11-30-2014, 06:46 AM
Hey man! great start with the perspective stuff - there's the understanding of the concepts, and being able to draw them cleanly and accurately. Personally, my first time through the book I used a ruler so I didn't have to worry too much about clean lines and accurate placement, but that was my choice (pretty sure he recommends to do it all / mostly freehand?).
Some help with drawing straight lines with the whole arm:
1) do the peter han dynamic sketching 1 exercises (the straight line ones at least).
2) The exercises on page 15 of How to Draw. (There is a video that you can access with the password in the book or a smartphone where he demonstrates them as well). Start with points close together, short parallel lines, then gradually increase the distance / length over time.
Do that everyday for like 10 minutes or so, it really helps with all drawing - I do my best to do them everyday.
Another thing is how you hold your pen - depends on the person I think, but personally if I'm trying to draw from the arm I hold the pen with my forefinger and index finger on top, with the pen near vertical (with pencil the vertical part doesn't matter). I rest the side of my hand on the paper, lock my wrist and basically from fingers -> wrist -> elbow moves as one solid unit. Feels more stable that way and gives me nicer lines, but took a little getting used to.
Also, ellipses - the exercises on page 19, start doing those now! do them everyday! ellipses become sooo important later on in the book, by the time you get there you will want to be able to place them properly otherwise it's really frustrating! (coming from someone who reached that point and couldn't place a decent ellipse and had to stop studying it for a while!)
3)
Hope that's helpful! nice Tao drawing.
Some help with drawing straight lines with the whole arm:
1) do the peter han dynamic sketching 1 exercises (the straight line ones at least).
2) The exercises on page 15 of How to Draw. (There is a video that you can access with the password in the book or a smartphone where he demonstrates them as well). Start with points close together, short parallel lines, then gradually increase the distance / length over time.
Do that everyday for like 10 minutes or so, it really helps with all drawing - I do my best to do them everyday.
Another thing is how you hold your pen - depends on the person I think, but personally if I'm trying to draw from the arm I hold the pen with my forefinger and index finger on top, with the pen near vertical (with pencil the vertical part doesn't matter). I rest the side of my hand on the paper, lock my wrist and basically from fingers -> wrist -> elbow moves as one solid unit. Feels more stable that way and gives me nicer lines, but took a little getting used to.
Also, ellipses - the exercises on page 19, start doing those now! do them everyday! ellipses become sooo important later on in the book, by the time you get there you will want to be able to place them properly otherwise it's really frustrating! (coming from someone who reached that point and couldn't place a decent ellipse and had to stop studying it for a while!)
3)
Hope that's helpful! nice Tao drawing.