Warmup - Mushrooms

16K
Course In Progress

Warmup - Mushrooms

16K
Course In Progress

Hey guys, before we dive into the line category of the course, I want to share a fun exercise to warm up your hand and get you comfortable with drawing fluid lines. While doodling with my son, he asked me to draw a Mario mushroom, and I realized it's a perfect way to practice ellipses.

You don’t want to practice the exact same mushroom each time. So make sure to vary your ellipses to get the most out of this warmup. Change the angle, proportions, and size on the page.

Benefits of the Exercise

Keep in mind these two key factors while you practice your mushrooms.

  • Pressure Control: By making certain parts of the ellipse darker where they are visible and lighter where they wrap around, you practice controlling your line pressure.
  • Placement and Alignment: Aligning the ellipses correctly on the page enhances your ability to place shapes precisely.

Tips for Effective Practice

  • Vary Proportions: Don't aim for a perfect Mario mushroom. Play with proportions to keep it fun and to practice different ellipses.
  • Visualize Before Drawing: Imagine each ellipse before putting pencil to paper. Ghost the motion in the air to prepare.
  • Use Your Whole Arm: Even for small shapes like the eyes, use your whole arm to draw smooth ellipses.
  • Relax Your Grip: If your hand starts to hurt, you're gripping the pencil too tightly. Keep a relaxed grip to avoid strain.
  • Avoid Cleaning Up: Don't go back over lines to fix or darken them. Focus on executing each ellipse in a single, fluid motion.

* * *

Practicing ellipses doesn't have to be tedious. By incorporating them into fun drawings like Mario mushrooms, you make the learning process enjoyable and engaging. Don't rush, imagine each ellipse, ghost it in, and then execute the stroke. Keep practicing until you're comfortable, and if you find this challenging, try doing it every day to build muscle memory. Go ahead and give it a try, and feel free to share your pages. We'll be starting the line category very soon!

Newest
Lib
1d
Petra-Kate Huff
I didn’t realize how much I dislike Mario Bros until I was drawing these. I kept hearing that awful fake and somewhat offensive Italian accent! UGH! (I know a me problem, but what can I say?). So I ended up adding in just ellipses between the yucky Mario mushrooms. I need a loaf of work on these I think. I will also have to find something other than these Mario mushrooms because I got annoyed doing them. Maybe some other stylized mushrooms to keep the concept of intentional shapes.
@sillysniper17
Here a progression across 4 days. This warmup was a lot more challenging than I predicted. You can tell that my arm was super imprecise initially and the pressure control was not there. But by keeping up with it, I think you can see an improvement "on average" on each sheet. For what it's worth, I've lowered my mouse sensitivity so I can practice arm muscle memory by just using my PC, and after this exercise I feel ~15% more precise, lol.
mae
11d
i've never really warmed up before drawing 0.0 this was much more difficult than anticipated!
Michael Bonifacio
Mushroom soup
Aithran Choi
Man this was hard! Pressure control was difficult to manage. I do this more often for warmup tho, it is nice as warmup
Black Ghost
Need to practice this further
Rachel Dawn Owens
Draw more!
Patrick Bosworth
Nice! Keep it up!
Melanie Scearce
Try to fill the page with them 😁
@craftywitch
@linetime
22d
Some mushrooms and shading practice. Really trying to slow down a bit, be mindful of using my whole arm and get a smooth consistent shape. Not easy!
He Li
24d
My full page of drawing mushrooms. Eclipses seem not that easy to draw while controlling darkness and intersections.
@moonrock
25d
Think I got worse at the end tbh but I tried to make some like they are being stepped on. It's hard and I struggle being patient with it so i'll probably see if I can do it every day. The light to dark pressure is the hardest 4sure tho
Crow Semantic
This was awful lmao Long, loooooong road ahead for me lol
@dodle
28d
This is my first attempt. Drawing ellipses is hard D:
Enzo reda
28d
Thanks, i't indeed a fun exercice ! I'm just not sure if i'm supposed to train drawing the different orientation or the mushroom with a still paper or am i allowed to move tilt/turn the paper to basically always use the same angle with my hand ? 🤔
Melanie Scearce
When I'm training or drilling a skill I’m in the mindset of moving in the direction of whatever is most challenging so that’s what I would say. Drawing without rotating your paper will help develop your dexterity, but also there’s no rule to say that you can’t rotate it :)
Tim Fletcher
Varying pressure around the ellipse - holy cow! that's gonna take some practice! I'm right handed and draw an ellipse without thinking in an anti-clockwise direction. When I try to draw in a clockwise direction I have virtually no control at all. More practice?
Melanie Scearce
Yes, much more practice! This is a muscle memory exercise, so many repetitions is the way to go.
Nate Ferguson
Mushrooms! Great warmup!
D
1mo
@certaffrail
Simplicity is much more challenging than first seems. This looks really fantastic! https://elifesimulation.io
Melanie Scearce
The faces are awesome. Looks like you had fun :)
Shane Cruise
Well, need to do this everyday.
@locksmith
1mo
Grant
2mo
Just found a comfortable sensitivity for my stylus on Procreate so I figured I’d try this warmup digitally. It was a very humbling experience.
Martha Muniz
It's definitely a fun warm-up but also agree with it being rather humbling as you get into it 😅 Digital can provide a bit of added difficulty, but it also serves to figure out and calibrate yourself to the program's setting, which I think makes it all the more worthwhile. Keep at it! I also suggest adding some more revolutions to each ellipse, to get more momentum and fluidity as you loosen up with each attempt.
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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
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