Pencil or marker?

Hello I am just starting guesture drawing and feel like I am making tremendous emprovement thanks to this site. but I also have a problem with the pencils i use and the fact that I have to use several of them durring one session because they keep wearing out. Today I tried markers out of frusteration and found that It is actually very enjoyable. the dillemma is that any guesture over 1 min. looks like a black blob on the page. I would like to continue with markers, but not like that. should I stick with pencils, or is there any advice or technique that I can use to make it look more clean?

Markers are great to practice with dude, esepcially if you are using the markers to just practice lines. Pencils are more useful to make different shades of tones for shadows.



THe thing is with markers is that they help practice line confidence. If you use a marker too much, as you have found out, the lines become overwhelming and the figure you are drawing becomes lost in the zig zags. This is a feature, not a bug. If you are burning through pencils that quickly, it sounds like your lines are really really dang sketchy, which only works for short poses, because you don't have the time for too many lines.

When you use the marker, draw the lines more deliberatly. Not slowly, but accurately.



Proko just put out a video that very useful on this matter

https://youtu.be/lTslVOUJ0jI



Don't be afraid to show your studies! THe community here will give a clearer direction of what to practice! Because it sounds like its the technique, not the tools that are causing your headaches. But if you are vibing with the Marker, then there is no shame in sticking with it.

Good morning, Roscoe, and welcome to our website, and how may we help you? Thanks for your question, but if your pencils keep wearing out on you, yet I recommend sharpening them before and after your drawing session, therefore if you wanna be more bold and confident with your line quality, furthermore, I suggest you please try out our interactive drawing tutorial here on our site, and could you please show us your latest work, because we really need to see them to gauge your current progress?

Plus, if you're completely curious about controlling your line confidence, kindly check out this tutorial here:

https://youtu.be/lTslVOUJ0jI



and here:

https://youtu.be/CXnrHguWslU



My apologies for the longer-winded critique way earlier here, so let's all hope they have rubbed off on you and your newer learning curve and march of progress.

What type of pencil are you using for your drawings?

I'm just using plain ol' HB pencils.

Thank you all! I will watch your recommended videos tomorrow. perhaps the markers will help me to practice on keeping clean guestures, because messyness is definitely a theme in my drawings! though I am enjoying experementing with the different values and tipping my pencil for thickness. so perhaps two half hour sessions would be perfect.

Thank you! - Roscoe.

BTW, what kind of felt-tip markers do you use?