# TSG: Hooks at start of strokes
## Overview
These "hooks" often seem to be an artifact of various pen smoothing/stabilization techniques.
## Smoothing
In the example, lots of quick flicks were used to draw several strokes with lots of smoothing applied. You can clearly see that some lines have hooks at the beginning.
Below the same style flicks were used to draw strokes but this time the smoothing was set to zero.
## Angle of fast stroke
When making fast strokes one after the other, there is a tendency for the hand to move the pen in a bit of a circular motion. So the initial point of contact is not where you want the stroke to begin. As your hand moves the pen to the correct location, this can create the hook.
I have found that I can reduce the hooks by:
* being more careful about the stroke
* drawing more slowly
## Pressure curve
Another contributing factor is that your pen may have a very low IAF and so is sensitive to that initial contact.
A low IAF is great, but if you are doing a lot of strokes, the sensitivity can result in more hooks. Consider adjusting your pressure curve as shown below.
## Links
*
##
---
# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.
Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:
```
GET https://docs.sevenpens.com/drawtab/troubleshoot/tsg-strokes-hooks-at-start.md?ask=
```
The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.
Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.