An artist is able to make beautiful drawings as he possesses drawing skills, basic drawing skills, knowledge of perspective, anatomy etc which can be learnt and are developed by years of practice and study. Then he or she has a vision and style or aesthetic which comes with time. In this course we are going to be learning basic drawing skills through a series of exercises which focus on training the hand, eye and mind. The goal of these exercises is to develop a basic skill set and not to make finished drawings. Everything we are going to draw has to be light and soft edge, unless instructed otherwise. Practice is key to developing this skill set. For an artist to draw he first needs to know how to use his tools properly and control them. The tools can be categorized into four basic groups, additive tools, subtractive tools, blending tools and others. Let's look at some concepts and techniques that are necessary to develop fundamental skills as an artist. How you hold your pencil will determine the accuracy, control and range of motion you would have while drawing or shading. There are different grips or ways to hold a pencil. There is the writing grip or the tripod grip, the overhand grip, the candle or the underhand grip and the conductor grip. For each grip there are two ways of holding the pencil. One close to the point, close to the point you get more control but you tend to exert more pressure on the point hence making darker marks. Two further away from the point. When you hold further away from the point you tend to exert less pressure and be lighter on the point creating lighter marks but the cost of sacrificing a little control. My motive here is to give you information about the different grips, their pros and cons and how to hold them. You have to decide which of these you are comfortable with and would like to incorporate into your drawing. For your assignment this week you will try to draw holding the pencil close to the point and away from the point. Hold the pencil the normal or usual way you do that is in terms of grip. The only change is that you will hold it close to the point and away from the point. Draw something using these variations in grip and experience how the pencil feels and the marks it makes. If you have got any value from this video please give it a like and consider subscribing for more.