Pencil Sketching, 2nd Edition

Movement of the Hand

In essence, movement of the hand refers

specifically to the act of sketching. The

three grip positions described in the pre-

vious chapter correlate directly to the

three different kinds of movement.

Finger movement (Position A)

Because the grip is relatively tight in

this position, movement is limited to just

the fingers. Lines and strokes can be

drawn by the gentle motion of pushing

and pulling the pencil with the thumb and

the second and third fingers. Vertical

strokes can be easily drawn by moving

the fingers up and down while planting

the hand steadily on the drawing surface.

Horizontal strokes, however, require fixing

the finger grip while moving the wrist

from left to right and keeping the hand

loose at the same time. By turning the

hand slightly to the side, you can

increase the reach. This gives the artist

more freedom to move the pencil and the

ability to create longer strokes. The shift

in the grip and angle signals the gradual

change from Position A to B.

Up/down strokes Diagonal strokes

Minimum finger movement

Normal finger movement

POSITION A

Maximum finger movement (notice slight

arc in strokes)

Up and down movement of Position A

WANG_CH3(19-36)3rdpas 6/26/01 11:39 AM Page 27 (Black plate)