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How do you guys get your hands steady. When I am highlighting, my hands shake like crazy... It also gets paint everywhere...

lots of coke.

half Oz of weed usually.

Ssssshhhhhhhh. Ya not suppost to tell him about the drugs.

Brace your arms and hands.

The technique I was taught involved having both wrists together and both elbows on the table.

I would never advocate usage of narcotics to enhance performance (unless you are a snowboarder, where it's a pre-requisite).

Coke as in cola.

I rest my hands on the edge of the table and brace my other hand on my brush hand to keep it steady. Like caving/spelunking- three points of contact.

its natural to have your hands shake.
Place your arms, hands on the table if possible. The more on the table, the less you shake.
Also, take in a breath of air, exhale half of it (so you dont faint ) and hold. Paint what you need quickly over about 5 sec. Then exhale and breath as normal.

OoieGoie wrote:
Also, take in a breath of air, exhale half of it (so you dont faint ) and hold. Paint what you need quickly over about 5 sec. Then exhale and breath as normal.

Are you painting or shooting? This almost exactly describes the US Military's proper breathing technique when squeeing the trigger.

focusedfire wrote:

OoieGoie wrote:
Also, take in a breath of air, exhale half of it (so you dont faint ) and hold. Paint what you need quickly over about 5 sec. Then exhale and breath as normal.

Are you painting or shooting? This almost exactly describes the US Military's proper breathing technique when squeeing the trigger.

It's done for the same reason. It reduces the small muscle movements that causes shaking when painting and shooting, helps your aim in both instances.

When sculpting, I find that if you actually make some sort of contact between your hands, the shaky-ness is sorta negated. I usually end up holding the model in my fingers, then reaching the pinky of my right hand (I'm a lefty) out to meet and touch my left hand somewhere. Once they're touching, it's like the small movements of my hands are linked, so it isn't as big of an issue.

Who says you even need to steady hands? I frequently draw on the bus, which bounces all over the place, but I still manage to control my lines cause it's not about being steady, it's about timing.

Your hands are always going to jitter a little bit, it's not just muscles twitching, it's also caused my your heart beating, and stress. No point fighting it, the best thing you can do is breath easy, and roll with it.

1. Decide where you're going to put your line.
2. Get your brush in position.
3. watch your fingers to see which way they are jittering.
4. turn mini to compensate (you want jitters to be parallel to your line)
5. wait for the right moment.
6. Strike! And do you line in one smooth confident motion.

Stokleplinger wrote:When sculpting, I find that if you actually make some sort of contact between your hands, the shaky-ness is sorta negated. I usually end up holding the model in my fingers, then reaching the pinky of my right hand (I'm a lefty) out to meet and touch my left hand somewhere. Once they're touching, it's like the small movements of my hands are linked, so it isn't as big of an issue.

Yeah this is true, if I draw on the bus I do the same thing with my little finger under my pad and it helps a lot.

cup yur hands together and put them on your right knee (if your right handed) and hold your knee with your forearms, my EXACT technique for detailing ,aaaand make sure you have eaten properly, soda helps for some people

For me, I have to use either a tall table or a very low chair.

That way the edge of the table/desk is nearest to my eyes. So when I rest my arms or wrists against the table for stability, it is already at eye level...

You could always get someone else to hold the model for you...and then someone different to hold the brush...and then gently move thier hands around to paint...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Rest your elbow on the table, or an armrest on your chair.

I rest my head against my left ankle, and scream "STEADYYYYY" as loud as I can. I then spill my blood into a bowl, pour it over my head and hallucinate until I pass out.
When the nightmares finish and my head stops pounding, I wake up and I've miraculously painted a straight line!
Huzzah!

No, but seriously. Bracing against a table or your knee and your other arm is the way to go.

Steeadyy! That's awesome, I'm going to try that, do you get the blood before you start of during?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and what kind of bowl?

No need to worry about shakiness, just be patient.

@Jihadnik:
I like to draw blood after screaming "STEADYYYY!", to be sure it's nice and fresh.
Traditionally, the bowl is made from a hollowed-out human cranium, but any bowl should work.

chromedog wrote:Brace your arms and hands.

The technique I was taught involved having both wrists together and both elbows on the table.

I would never advocate usage of narcotics to enhance performance (unless you are a snowboarder, where it's a pre-requisite).

Lol at the snowboarder reference.

Place as much of your arm you can on the table, empty your lungs of air (don't ask why, works for me when painting and aiming with a gun xD) and do it with confidence.

I rest my hands on the desk to give me a nice sturdy platform

Interesting...

Winter wrote:

focusedfire wrote:

OoieGoie wrote:
Also, take in a breath of air, exhale half of it (so you dont faint ) and hold. Paint what you need quickly over about 5 sec. Then exhale and breath as normal.

Are you painting or shooting? This almost exactly describes the US Military's proper breathing technique when squeeing the trigger.

It's done for the same reason. It reduces the small muscle movements that causes shaking when painting and shooting, helps your aim in both instances.

Oh, I understand the principles, It was just worded in a way that took me back to my military days in a way I found amusing.


@OP- SmackCakes has a good point about the timing. You can even combine the steadying techniques with the timing for amazing results, but there is one other thing that you will need to do and that is to commit. The problems you described that you are having could be caused by hesitation and a lack of trust in what you are attempting. If the brush is in one spot long enough to make a mess of the job then you are hesitating. Also when you move your hand in a confident manner, it smooths out the shakes.

Only other thing I can suggest is the learn how to relax, occaisionally sit back, take a deep breath and remember to not tense up. It may sound silly but the odds are that as your hands shake you are probably tensing up in an effort to control the shake. Problem is that tensing up makes the shaking worse, you have to learn when you are tensing up and how to make yourself relax enough to where you can commit smoothly to the brush stroke.

I abuse caffeine as well heh. I also steady the painting hand by pressing one finger against my other hand. Sounds weird but helps steady it.

I use my feet.

After the slightly controversial posts about narcotics above, it would be interesting to see how a coke head got on when painting a miniature whilst off their heads on drugs.
It would either end up the miniature equivalent of the Sistine Chapel, or like a Henry Matisse cross bred with a Picasso
Back on topic, I get the shakes if i concentrate too hard. I know that sounds silly but if i'm doing delicate work i avoid alcohol and caffeine and put on some relaxing music. Relaxed muscles perform better than tense ones IMHO! If your really stuck by a second hand copy of the old buzz game Operation, that'll get your hand steady in no time!

You can use a vice or clamp to hold the model in place and then hold the wrist of the painting hand with the other, but my advice is probably unreliable as I have naturally steady hands (not that I wish to gloat)

It takes experience I think to get a steady hand... cause when I started painting I had very unsteady hands too, but not anymore..