I realized that Basic essentials is what people need the most. How about I publish more articles and TIPS for beginners ?
TIP#39
to make a perfect round circle, do not rest your elbow on the table
SPHERE TRIMMING
Today, we’ll just talk about circle. Ellipses will be the topic of an other tutorial. One step at a time is preferable. For the perfect circle, it’s basically the same idea as tracing straight line. Let’s see how to do step by step.
- Relax
- Do not rest your elbow on the table.
- Do not draw with your wrist but the whole arm.
- Use the “Ghost drawing“: simulate your movement before tracing the circle.
Your Pinky finger and ring finger slide on the paper to stabilise your movement
- Touch your pen tip on paper when you feel confident.
- Keep the flow
- Double or triple your circle till you are satisfied
Be confident
Do not draw like A. Be confident like B, and you will get a smooth circle.
You don’t have to draw fast but try to get the right momentum for your pen to slide smoothly.
The 4 common mistakes
It’s interesting to test what doesn’t work. Below are the mistakes that you may already facing.
1 Out of shape, pointy
You definitely can’t draw a circle, even if you visualise it well.
2 Flat, potato – Most common mistake.
The circle tend to be flat at the bottom.
3 Size limited
You can’t draw big.
4 Low rate of success
That mistake mislead your judgement. After failing many times, you succeed 1 or 2 ! It’s like a miracle. It actually encourages you to try more. without questioning your “method”. So you will continue to fail and waste time until you lose patience.
I’ll show you how to make ellipses in an other tutorial. Master the circle first. Then, ellipses shouldn’t be much a problem.
I apologize for the low resolution of the above pictures. From now I am working in a cafe with free wi-fi (which is nice enough to let me stay as long as I wish). Internet takes 2 weeks toe be installed in my new apartment. #PATIENCE
BLOGGING ALL DAY AT XIN WANG HONG KONG CAFE
Wherever you are, take a pen and try NOW !
Let’s make it a challenge, if you succeed within 1 hour, say “Hurray” in the comment! 
Been a year now since i have beeb following your blog. Sitting at coffee shop and sketching on the papers or tablet using your tips to practice on differrent topics about lines , perspective etc.
I can tell that i am communicate better through my drawing when i want to explain to someone what i have in mind. Eventhough i still have a lot to learn from your technics and methods. Just want to thank you to be so energize to give all of us lots of things in this fields.
Cheer
Bas
Hey Bas,
How are you doing. I am glad having news from you ! :)
Sketching is part of our daily life, you are right sketching in a coffee shop is so relaxing.
Thanks.
Very useful tips for a beginner like I am.
Hurray yeyy! :D
I don’t know about succeed. But it sure is better than before. Thanks! I can’t wait for the Designer Starter Kit.
Congrats Gautam. There is a good way to measure your performance. First you warm up your arm muscles with some circles. Your brain also recalibrate to your movement. Then Draw 10 circles, and count how many was successful. At start if you reach 6/10 it is a good number. Soon, rise the number to 8. :)
Hey thanks! I didn’t realize there was a quantitative way of assessing myself. I just keep drawing them all over til I fill up the page and observe their overall quality instead of quantity of good ones. I guess I’ll start doing that now.