Warmups and Exercises

[Quo]

Any suggestions on warmups for drawing?
I will give an example of what I'm referring to moreso:
Started to sketch this morning; shapes, figures etc. and could not get the same rhythm of flow as I had last night. Gotten rusty would be a good term. Just can't seem to get that flow going!
Any ideas is well appreciated!

[Onir]

hmm whenever I warmup a bit for any drawing/sketching, I usually make a number of quick circles, straight lines, curved lines, and I practice a little shading. this seems to loosen up my arm a bit; if I'm using pencil I'll try shading reaally lightly just to readjust my arm as well. not much else I can think that I do really.. sometimes just drawing in general is a great way to warm up for drawing in my opinion lol. hope I could help!

[Quo]

HAHAHA Those are exactly what I usually do! I was wondering if there were other styles or 'methods' that others have experimented and found useful. Who knows. Thank you for sharing!

[HunterKiller_]

I do pretty much the same routine as Onir.
It's fast and efficient.

[LaGuardian]

an alternative would be to draw alphabet blocks, blocks with letters on all sides. Helps you warm up to drawing into space and across planes and so on.

[Quo]

Also, simular to the situation; when rusty I will look to other resources and draw from those, anything that suits my current taste (and not wasting time). When this happens I find I can do that more clearly than from creativity (though at times I find myself drawing from creativity more clearly).
Out of many things in art this has been one of those things I've never been able to figure, and it irritates me.
Possible problems here, or something I'm not understanding? Thanks.

[Quo]

I don't wish to sound like an ameteur; but it's always been something I've ignored till recent.
What causes you to feel blocked or rusty even with so much input with the pencil?

[HunterKiller_]

I don't think anybody knows the answer to that question.
I think it's safe to say that all artists experience blocks or feel 'rusty' at some stage, or frequently.
I believe the best way to come out of a block is to draw. Don't try to draw what you usually draw, go for something different. Don't be constipated about it, just draw like you did when you were 5 years old.

[Farvus]

To me very good exercise is drawing gestures. It might sound funny to you but sometimes at the beginning I wear some fingerless glove to make the warmup stage much shorter. The other reason is that my hands have very weak blood circulation and I can't draw anything loose when I have them cold.

[Stahr]

I wear fingerless gloves also weak circulation here to.
i often wear thoose gloves when i'm using the tablet.. because I don't get stuck with the hand on the plastic, it's a bit less friction with a glove..
i often do not make any warm up (but i should), but when i do i mostly just do something fun out of what i learnt yesterday in anatomy for an example, but my warm up often get's to long by that.
the way doing just strokes and stuff sounds like a better idea, i shall try it next time.

[HunterKiller_]

i often wear thoose gloves when i'm using the tablet.. because I don't get stuck with the hand on the plastic, it's a bit less friction with a glove.

Oh man, i hate that too. I've got a ragged little cotton glove that i sometimes wear while using the tablet.