How to Hold and Control Your Pencil
How to Hold and Control Your Pencil
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Being able to successfully manipulate your pencil is an important part of line drawing and shading. In this video you’ll learn about the “Tripod Grip”, “Overhand Grip”, using your wrist vs. your shoulder, and how to use various parts of the pencil to control line weight.
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CREDITS:
Music used with permission
Infomercial Music - “Disco con Tutti” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Title Sequence music by http://www.freakfandango.es/
Editing - Stan Prokopenko, Jon Neimeister (http://andantonius.cghub.com/images)
Artist/Camera/Script - Stan Prokopenko (http://www.stanprokopenko.com)
Special Thanks - Marshall Vandruff
Content
2.76 -> Are you tired of messy, wobbly lines?
6.63 -> Tired of not having any control of your pencil?
9.39 -> Are you only capable of using a series of
short strokes?
13.81 -> Well don’t throw in the towel just yet!
16.56 -> Try drawing from the power of your shoulder!
19.68 -> With just a few short years of practice you
can draw gestural, fluid lines like you've
25.33 -> always wanted.
27.08 -> By using this patent-pending new arm motion
we guarantee you’ll be able to complete
32.43 -> that curve with one beautiful stroke!
35.859 -> Stay tuned to find out how you can CHANGE
YOUR LIFE!
55.449 -> There are two common ways to hold your pencil
while drawing:
60.079 -> Tripod Grip - Holding the pencil with your
thumb, index and middle fingers, like writing.
66.05 -> This grip is more comfortable for using the
tip of the pencil.
70.18 -> Not practical to use the side.
72.8 -> It’s also comfortable to control with your
fingers to draw very small precise lines.
78.88 -> So, it’s good for small strokes and thin
lines that are uniform in weight.
85.17 -> Overhand Grip - Holding your hand over the
pencil.
88.81 -> Your hand should be relaxed with the fingers
and thumb lightly holding the pencil.
93.79 -> You can still use the tip of the pencil by
one of two ways.
97.96 -> If drawing on a horizontal surface like a
tabletop, simply bend the wrist forward a
102.64 -> bit.
103.77 -> If drawing on a vertical surface such as a
pad resting on your knees or an easel, you
109.14 -> can flip your wrist upside down to use the
tip.
113.32 -> Along with the tip, the overhand grip allows
you to use the side, which is much more versatile
118.64 -> than the tip.
120.08 -> You can get thick soft lines, thin lines,
and a transition between the two.
126.57 -> Controlling the Pencil
128.479 -> Since grade school we are accustomed to using
the pencil for writing.
132.98 -> Since writing only requires our wrist, we
have decades of muscles memory developed for
137.68 -> handling the pencil with our wrists.
140.76 -> Though there’s nothing wrong with using
our wrist when it makes sense, we would be
144.62 -> limiting ourselves if we didn't go beyond
the wrist.
148.64 -> The wrist serves well for small strokes and
details.
152.48 -> The shoulder serves well for short AND long
strokes.
156.48 -> It’s much better for steady lines and fluid
gestural lines.
162.109 -> Your shoulder provides a greater range of
motion than your wrist.
165.489 -> So, when drawing larger shapes, curvy lines,
use your shoulder.
169.95 -> This is especially useful for gesture drawing.
172.95 -> Once you need to add some little details,
you can switch to the tripod grip.
177.17 -> Again, it’s ok to use your wrist and hold
the pencil with the tripod grip for smaller
182.55 -> details, but watch out for this...
186.209 -> Since using your wrist doesn't allow longer
strokes, we end up drawing a bunch of short
191.019 -> lines to create one longer line.
194.23 -> This can get messy and you may end up with
hairy lines.
199.04 -> Using the Overhand Grip
201.569 -> Holding the pencil overhand allows you to
use the side of the pencil.
205.94 -> When sharpened correctly (as I explained in
the pencil sharpening video..) this allows
211.049 -> you to get larger strokes of tone.
214.069 -> If you press lightly and layer one stroke
over another, you can get soft gradations.
220.459 -> You can roll the pencil forward or backward
to control the thickness and edge quality
225.9 -> of the line.
227.9 -> Use the area closer to the tip for a thinner
sharper line and use the middle for a thicker
233.939 -> softer line.
235.83 -> And everything between..
237.09 -> Also, you can change the angle of your stroke
to control the line thickness.
243.629 -> Stroking perpendicular to the length of the
pencil creates a thick line like I just showed.
250.56 -> Pulling the pencil downward, parallel to the
length of the pencil creates a thin line.
256.22 -> So you don’t need to use the tip, though
you can..
259.62 -> With a slight turn of the wrist while you’re
pulling the stroke, you can create a line
263.79 -> that changes from thin to thick.
266.57 -> This variation in line weight adds a good
dynamic to our drawings.
270.6 -> It’s kind of like using a calligraphy pen
instead of a ballpoint pen.
276.1 -> The combination of an overhand grip and using
your shoulder allows for the widest range
280.84 -> of motion and line type.
282.77 -> Most of the drawing can be done this way.
286.15 -> Muscle Memory
287.74 -> When we first start holding it like that it
feels weird because we don’t have good control
292.5 -> of our shoulder.
293.84 -> We've only practiced using our wrists to write.
296.93 -> We need to train our shoulder.
298.54 -> It’s like playing sports.
300.87 -> Repeat the motion so many times that it becomes
intuitive.
304.81 -> Our friends at Wikipedia say Muscle memory
is "a form of procedural memory that involves
310.54 -> consolidating a specific motor task into memory
through repetition.
315.82 -> When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term
muscle memory is created for that task, eventually
322.52 -> allowing it to be performed without conscious
effort.
326.37 -> This process decreases the need for attention
and creates maximum efficiency within the
331.93 -> motor and memory systems.”
333.62 -> So, at first, drawing in this new way is a
distraction.
338.31 -> Our mind has to focus on moving the shoulder
correctly instead of making decisions about
343.34 -> the drawing.
344.89 -> Fight the temptation to revert back to just
using your wrist with the tripod grip.
350.58 -> Overtime as you develop the muscle memory
you won’t need to think about it and you’ll
355.22 -> use the pencil like a Jedi master.
359.41 -> Exercises
360.84 -> Start training you shoulder by filling pages
of curves, circles and straight lines.
366.52 -> Draw two dots and connect them with a straight
line to train your hand eye coordination.
371.82 -> Or draw 4 dots and connect them with an ellipse.
375.51 -> Try “ghosting” the lines first by practicing
the motion before making contact with the
380.52 -> paper.
381.71 -> This is a great warm up before starting your
drawing session.
385.28 -> You can also practice controlling your line
weight by shifting your curves from thin to
390.1 -> thick.
391.1 -> Or if you struggle with filling in large areas
with clean tone, then draw a 6x6 inch square
397.22 -> and fill it in with a clean tone.
399.75 -> It helps to shade only on the down strokes
and lift the pencil off the paper on the way
404.82 -> back up.
406.75 -> Focus on keeping the distance between each
stroke consistent and using the same amount
411.31 -> of pressure each time.
412.62 -> A very good exercises for hand-stability and
pressure sensitivity.
417.68 -> If you end up with dark and light lines, it
means either your stroke distance or pressure
422.9 -> is inconsistent.
424.21 -> btw, a well sharpened pencil helps a lot…
428.7 -> ***
429.7 -> I think you should check out the premium courses.
431.66 -> Head over to proko.com/store for the full
line up.
436.54 -> You’ll find cool things like Portrait Drawing,
Figure drawing, Art Model Poses and a poster
442.33 -> of Human Proportions.
444.35 -> Whaaat?!
445.86 -> If you like this video, share the wealth,
tell your friends.
449.62 -> Post it on your favorite social network.
453.11 -> Subscribe to the Proko newsletter if you want
to be updated about new videos.
465.15 -> Buh Bye!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMC0Cx3Uk84