I have been browsing the lessons and trying most of the exercices and I find myself to have one slightly annoying problem... When it comes to hatching, I go too fast. Especially when it comes to curved lines such as in: F08 - Basic Contour Hatching and F09 - Graduations with Contour Hatching.

When I make the curved lines, I sketch them quickly and fluently, but I don't seem to lift my pencil fast enough at the end of the line! As a result I sometimes end up with little hooks and curls at the end of my strokes.
Then I force myself to slow down, which helps a lot, but within a minute I zone out and slowly speed up again, untill I realise I'm doing it all over again.

Anyone have any remedies, tips or tricks? Other than practice, practice and more practice that is, cause I'm already working on that one

Its good to realize what it is that you're doing and that it causes some problems for you. As for correcting it, it really does come down to concentrating on the area that you are rendering. Large areas of hatching do tend to be a bit mindless at times and you can get a little sloppy but smaller details make you concentrate,especially on curves.

It really does come with practice and focusing your mind on the task.

Thank you for bringing this up. I tend to have the same problem as well. I go so far as to just fill in the entire hatch with the shading that I was tending to put there totally eliminating the hatching work. I also find that when I slow down, I can never get the lines to stay apart from one another. I will do a couple lines then the third will either move into the path of the previous one, or have some awful gaps in between that the first two don't. I try to speed it up, you know, use the right side of the brain, but then I get the same result of the little hooks at the end or even just a loop as it begins the journey back on the next line.

If it's practice, then that may come as I do more work, but I am sure there is something that you experts are doing to help you achieve your smooth hatchings.

Eric

I do the same thing. Have no answer. But I notice that when I am listening to soft new age ambient music I don't draw as fast as when I am listening to jazz.

Well you just gave a mini-answer without meaning to! I tend to get hyperactive depending on the sounds around me, like dance/trance style music, or stuff like shooting and chasing scenes in movies. I think I do tend to draw faster and less accurate then.

Just a note though.. there's a lill' typo in your signature, it sais "I'm am"

Hey! That's what he means by the first part of that Sig. "Don't help me!"

Hmmmm, I think I'd rather be able to go fast even with the mistakes than to go so slowly that you get bored.

Hey! Maybe if I played some Merinque' (sp) or Flamenco music or something! Will that help? lol Somebody throw out some snappy song titles for me! I usually work in total silence (unless my husband is home while I'm drawing.)

J

Interesting question. I really do not think speed is an issue in itself. I have seen some great artists work extremely fast. The main thing is "pencil control". This can only be developed with practice, and concentration (as someone had monetioned). It's usually easier to learn this control by going slower in the beginning. Certain techniques (like circularism) are "slower", but that doesn't mean you can't work them fast..... just that the result is slower to come out than other techniques (cross-hatching, for example).

Now that is true about many physical disciplines. Take the martial arts for example. You start out doing the forms very slowly and speed comes later after muscle memory is nailed down. Good point. Then there are other sports that demand immediate application of speed like say jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Never understood that one.