Overheard a senior drafter say 'your pencil grip is why your lines wobble'

Was at a coffee shop last Tuesday and caught a guy telling a younger drafter that the way they held their pencil was making their straight lines come out shaky. I always thought wobble was a steadiness thing, not a grip problem. Tried switching to a tripod grip on my last set of floor plans and my lines came out way cleaner. Anyone else find that changing your pencil hold made a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarthompson23d ago

Yeah that bit about "your pencil grip is why your lines wobble" hit home for me. I used to choke up way too high on the pencil and my wrist did all the work, which made everything shaky. Moving my grip down closer to the tip and locking my wrist gave me way straighter lines right away.

mary61423d ago

Yeah that grip thing is huge. I actually taped a little piece of paper to my pencil where my fingers should go so I'd stop sliding up. Had to force myself to use my shoulder more too, like drawing from the whole arm instead of just the wrist. At first it felt super awkward and my lines were actually worse for a couple days but once my muscles got used to it everything smoothed out. Also helps to breathe out slowly when you're pulling a long line, sounds dumb but it stops that little hand shake you get when you're tensed up.