Praying mantis

A little while ago I watched a fundamentals training video stressing pen skills. There were ten exercises, like drawing groups of curved lines, straight lines, spheres, color blends. I couldn’t do a reasonable job at any of them. It was humbling. Over a year of training at this nearly every day, and I can’t do the basics at a decent level of execution.

I think a lot of that comes down to grip. An overhand grip can help you move through the elbow or shoulder, and that gives better line quality. When I was working with the Krita tablet, set on my desk, I started trying to adjust to the artist’s standard overhand grip. But then I switched to the iPad and I reverted to my old claw grip. My hand gets in the way of the drawing, and I tend to move from the wrist, but it feels easier to control.

So I’m back to trying to learn to work with an overhand grip. Mostly the lines are shaky and poorly controlled, with occasional very good lines that seem like an accident. A stroke of luck, if you will.

As practice, I tried drawing a praying mantis – inspired by seeing a baby one on my screen door the other day. My lines were awful, all over the place, but definitely less shaggy than my usual pattern. I found working from reference with an overhand grip easier than before. I didn’t have to measure as much and the results were better overall. I’m guessing that has to do with being able to see more of the drawing as I make the marks.

On the balance, I’m happy with how this picture turned out.