I'm Learning to Draw... Greetings from Pasig City, Philippines!

[KuyaMarc]

Hello World!

After 31 years of computers & electronics, I am now learning how to draw beyond electronic schematics. Due to my ailing health, I have began reducing my technical duties and opted to start a non-technical hobby, called 'drawing by hand'. This coming July 2015 will mark 18 years of GNU/Linux for me, however, painful arthritis has entered my hands, affecting my administrative & programming skills. I am gearing towards 64-bit Windows 7 while moving away from 64-bit Debian GNU/Linux.

Last night, I finally decided to buy ArtRage, removing my 8-months interest of Manga Studio. My graphics tablet is the Genius EasyPen i405X, which works well with ArtRage.

My laboratory of computers & electronics has been converted to a graphics workstation or "digital art studio". My main PC is a 3.06GHz P4 with 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD (Windows 7) and 80GB HDD (Linux). My monitor is my 22-inch HDTV with a 1920x1080 resolution. My 18 year-old flatbed scanner has been converted to a network scanner via Embedded Linux server since Windows no longer supports it. Other than my HDTV, my tech gear is mostly antique.

This is my first post in ArtRage Community. It is difficult for me to type here due to arthritis in my hands. Thanks for reading my first posts here. Have a nice day, everybody!

[Delofasht]

It's good to have you here, your unique history might give you a very interesting perspective on the learning curve in less technical forms of creation, I hope you will be posting some images in the weeks and months to come. Welcome to one of the most friendly artists' communities I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of, there is a lot to learn here.

While I probably should assume you would know, I think it's still important enough to mention, do focus on drawing from your shoulder and elbow and not your wrists for this kind of artwork. . . don't want to stress your arthritis too much. I have a recurring tendonitis that acts up and can take me out of the work if I ignore it for too long. Good luck and have fun!

[damasocl]

Welcome to this forum, dear KuyaMarc...
We will hope to see your works in the Gallery...

[Victor Osaka]

Fantastic. ArtRage is such a wonderful program. You'll love it. And the forums are the greatest!

[KuyaMarc]

Fantastic. ArtRage is such a wonderful program. You'll love it. And the forums are the greatest!

I'm actually thinking about ending my blog site and just post in the forums. I have been noticing that I'm not the only beginner in the forums. It gives a warmer than normal feeling.

[Caesar]

Welcome and glad you are experiencing the old, good way for drawing and painting and setting up images. Actually ArtRage is a virtual tool and support, but it's the best way to draw and paint like in the real world with real tools, thus a sort of simulator from where You can then confidently fly in reality as well.

[KuyaMarc]

Welcome to this forum, dear KuyaMarc...
We will hope to see your works in the Gallery...

Thank you! I'm already starting to use the Gallery... slowly but surely.

[KuyaMarc]

It's good to have you here, your unique history might give you a very interesting perspective on the learning curve in less technical forms of creation, I hope you will be posting some images in the weeks and months to come. Welcome to one of the most friendly artists' communities I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of, there is a lot to learn here.

While I probably should assume you would know, I think it's still important enough to mention, do focus on drawing from your shoulder and elbow and not your wrists for this kind of artwork. . . don't want to stress your arthritis too much. I have a recurring tendonitis that acts up and can take me out of the work if I ignore it for too long. Good luck and have fun!

Thank you! I didn't think I would be noticed. I didn't think anyone would care to notice me. I have already started posting to my ArtRage online gallery, starting with some "line art" (what I call it). When I was in high school, three decades ago, I drew mazes and 3D buildings with pencil only, no coloring.

As for my current drawing practice... I'm holding my graphics tablet (Genius EasyPen i405X) with my left hand, and holding the pen stylus with my right hand, while leaning back onto my (hard) chair. No pain while drawing in this manner, however, I find myself still pressing keys on the keyboard for doing straight lines. I haven't yet figured out how to program my tablet to avoid using the keyboard. I'm rotating the tablet instead of my wrist. I'm practicing different ways of holding the pen stylus, like the ways mentioned in the book (Drawing for Dummies). A few times, I doodle, but not saving nor exporting, just to see what it looks & feels like. Overall, I think my choice to start drawing, is really a beneficial one.

[SteveB148]

It's good to have you here, your unique history might give you a very interesting perspective on the learning curve in less technical forms of creation, I hope you will be posting some images in the weeks and months to come. Welcome to one of the most friendly artists' communities I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of, there is a lot to learn here.

While I probably should assume you would know, I think it's still important enough to mention, do focus on drawing from your shoulder and elbow and not your wrists for this kind of artwork. . . don't want to stress your arthritis too much. I have a recurring tendonitis that acts up and can take me out of the work if I ignore it for too long. Good luck and have fun!

Hi Delfasht,

I have a problem with my shoulders. I can use them to draw, but it hurts. Is using the wrist bad? Are there other ways of drawing? Sorry for the barrage of questions, and kinda hijacking the thread, but I am new to all of this and was curious. Many thanks,

Steve

[Delofasht]

Hey Steve, drawing from the wrist tends to cause a variety of muscle issues and pains in that area, if you are experiencing similar pains in your shoulder you may be doing too much drawing or painting. The other possibility is that you are keeping the muscles too tense while you are doing it, it takes a bit of time to become accustomed to drawing with the whole arm and shoulder but it tends to be much less likely to cause issues in the long run.

My suggestion is to make sure to take breaks, every 30 minutes or an hour take a 10 to 15 min break and try to stretch your muscles in your arms and shoulders. Often I forget to and a few hours in I realize it and have to break for an hour or two, sometimes much more, it's far more efficient to break often and keep loose. Keeping loose while drawing is trying to let your brush or pencil do most the work for you, with them you position such that gravity will apply the stroke for you and just direct the flow of the strokes better, really there is very little to scrub into the surface hard with either or a stylus, less is more here for sure. I also encourage you to slow down and try making the stroke you want the first time, I do this in a number of ways and sometimes I just put dots on the page where I want the beginning of a line and end of one then connect the two in one stroke if I can (going past my destination sometimes and erasing back). There are so many different approaches to getting more deliberate stroke making and all will save your arm and shoulder with the economy of your strokes quite a bit.

Good luck and I hope that helps.