How to Hold a Pencil

In order to draw correctly and beautifully, as real artists do, it is critical to know how to hold a pencil correctly.

There are two basic options for holding a pencil. The first and most common option is the one that is used when writing with a pen. This type of holding a pencil is called the tripod grip. This option is very good when you are going to draw small details, or when you are drawing on a piece of paper that lies horizontally.

This grip is very familiar and convenient because from childhood we learned to hold pens, pencils, and markers in this way. The muscle memory that has developed over the years allows us to well control the pencil in the hand. Another indisputable advantage of this method is its high accuracy. Using this method, it is very easy and convenient to depict various details, little things, and short lines.

In the usual tripod grip, you hold the pencil at the base, which is very convenient when writing. But in the process of drawing and sketching, you can hold the pencil by the middle or upper tip. The closer you hold your fingers to the lead, the more accurately you control the pencil. The farther your hand is from the sharpened tip of the pencil, the freer your hand movements will be.

The second method is more common in the classical school of art. With this method, the pencil is held by either three fingers or all fingers. This option of holding a pencil is called the overhand grip. This type of grip allows you to move your hand much more freely, and draw longer lines, while the hand does not touch the working surface.

With this option, the hand is very free because it does not rest on the work surface. The range of movements is very large, which means you can draw very long lines. This allows not only creating large details in the artwork but also shading large areas.

But besides the options listed, there are many other varieties of how you can hold a pencil. Each of these options is useful in its own way and is applicable for solving various tasks in the process of creating an artwork.

All these options are most convenient when your sheet of paper or canvas is located in a vertical plane. But they are also applicable in the case when you draw on a horizontally located paper. If it is not very convenient for you to keep your hand in the air, then you can lean on the little finger, as shown in one of the pictures drawn by the artists of Drawingforall.net.

The pencil should be kept far from the sharpened tip so as not to obscure the artwork with a hand. If the pencil has become short, then you can insert it into a special pencil extender.

It is very important to hold the pencil tight enough, but at the same time, the hand should not be too tense. Otherwise, your lines will not turn out to be smooth and beautiful.

If your sheet of paper or canvas is in an upright position, it is not advisable to bend your arm at the elbow. When the arm is extended, the drawing process is greatly facilitated. In addition, at a farther distance from the sheet, the artwork will perceive more holistically, which is critical when drawing.

It is also critical to look at a sheet of paper at a right or almost right angle. Otherwise, you risk greatly distorting the proportions of the depicted objects in the artwork.

That is, as you already understood, there are two basic options to hold a pencil, and accordingly to place a sheet of paper. The first option is when the sheet of paper lies horizontally on a table or another plane, and you hold a pencil like a pen in the process of writing.

The second option is when a sheet of paper or canvas is located vertically, or almost vertically, and you hold the pencil like a sword. But it should be noted that with this arrangement of the sheet of paper, you can also hold a pencil as a pen if you intend to depict details.

It is critical to be able to hold your hand correctly because your whole drawing process depends on it. It is also critical that the skills of controlling a pencil be brought to automatism. Just as you do not think about how to pedal while riding a bicycle, you should not think about how to control a pencil when you sketch or draw.

A pencil is the most common, affordable, and multifunctional tool for an artist. You can make sketches, as well as complete, finished artworks with a pencil. This indispensable partner of any artist gives him the opportunity to draw lines of different thicknesses, vary the tone, change the nature of the strokes, convey the volume, nature, and texture of objects. It all depends only on the knowledge, skills, and mastery of the artist in whose hands this tool is. Thus, the way you control your pencil or brush directly affects the resulting artwork.

So try different options for holding a working tool, which were demonstrated by the artists of Drawingforall.net in this article and practice as much as possible because it is the practice that will teach you not only to control the pencil in the right way but to draw like a true artist.

There are many ways to bring your pencil control skills to a high level. The artists of Drawingforall.net recommend you to take a pencil with one of the above-mentioned grips and begin to sketch various lines on a piece of paper. You can also mark several points on and sketch a line through them. In addition, you can try to evenly hatch an A4 sheet. These methods will allow you to train your hand and bring skills to automatism.

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