Build CONFIDENCE in your LINE strokes with these drawing practices

I talk about figure drawing practices you can utilize to gain a stronger confidence in your line strokes.
00:00 INTRO
01:01 Example artists with great confident and decisive strokes
02:00 Habits to avoid for this practice
03:30 Negative space drawing
05:25 Contour Drawing (Not Blind)
07:01 Loose and fast contour gestures
08:20 Bold and Decisive I
10:29 Bold and Decisive II
12:16 Bold and Decisive III
13:25 Combine all practices
14:39 Final final final
The Complete Introduction to 2D Animation
Buy the complete introduction to 2D animation tutorial/video package:
gum.co/Introto2DComplete
My Photoshop actions for auto-matte and toning
gumroad.com/l/sKxSq
Main Website: www.tonikopantoja.com/
Twitter: / tonikopantoja
Instagram: / tonikopantoja
Online Store/Tutorials: gumroad.com/stringbing
Patreon Account: / stringbing
Equipment I use:
Drawing Tablet: Wacom Cintiq 22HD: www.wacom.com/en/products/pen...
Software I use:
Animation - TVPAINT
Animation - Adobe Flash/Animate CC, ToonBoom
Compositing - After Effects
Painting and Illustration - Photoshop
Video Editing - Premiere
3D - BLENDER

[@galenpemberton4382]

"So I'm a really sketchy person naturally" Note to self, don't piss off Toniko

[@GMisEpicYuh]

BAHAHA

[@AlphaFennec]

OMG as soon as I heard "I'm a really sketchy person naturally", I look down in the comments and this is the first comment I see XDDDDD

[@thethmooteresa]

😂

[@tuser8]

Didn’t realise how little confidence I had in my linework until seeing you draw, no wonder animating takes so long when each and every line is getting redrawn over and over, thanks for this.

[@jessejayjones]

I love a good line confidence practice ❤️ I used to do this kinda stuff in meetings all the time..

[@SwordTune]

It's not that I lack confidence in my lines, my lines just lack any semblance of the direction I want them to be.

[@dj__alien]

This video helped me TREMENDOUSLY! I sometimes struggle with overthinking everything when I draw, but the idea of quickly getting line to paper and defining a character with as few lines as possible has helped me a lot. Thank you so much! 😁👍

[@khunagueroagnis2558]

My friends always told me I had confidence in my line strokes, now i know what it means, a compliment! And thanks for the video!

[@purizumuart]

This immediately eased up the pressure when drawing!

[@OkamiSam]

love this tutorials, going straight to the point, no long intros, not introducing themselves and their whole story, no referencing other tutorials or selling you their course that will magically give you what you need in a try to appeal to your fears and doubts. Just keeping things simples and with effective excercises

[@sharaheartsixx]

What I hate about this (not the video, the vid is great) is that I'm also a chicken scratcher. it's not the case of I'm not confident in my linework or that I can't do it, there's just something about the chaoticness of chicken scratch that I can't seem to shake. I wanna do my best to break that rule by creating good art crazy lines. 🤔

[@KOTEBANAROT]

Dont think of it as abandoning the chicken scratch or any other habit of yours for another habit; think of it as expanding your choices. You can always go back to chicken scratch but wouldt it be satisfying to learn the sharp decisive lines too, just to prove you can

[@heromedley]

we all get that at the start but there really nothing better than creating good foundations.

[@sharaheartsixx]

@@KOTEBANAROT I never thought of the habit thing! But yeah Ik how to do long confident strokes, I know how to do at the very least the basic foundations of good line quality, it's mostly just a personal preference that I like "scribbling" and I want to develop I guess a style where I can build those scribbles to be it's own form of quality linework. If thatmakes any sense.

[@othmaneanimation2636]

I find that the roughs should be very rough, to get down the sense of motion and the character's weight, and to explore what it is I'm trying to convey to the viewer (whether it's a scene or a looping short). My secret weapon is Lazy Nezumi - nothing compares to it. I've compared it to the stabilizer in Toon Boom Harmony and Storyboard Pro and I've compared it to the one in TVPaint and Photoshop - they don't hold a candle to it. Plus, you can use the tool to quickly make bezier lines, ellipses or lines and perspective.

[@Alesauria2009]

Something that helped me to build confidence in my strokes was drawing with a pen, and never with pencil, get used to not erasing, with practice you'll see how much good it could do

[@kikolektrique1737]

This really helps me a lot! I’ve just got into drawing and I’ve been doing it for about a 100 days. So far I’ve only been using repetitive lines to make one line, but I should just use one line instead. So thank you!

[@El_Rosita_Fungoso]

Curiously I was thinking about decision with my lines, inspired by Normand Lemay, Moderndayjames, Tristan Yuvienco, Grace Liu, Kenna Jean, because really I want confidence and clarity in my sketches how they do, and BAM, this video appeared like you first video about how to draw faster when I was more stuck in that subject, you're the best :')

[@Luka.shrekie]

I never thought about negative space as an approach with the gesture training, that was pretty insightful (I mean the entire vid was helpful!). Thank you!

[@aslightlyconcernedcranium1573]

This guide is incredibly helpful! It really points the 'just draw' to the right direction.

[@smoage]

I appreciate this! In a previous video of yours I found when I went to looking for ways to improve my drawing speed, you made an offhand comment to the effect of, "if you draw really sketchy it's because you're not confident, stop that." Which was frustrating because I was trying to find ways to unlearn old ingrained practices. This is great because you're giving ways to do just that. It's really easy to develop bad habits with drawing that stick for a long time, these little tips to improve give context and tools to push out of those habits. Honestly it means a lot to me that you revisited this topic and makes me want to revisit your videos. Thank you!

[@bluemonkeyheads5651]

it’s been difficult for me figure out the best way to improve my line stroke confidence beyond doing repeatedly drawing a bunch of lines and using a sharpie. thank you so much for this!! these are great suggestions i’ll definitely try them out

[@gostowl]

Thanks for these exercises. They’re good basic techniques but used in helpful ways. These are great for shifting to an animation mindset that other lessons don’t provide.

[@Luna-Fox]

0 dislikes??? It's been so long since I've seen a video without any, and honestly I hope it stays that way.

[@danielblues222]

your comment aged like milk unfortunately.

[@xLegend1000x]

Excellent video as always, thanks Toniko - love your work

[@rjanimations]

Thank you so much for this Toniko! It gave me the confidence to just practice those things!

[@waterdragonartz5439]

This is what I needed thank you!!!!

[@puccarts]

I really needed this, Toniko! I've been fawning over Knight Zhang's super decisive linework and realizing mine is just not where I wanted it to be. I definitely needed some direction on how to fix this.. and I think the contour work will definitely help with when I draw 2 characters from memory (when I do it, they always feel a bit detached.) It's true, I'm definitely bolder with pen, but weirdly my lines are really squiggly and furry when trying to draw on tablet (I should be more confident with the undo tool!) Anyways, thanks for the tips :D Gonna put them to use ASAP :D

[@jintor9061]

i laughed heavily at FINAL FINAL FINAL bookmark. classic illustration naming convention

[@PencilPower]

Helpful tips for something I find challenging, thank you. I'm always impressed by the line-work of the artists on the Drawfee channel

[@yen_bm]

super educational ! step 3 and 4 looks super fun hahahha. Lovely video toniko! always a pleasure to see your uploads!

[@arletesuarez1028]

this is exactly the video i was looking for. Thank you so much

[@NightyKnight789]

This is just what I've been looking for!

[@abunchofverysmallboxes]

this is really helpful, thank you!!

[@onetruepirateking]

love this... gonna show this to my students

[@fossilco.artrelateddocumen331]

As usual fastest click in the West

[@fossilco.artrelateddocumen331]

@yymenghis64 seems just about right, *Take ten steps back get ready to draw*

[@cinemalazare4850]

listen partner i Clicked the fastest, don't even try me.

[@aliyutube]

great exercise! will try this later.

[@Vendisok]

All of these are great, best one imo is the Bold and Decisive exercise that has you counting the number of lines, specially without erasing those lines and living with them.

[@thischanneldoesntexist6132]

I’ve been practicing an artstyle what has a lot of lines used and even after this video I’m still proud of it but this helped me as well

[@netijen1535]

I miss the time when I drew the lines very confidently. The drawings weren't any good compared to today, but it was fun times, where I didn't care about how it looks like. Getting back to drawing again after years, they have improved but the lines man. They aren't confident as they used to be

[@randomrandle9141]

But why do my drawings feel empty when I clean them up

[@xLegend1000x]

This is a guess, might not be right - but if you end up with all outline with no internal lines/external lines overlapping forms it feels ‘hollow’ It’s a skill of its own learning to make lines suggest form more than just be outline, this might not actually be your problem but it is/was mine. If you’re drawing people, the way Bridgman slots body parts together can be good inspiration for ‘where to put lines’ when drawing body parts - try to adapt it to the style you want, and simplify! It’s very complex. Brother Baston, youtuber on here who I have enjoyed the work of, has a few videos on line work too where he explains the logic behind how he draws the lines and how he chooses lines / line weight etc (even just the doughnut was helpful for me) . Moderndayjames has a number of ink style digital drawing tutorials where you can see how deliberate he is, and what he chooses to show with the lines - I can’t remember which videos but he usually narrates the process. There’s a few about drawing like bridgman that are helpful too. You can see from Toniko’s work here that when he just focussed on the negative shapes the drawings feel like ‘stencils’ - cause they’re all outline. The purpose of that section was for clear readability of the silhouette - but it’s not the only thing to consider as the video explains too, and Toniko has many excellent videos where you can see and work out what he’s thinking when he leaves things in in a cleanup, or when he’s drawing with purpose and ‘design’ in mind. Breaking the outline to show overlap and such is the trick for form If you are an animator primarily, line weight is less significant, but overlap is still valuable - look at animation you enjoy (or lineart in general you enjoy) and really think hard about how things slot together. Like Bridgman, the bicep doesn’t just balloon out then slim in for the elbow, then balloon out again for the forearm, it slots into the forearm at the elbow - and a hint of this with overlap of the edge of lines can be all the difference It requires simplification / distillation skills, where you remove a ton of information but come out with something that suggests complexity And that sounds harder than it is - Bridgman is good to look at and do a bit of studying from either with sketches or going straight to direct drawing in ink (or no opacity digital) But you should try using animation/lineart you enjoy as the scaffolding for what you should be looking at in your reference, or what is missing from your own art that they have. I might be off the mark here, but this sort of logic has helped my line work and might be of use to you / others. The other thing to consider is overall detail. Sketches have a lot of information in them, even if it’s unrefined. They can be textured like a pencil brush, they can be loose and gestural which has us imagining the motion and suggests more than single lines. They can be messy which the brain interprets as complexity and possible details. But, you clean them up without knowing how to add back relevant considered detail (clothing folds, skin creases, suggestions of form, graphical hair, shadow hints or blockouts) and you end up with something that feels emptier than your sketch because it doesn’t have as much information (or suggested information) as the sketch. Again I’d recommend the same as above, comparison between your lineart and lineart you love, and trying to copy the lineart you love (from a variety of sources and styles to refine your toolset). Then try keeping the art open while you draw something of your own the way you usually would being conscious of what you’ve learned and can see in the great lineart. I know Ethan Becker’s videos are full of jokes which might not be for everyone, but the way he talks about reference and stealing from others / simplification is great. He also tends to highlight artists from animation fields who have a very clear and punchy way of drawing, good for making confident choices that feel ‘finished’. Additionally, if we’re gonna be painting an illustration, these skills are still useful even if you don’t draw the lines. Fundamentally, the lines are a shorthand for form, light and shadow, and graphic appeal. It’s the understanding of those that’ll really take a work from zero to hero. If it *isn’t* any of these things - then sorry I couldn’t help, but, you should be pleased these things aren’t in your way Good luck on the quest anyway buddy!

[@TheApolloOrder]

@@xLegend1000x crazy helpful. 🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@arani3395]

Lack of contour lines in the design. Give details that go around the form. Like if there is a hand then add an watch to emphasize the roundness of the hand.. It might not be in the character design.. but add it if it looks good.

[@randomrandle9141]

@@xLegend1000x thanks dude

[@randomrandle9141]

@@arani3395 so overlap?

[@aizakkukun4985]

Thank you si much this helped a lot to make me confident with my lines

[@JBarista08]

Thanks for the advice

[@toonybrain]

A fellow TVPaint user! I'm a scratchy-line drawer in my pencil tests. Good stuff in this video. Thank you.

[@orangejuice9631]

This is the first video of your channel I'm watching and I thought the intro was really cute

[@SeaSerpentLevi]

Omg this is pure gold

[@locochavo4560]

My line confidence is a bit rusty so this should be helpful! Thanks for this vid!

[@crazypanda9870]

Great video!

[@NoctiibisCos]

can't thank you enough for these videos!!

[@CHEYMIX]

thanks for this. i dont know my terminology and I was looking for more ways to practice other than gesture drawing

[@IceDelight]

That quick 'bye' at the end, haha. Good video thanks.

[@kblam1001]

nice video man, really feel like drawing now :)))

[@SealBoi]

I feel called out but i appreciate it, imma practice all of this

[@o0Sazie0o]

I use to draw so many lines years ago, but it's a lot better now that I barely draw as much lines as I use to. Just enough to understand what it looks like in sketch form. Also sketchy lines aren't bad, it's fine if you have shaky hands. Glad Toniko understands that. Although not many can draw straight, even with years of practice. You get a bit better, but it's still sketchy. I have a few examples in my videos when drawing, but I use light circles to start a face or other shapes sometimes.

[@rainpooper7088]

Thanks, I really needed something like that. My sketches are always so sketchy you can’t tell what the hell is going on and that needs to change.

[@vanrogods]

_very helpful_

[@dnkartist]

Well I have always been sketching roughly which later i turn it into final one slowly.. but as I grew up I got to know people talking about artists not being confident if we sketch with multiple strokes. But wat I think personally is that, how you sketch now is on how uh had been practicing always n number of strokes doesn't define your confidence. Talking about myself I can do both ways buh mostly I sketch with multiple strokes and that too with confidence because i know what I am doing exactly and so the outcome is really good with cleaning... Multiple strokes and minimum stroke sketching are just 2 different ways and not the rule I think. Meaning to have a healthy discussion. :)

[@littleravendesigns5587]

This took me back to my college days

[@skullzer9600]

Thank you

[@poego6045]

To be honest, best thing for getting good with line confidence is to use nib pens with dip ink. You basically have to think hard before you begin because as soon as you dip the pen, there's a timer before it starts to dry on the nib. So you go into the drawing with a plan, and you draw quickly and decisively. It FORCES you to make quick decisions and to go with what occurs and not sweat the small choices as much as keeping the final goal in mind. In general, putting down the digital pen or analogue pencil and going with pen makes for a very natural way of getting decisive with lines since there's no erasing, so just going loose isn't a possibility really. You have to THINK about it before hand, which is the key to drawing confidently, rather than simply putting random lines down and hoping for the best one to magically appear in that area.

[@mystereoheart2579]

This is a great video! Do you have any tips for using realistic anatomy knowledge to stylize characters? I always find myself drawing super realistically proportioned hands and feet for example on otherwise stylized drawings.

[@utubeagnesia]

Haven't drawn on paper in a while, and I did it just now. Shakily. I come back to my phone to see this on my recommended. Thanks for your concern, YT 😔❤

[@TheVillainousSoul]

A thing I did was, and this is traditionally, I would draw with a pen in my sketchbook or on paper. One that can't be erased. Because it forces me to not sketch a lot and I cant undo a line once I've put it down. It's very fun to me and also a nice challenge. I haven't done quick sketches in a while, I probably should get back to it.

[@dysfunktional6537]

As a very sketchy artist this will be a frustrating process but hopefully worth it in the end

[@gp01fullbernern]

updates?

[@Rodriee_]

GAAAAH THAT DOG IS SO CUTE!

[@sjgao5533]

Really enjoyed it, even if I left the video in the background at times. comment for the algorithn

[@ZCoreStudio]

man your channel is a gold mine for us beginner animators

[@marcosgomezolivos]

Admiro tu constancia

[@De-limitedBro07]

Lob it 👌🔥🔥

[@mattd1466]

at last, a video about line confidence exercises that isn't just drawing a bunch of lines and circles on a page

[@TheLuconic]

Before I start this video, I am sure I know what you are gonna say. I actually been working hard to draw more quickly by doing less and less linea when drawing a figure, mainly. I did it all on my old iPad, which isn't old. She's two years. Anyways, I got a new ipad pro and..... I gotta relearn how to draw on the smooth surface and I am forced to draw chicken scratch lines. My work flow has slowed dramatically so I have some experience of what is about to be mentioned here. How by drawing confident, carefully measured and we'll placed lines can really speed up any work flow. But I am a new artist once more and will achieve that status once more of confident drawing.

[@wonderworld1928]

Toniko's unique voice lit and fig

[@yorickdantuma8373]

Hey Toniko! Great video, where do you get your reference photos from?

[@slmnsd6186]

great video thanks, also 0 dislikes

[@Kernel32x86]

7:42 Ooops

[@TheWheatless]

There are many good reference photos here. Where can I get some of them?

[@Lazer-bp9lf]

I always have trouble with shading and layering in my drawings. Any tips for that guys?

[@kyum1nq]

this is such a good video it really helped :D I realized how much confidence I really need to animate everything I want to in a timely manner! Also, if happen to see this, do you have anywhere where you get your references? I can't find many good sites for them :(

[@sinnfulcat]

Thx that will help me but I don’t think I’ll go anywhere with my skills

[@carolynsherman6631]

Based on the drawing practices suggestion, which one is recommended to try first?

[@sweetbea7946]

Do you think the approach to learning life drawing for storyboarding is different than life drawing for something else like fine art? My college program only offered courses in fine art and I feel like their tips for life drawing is different than the tips I hear from story artists.

[@9adorechan7]

Yo thanks so much for this! I did know about line confidence but damn my lines are not that LMAO I have a question tho, what sites do you recommend for finding references? I’ve been struggling with that for a while ;/ Amazing video btw ^_^

[@huanunited]

how do i use transformation tools on paper

[@shazani18]

My mind just explode

[@Strongwind]

What I wanna know now is where do I get these photos you're referencing? I've had good luck with pinterest but haven't found good poses like these yet.

[@sniv2516]

Does anyone know where to find the finished animation from 0:00?? I swear I saw a gif of it at some point and now I cannot find it for the life of me.

[@dillonwright13]

How would I do the inking for animation, to where it still looks good without making it look wobbly like Ed, Edd, N Eddy or Beavis and Butthead?

[@onthefaultline]

9:14 nice

[@dizzikat]

Kinda funny seeing the various comments saying "it's not that I'm not confident!"... *sensible chuckle*

[@stinkylando]

@Toniko, Where do you get these ref pose images?

[@phonamationtv]

i want to learn more

[@thebulletkin8393]

When you are doing an actual drawing where do you look with your eyes? Do you look at the pencil end? The drawing?both? Which is the best to do?

[@almightykuzon]

one problem i have is that i always feel like none of my digital art "stands out" in comparison to my traditional art.

[@war99120]

quick question: at what point do u think is a point where I can move on to the next step? or would be considered good at a step b4 moving onto the next one?

[@Yoza_]

Hey can we have that sheet you were drawing the poses on? im too lazy to copy paste and make a sheet of my own 😓

[@falucho6149]

Where I can get that kind of reference photos?

[@argentum6237]

wow, is there a site for random poses, so i can practice poses or human anatomy? 3:14

[@Blanch590]

I’m really confident with lines around the face and hair, but full bodies and curves are difficult

[@tommydiaz-millan2438]

What about Genndy Tartakovsky and Craig McCracken? Their stuff is simple and straightforward in animation. Especially when they were influenced by the United Productions of America (UPA) known for Gerald McBoingboing.

[@abunchofemos-kn4sm]

what if i just practice ? this and no fundametals will i still get line confidence ?

[@waterwong12]

It's an old video, but should I turn off stabilizer/smoothing when doing those exercises may I ask?

[@alexale5488]

3:20 Uuu, where's that taken from?

[@artsveiman7776]

With boards becoming more animated, has the production time of a storyboard gone up? or are storyboarders still required to present a relatively animated storyboard in the same production time as a regular storyboard?

[@TonikoPantoja]

I have a lot of mixed opinions on highly animated storyboards. I dont think its required but there are a lot of productions where they do ask for more acting and connective tissue in your boards.

[@dillonwright13]

Do you know of any great anatomy books that are fun to read, easy to understand, and can teach me anatomy for art?

[@dorklymorkly3290]

I like anatomy for sculptors and eliott goldfingers anatomy reference book. The first one is quite lighthearted (but not any less useful) the second one is dry and matter of factly, but, sometimes that's just the thing one needs. Even if one is fun loving and likes things easy. Sometimes "The muscle originates exactly here and inserts exactly there" is best.

[@lovebaltazar4610]

where do you get all those references, do I have to create my own folder or is there a website for specifically good drawing references?

[@lindsaytowns3641]

Search for Line of Action figure drawing, I do all my timed drawings with their tool. :)

[@lovebaltazar4610]

@@lindsaytowns3641 thank you for responding