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I was sketching dresses for months before a friend in Seattle pointed out my big mistake.
I kept drawing all my designs on a standard 9x12 sketchpad with a normal pencil. My friend looked at my work last week and asked why the proportions looked so stiff. She handed me a roll of 18-inch wide tracing paper and a soft 6B pencil, telling me to 'draw the movement, not the outline.' Suddenly the fabric looked like it could actually flow and drape. Has anyone else found that changing your basic tools totally flipped a switch for you?
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lunakim1mo ago
Read this article once about how the tool can change how you see the problem. It was about a potter who only used a certain clay for years. When she finally tried a totally different, rougher clay, her whole style changed because she had to work with its texture. It wasn't just about making a better pot, it was like the material itself taught her new moves. Your story with the tracing paper is exactly that. Sometimes your usual pencil and pad are like a cage, and a flimsy roll of paper sets you free because you're forced to draw in a new way.
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the_zara1mo ago
Yeah it's like how cooking with a dull knife makes you chop different than a sharp one, the tool changes your whole process lol
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eric_murray2614d ago
Your friend basically tricked you into drawing gesture first instead of outline, which is a whole different way of seeing. That flimsy tracing paper forces you to be loose because if you press too hard you rip it, so your hand naturally lightens up. Ever notice how switching your medium changes your brain's approach to the problem before your hand even touches it?
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