Why are my drawing lines scratchy and hairy?

A hairy line is a line drawn five times. The reason people draw it five times is that they are using a writing grip, which gives fine control over a two-centimetre arc and none at all over a twenty-centimetre one, so every long line has to be assembled out of short ones. Change the grip and the problem disappears rather than improving.

Step by step

1. Switch to an overhand grip for anything larger than a few centimetres.Lay the pencil across the pads of the fingers with the thumb over the top, the way you would hold a stick of chalk. The side of the lead touches the paper, not just the point. This grip has no fine control and that is exactly the point — it forces the movement up into the arm.
2. Hold it further back.A writing grip is about 25mm from the point. For drawing, hold it 60 to 100mm back. The further back you hold it, the more the pencil follows the arm rather than the fingers, and the lighter the mark, which is what you want while you are still finding the shape.
3. Lift your wrist and forearm off the paper.A planted wrist turns your hand into a compass with a very short radius. Working with the arm floating feels unstable for about a week and then becomes the only way you can draw a long curve.
4. Draw from the shoulder for long lines, the elbow for medium ones, the fingers only for detail.This is the actual hierarchy. A line across an A3 sheet is a shoulder movement. A 100mm line is an elbow movement. An eyelash is a finger movement. Trying to draw an A3 line from the fingers is what produces a wobbling chain of segments.
5. Ghost the line before you commit.Move the pencil over the paper along the intended line two or three times without touching it, then bring it down and go. The arm has already rehearsed the movement, so the mark is one smooth stroke.
6. Aim past the end point.Look at where the line is going to finish, not at the pencil, and let the movement run slightly past. Watching the point makes you slow down and correct constantly, which is what makes lines wobble.
7. Never redraw a line you dislike on top of itself.Draw the new one where it should be and leave the old one. Two clean lines read as a decision; ten overlapping ones read as fur. Erase the redundant ones later, if at all.
8. Practise with straight lines and ovals for five minutes before you start.Fill a page with long straight lines between two dots and with overlapping ovals, arm floating. It is genuinely a physical skill and it warms up in a few minutes, like anything else.

Tips

• Vary the pressure deliberately within a single line — heavier where the form comes towards you or falls into shadow, lighter where it turns away. A line of even weight is the flattest mark there is.
• Turn the paper rather than contorting your arm. Almost everyone draws their best curve in one particular direction; rotate the sheet so every curve becomes that curve.
• A slightly larger drawing is easier to make clean than a small one, because the movements come from bigger joints.
• If you draw standing at an easel with the paper vertical, the shoulder movement happens naturally and most people's line quality improves within a session.

Common mistakes

• Sharpening to a needle point and drawing with the tip only — A long exposed lead used on its side gives you a mark that varies from hairline to broad by rotating the pencil. A needle point gives you one width and encourages a writing grip.
• Working very small to stay in control — Small work hides the problem rather than solving it, and it never transfers up. Draw larger than is comfortable while you are fixing this.
• Pressing hard from the start — Heavy early lines cannot be erased cleanly, so you end up drawing around your mistakes rather than through them. Construct light, commit dark.

Questions people ask