip? (I guess that would be a “putter”?) Look at your drawings. ![]() medial epicondylitis! They’re also going to loose the game because they refuse to use the right sized swing when their trying to hit the ball with a golf club. I know nothing about golf, but I bet that this golfer is going to come down with an incredible case of “golfer’s elbow,” a.k.a. Imagine a golfer who insists on playing an entire 18 holes only by putting. Would you rather “waste” time on practice drawing that will get better as you practice a new grip? Or waste time on crappy drawing because you are injured from only using one grip and stressing your joints? Artists can train just like athletes. Why waste valuable drawing time on practice drawing? Because using two grips might save you time spent in recovering from drawing injuries, that’s why. Learning a new grip will take practice, which will take some time… and I’ve just lost half of you. If that is the only grip you use to draw, I’m going to class you in the Tripod Only drawing group, just to be efficient. Some of you have developed “alterna-tripod” grips that work well for you for writing. If you only use one grip to draw, it is probably the tripod because that is the traditional grip taught in school when we learn to write. (For those of you working digitally, changing grip might not be possible, depending on the equipment you use. Mixing up your grips will help distribute the stress of drawing through your different joints, potentially avoiding injury. Using only the overhand grip can overwork your shoulder muscles. Using only the tripod grip can overwork your hand and finger muscles. Why bother with more than one stylus grip? Because changing grips can help reduce stress to your joints and make you more efficient. I’ve seen a couple artists use the underhand grip for lightly blocking in their sketches before they work on shape with the overhand and detail with the tripod. Whereas the overhand grip works the muscles in the front (palmar side) of the wrist, the underhand grip will work muscles on the back of the wrist. Willbergįlip your overhand grip upside down and you get an Underhand grip. Overhand grips tend to work best while drawing on an inclined surface. ![]() Drawing longer lines loads the shoulder (and occasionally elbow) muscles. Press your forefinger onto the shaft of the stylus with an overhand grip and you can get a lot of pressure. Overhand grips give you more options in using the tip or the side of the stylus, too. Overhand grips are good for expressive lines, thick lines, drawing in a larger scale, and filling areas. These grips work on both horizontal and inclined surfaces. The distant tripod grip can also use your wrist muscles. Tripod grips use your hand and finger muscles. The more distant grip makes it harder to apply pressure, but so what? There are other grips for that. Slide your hand further down the shaft of your stylus, away from the point, and you can make medium length lines. The close grip also makes it easy to press your stylus firmly into your drawing surface. Tripod grips are good for making short, precise lines, and detailing, when you grasp your stylus closer to the point. ![]()
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