Top 3 Cross Hatching Mistakes - Tips on how to avoid them Video Lecture

hey everyone so in this video I'm going
to follow up on the last tutorial I did
where I was introducing like basic tips
on using cross hatching now why did I
think it was important to do this well I
was looking over the comments and also
thinking of a lot of the drawing all the
drawings that I've seen before I figure
it's a good idea to discuss what I think
are the top cross hatching mistakes
okay and this is based on my experience
and what I've seen and a lot of the
drawings that I've seen that could be
more successful if I think people try to
avoid these things now why is this
important this is important because
practice is very important for
developing or making progress in your
drawing however it's not just practice
that's important but the quality of your
practice what are your practicing if you
do what you always did you or you're
going to get what you always got you
Nemean so it's important that you
practice the right things and also be
aware of what you're not doing right so
you don't repeat the same things you
know I've seen many people who practice
many hours you know they do lots of
drawing over and over but the thing is
they see a little progress because
you're doing the same thing over and
over and yes
it's somewhat of a paradox because you
know repetition is the mother of
learning you should do the same thing
but you should do the right thing over
and over okay and that's where you'll
see progress if you don't correct your
mistakes or go over and see what you
didn't do right and try to improve on
them or you know remove them completely
you're not going to see that much
progress okay so that's why I'm sharing
these three important tips with you
because it's important to be of what you
be aware of what you're not doing right
or you know fix the problems that may be
affecting you that you're not you may
not be aware of and that's another thing
you know you may not know that this
thing is hindering your progress okay so
let's get into it now number one and
this is not necessarily order of
importance okay this is just I'm just
listing them all right so number one do
not rush your drawings don't rush your
drawings that's a very very very common
mistake I've noticed when it comes to
drawing with pen and ink
now of course they're going to be
drawing you you'll do where you know
speed is it naturally a part of the
process like just a drawing you know or
like if you're sketching or something
like that yeah that's that's you know
that's perfectly fine if you're doing
gesture drawing where that's naturally a
part of the process then you know I
completely understand and it's something
you you have to do you know I mean now
if you are however um doing a finished
drawing where you really need to take
the time to try to get things right and
you're really concerned with careful
rendering then you need to not rush your
drawings I can't tell you the amount of
times I've seen drawings with shading
especially pen and ink with shading like
this and you know what I can see from
from the the types of strokes that you
use I can know that this person was
rushing you know whether you're going
too fast and the thing is with pen and
ink you have to remember that you're
using just this point to create all your
marks okay so there's a complete
difference with making strokes like this
see taking my time as opposed to doing
like this you have to practice being
patient slow yourself down there are
little strategies I used to use you know
before I really develop my patience and
learn to let the drawing naturally
develop some of the things I used to do
is like I would say okay I'll work on
like I still do this right now I work on
at least three different parts of the
drawing so for example if it's a larger
drawing I'll have one area another area
and then I'll have another here that I
work on and when I get bored with this
part I'll go on this part when I go to
board with this part not going this part
another thing I'll do is sometimes I'll
say okay I'm going to spend five minutes
just doing this now the five minutes
just doing that this applies to not just
using pen cross-hatching necessarily or
even not just using pen and ink but
drawing in general there are parts of
your drawing that's going to be boring
if you're if you're doing a drawing
where you know you're covering like an
area like this and it's just going to be
you just have to lay down a series of
strokes it's not going to be that much
fun so you have to find a way to lose
yourself in the process and not get too
caught up with oh my god this is taking
forever that's just a natural part of
the process okay if you're cooking or if
you're planting flowers or whatever it
is you can't rush it you know whenever
the plants bloom that's when they bloom
however long it takes to cook something
that's how long it takes to cook it you
can't rush it so drawing is the same way
you have to respect the craft I wouldn't
be able to execute my lines like this if
I were rushing
see and that goes into the next one it's
consistency consistency is perhaps the
most important thing that you should pay
attention to and is the most common
mistake of all I think and from my
observation and it's consistency in my
book I actually go in depth through this
but for right now I'm just going to
address it in a general way so you
really get what it is all about
consistency to me addresses uniformity
in your strokes okay so when you think
consistency you hear that term a lot
with people who teach pen and ink
drawing
consistency is very important and that's
because see you're using strokes all
your drawing is based on just launched
on the pen so you have to be aware of
the fact that when you let your strokes
down they're going to be laid down in
groups or patterns and they're going to
be interpreted as a whole see so you
have to make sure that you lay your
strokes down or you put your marks down
with consistency or uniformity so that
means um you know say for example if
you're um you know let's say we're this
is a song I like using cylinders is
alright so if you're using strokes like
these it's important that you be see I'm
trying to be as consistent as possible
you do sense a sense uniformity in these
strokes right however if you you're
doing something like this
see there's not that much consistency
and what happens as a result of that
you're making this confusing you're
disrupting the viewers experience so in
other words how do I interpret this what
are you doing here are you uh are these
supposed to be what is going on is this
texture is it lighting shadow is it
see this is uniform so I am NOT
disrupting the viewers experience
aesthetic or perceptual experience they
see this as whatever it is at least I'm
being consistent so whether I say this
is shadow or what I say this is a plane
or whatever it is it is being consistent
when you have your strokes all over the
place and you know it can confuse
yourself and it can confuse the viewer
so you have to try to be as consistent
as possible if you're using those marks
you use similar mark see they're all
curved here they're a little bit more
straightened you know even if you're
even if you're going to use strokes like
this whatever it is try to be consistent
and when I say uniformity I mean
uniformity in terms of the different
properties of a stroke so it can be
uniformity in terms of length uniformity
in terms of the thickness you know
uniformity in the direction and so on
okay so try to be uniform in your
strokes and that's very very very
important and of course it ties in with
not rushing your drawings see it's just
like with anything that you do fast the
faster you do it the more you widen the
margin of error you know there's more
chances to make mistakes and you have
less control so unless that's you know a
part of your intention or your process
or your the look you're you're trying to
create then okay that's fine but if you
want to be you and have more control
over the outcome of your drawing I
advise you slow down and try to be as
consistent as possible uniformity in the
properties of your strokes and it's it
applies even to stepping you know if
you're if you're doing like this
see there is uniformity there but if
you're doing like this you see these are
not consistent and that can throw off
your drawing because here at least you
can see that there's an overall sameness
that's right in these in these staples
but here you know because I'm rushing
I'm messing up being consistent that
mixing up the consistency so it's very
important that you be aware of that now
the third and last thing that's very
very very important to be aware of when
it comes to pen and ink which is also
the source of a lot of errors that I've
seen in drawings is that you should be
aware of the purpose of your strokes I
can't stress this enough you should in
other words what this is doing is making
you be more self conscious or be more
involved in the drawing process
what are these strokes doing are they
creating texture so again severa a
little form here you know now this form
is oriented it's facing that way right
or it's facing to us however you want to
look at it now if I'm going to start
shading this I have to start thinking
okay what could because you have to
remember as I said this is with pen and
ink this is your palette the line the
line creates value the line creates
texture the line creates light and shade
or local value you know it tells how
light or dark something is it tells the
texture of something it describes the
structure of something
it describes the local value of
something you see all these things it
describes all the power all the
properties of a form are described using
line only so if you're not trying to be
you know self conscious or aware of how
you're using your strokes you'll end up
this you know doing all kinds of stuff
you may end up having strokes like this
you know now let's be honest how many
times have you done a drawing and
someone says oh that I like the texture
and you're like ah no that's not touchy
that's shading or you may even confuse
yourself I'm sure they've been times
before when you've done something and
it's interpreted in a completely
opposite way by somebody else sometimes
that's cool and sometimes it's not it
actually indicates you that oh crap you
know I wasn't effective in communicating
what I was trying to represent students
saying so if you look at this this looks
like texture to me this doesn't look
like shading and I've seen many cases
where people would make chokes like this
and ends up looking like see this like a
furry or hairy texture not like a smooth
in other words if you're communicating
light and shade then that should be
inexplicably communicated like you
should don't make it ambiguous
unless it's deliberate if you're not
deliberately trying to be ambiguous try
to be clear in what you're communicating
okay so with this you know if I'm saying
and this is another thing see I'm saying
okay light is coming from up here so
that means under here is going to be on
the shadow so that means most of my
strokes are going to be concentrated
down here so they're going to be closer
down here they're going to be bolder
down here see I'm also thinking about
lightening shadow and I'm thinking about
structure as well I'm thinking about the
curvature of this thing so notice that I
didn't start out with using straight
strokes but my strokes are actually
accentuated the form and of course while
they're describing the structure of this
form they're also describing the light
and shadow pattern so as they go around
they're going to be spaced out a little
bit as they approach the light
see that and even when I do my cross
hatching they're still accentuated it so
in other words I am NOT just shading
just laying down strokes I'm thinking
before I put it down think about it
before you lay the pencil or pen down
whatever the device is that you're using
to draw so with this it's this way so I
wouldn't do like this see I'm not
thinking about structure before I lay
these strokes down so if you're drawing
somebody's cheeks or face you should use
strokes that complement it if they need
to be you know shorter for example or
they need to be bolder for example or if
they need to be closer together instead
of saying and also you know I wouldn't
break the contour if you're breaking the
contour then you're going to start you
know indicating texture and that's not
necessarily what you may be intending
you sort of saying so it's important to
think of what is what is the purpose of
the strokes that I'm laying down right
now am I trying to indicate texture I
want to try to indicate light and shadow
am I trying to indicate the structure
for example you may use lines that are
just meant to be to accentuate the cross
contour but not necessarily light and
shadow you see so it's very very
important to think about that when
you're doing cross hatching or actually
just rendering with pen and ink period
because as I said your main visual
element your palate is the line so you
have to try to be aware of the
properties of line and what it can
suggest and try to master those things
see because ultimately as I always
stress drawing is more a mental activity
than just a mechanical one there's very
you know it's important to be aware of
what you're looking at and how you think
of what you're looking at before you
actually put pen to paper okay so you
know these are things that I hope that
if you've never thought of before that
you will start implementing in your
drawing process and be more involved in
the thinking of drawing that's where the
fun is
you know the fun is in thinking about
what you're doing and interacting with
that object you're observing or the
subject you're observing and how you
will choose to represent that thing
don't let your lines rule you
and your drawing turns out however it
does and you feel you have no control of
the outcome you know you'll be more
aware of your process and that's where
your progress will begin your mastery
begins that way okay so um some of this
is a little tricky to get you may have
to like really think about it or even
play this over and you know slow the
process down so you know I don't know if
you found this inspiring or entertaining
or you learn something you know please
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you