Warm up - 2. Draw Big

Well that was a very different experience…

It has probably been 30 years since I held a stick of willow charcoal and I don’t think I have ever drawn shapes by holding the drawing medium in my fist.

I felt the restrictive nature of it immediately in terms of not being able to make the shapes using my usual hand muscles. These shapes were all drawn through the use of my arm, elbow and wrist.

I realised that I would be unable to rest my wrist on the paper as that would smudge both the ovals I was currently drawing, as well as the ovals I had drawn using my right hand.

Understanding the pressure to use was also an interesting learning experience. My charcoal snapped about 2/3 of the way through the exercise, which made me realise I was pressing a little bit too hard. My work certainly became smudgier whilst using the broken pieces as it felt like I had less control of the drawing medium in my grasp when it was just a small piece.

The preciseness/neatness of my mark making seems to be about equal with both my left and right hand. I think this is due to the unfamiliarity of holding the drawing material in a clenched fist. Neither my right or left wrists/arms have had much exposure to mark making in this way, and so are about equal in skill. It’s also a bit harder to see what you are drawing when your fist is obscuring the point at which the drawing medium touches the paper.

Below is the outcome of my draw big exercise. I have indicated which is my dominant (right) hand and which is my non dominant (left) hand, for comparison.