Drawabox Lesson 1: Drawing From Your Wrist and Shoulder
358,949
Published 2021-02-12
One fairly common issue we see from beginners is the tendency to approach drawing as they would writing - pivoting their pen or pencil from the wrist, and limiting the type of marks they can make. They'll often try to work around this by 'chicken scratching' or allowing their marks to wobble. In this video, we take a look at how we can engage the other pivots of our arm to exert more control over the kinds of marks we can make.
You can find the free lessons at drawabox.com/ - if you're new to Drawabox altogether, you can start over at drawabox.com/lesson/0
Other Links:
Drawabox Discord Server: discord.gg/drawabox
Patreon: patreon.com/uncomfortable
All Comments (21)
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It feels like i'm in a rpg game and i am learning the new controls
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I've just finished lesson 1 and have to say the updated video is a huge improvement in both content and production quality. The audio especially is 1000% better.
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I'm now holding the pen with my armpit just to make sure i wont use elbows and wrists
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Note to self (for when i come back here): -Focus on flow and fluidity over accuracy -think about how your whole arm is moving, try to engage the whole arm from the shoulder
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5 minutes into this all and i'm already confident this is what i've been trying to find for a while
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after years (~20) of drawing primarily with my wrist, i had a really hard time to draw from my shoulder no matter what i did, i just ended up using my elbow for the first few pages of exercise so i did a bit of digging, watching videos about drawing with your shoulder and one tip from reddit actually switched my whole mindset: imagine your shoulders being able to write this solved all my problems for whatever reason so if you're struggling with the same problem, give it a try
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Coming back to Drawabox after falling off years ago and completely mindblown by the realization, mid video, that drawing from the shoulder has become second nature since. Sorta does feel like being conscious of how you walk. Thank you past me and Drawabox ðŸ˜
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I have such a hard time with this. I considered myself "okay-ish" at drawing before, but not using my wrist I feel like I am back in Kindergarten. But let's go, practice makes perfect!
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Honestly, drawing from the shoulder is actually drawing from the "shoulder + elbow". And not just in a "the shoulder is what moves and the elbow simply responds to it" way but in a "the elbow actually is equally if not MORE responsible for the line ending up being straight. The shoulder simply "extends" the length of a straight line that the elbow can create in space.
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I've been doing the course for so long that he started updating old lessons...
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Today I will start and follow all these lessons. Unfortunately I completely ignored all fundamentals when I was young resulting in me ONLY being able to replicate a photo.
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literally spent months doing this not moving my elbow. Here you are moving your elbow
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Face reveal!
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I’ve been drawing for as long as I’ve been alive, which I guess isn't much, being a high school student, but over that time, I’ve just been drawing without learning the fundamentals. I’ve been drawing without any real instruction, I guess. But now, I actually want to change that so my drawings will improve. Thank you! I hope I can look back at this comment to see how much I’ve grown.
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For people struggling to "find" their shoulders and if they're doing it right. Straighten your entire arm. Stretch it out in front of you holding your pen. Now draw a long straight line without pulling in your elbow. Ideally draw in the direction that your elbow is facing because you physically can't extend your wrist or elbow that far. There you go, that's your shoulder.
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I think you should clarify "drawing from the shoulder" on the website a bit more. When you show yourself drawing from the shoulder, while your shoulder is moving, your elbow also is. Especially from the diagram on the site, some people could get the impression that your elbow should stay completely stiff, and only your upper arm should move.
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I was afraid using my elbow even though I didn't lock my shoulder. But I rewatched the video and saw that you also use elbow. So basically I should "drive" motion with my shoulder without locking elbow or wrist.
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thank you for breaking things down with humility. demonstrating the line variation at each joint helped me visualize my own movement. when it comes to drawing hair, I’ll try to encorporate my shoulder rather than my chicken scratching wrist
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Nice seeing the baby animation out in the wild. This new video should hopefully cause less confusion than the old one. The number of people trying to lock out their joints and asking about it on the discord was worrisome. Great update. One of my favourite things about Drawabox is how you continue to refine and update the lessons using your teaching experience. It evolves. Love it.
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Dude. This guy is a phenomenal instructor.
