Monday Drawing On the grid 15th September

On the grid 15th September

Today was another Monday drawing lesson and this time we were working with grids. Grids are a good way to ensure your artwork is in proportion. They have been used throughout history by many great artists. Renaissance artists used wooden frames and string to make a grid. They placed it in front of what they were drawing to help guide them.

Today, thanks to modern materials, we used card and a grid on transparent film. We placed the grid in front of the subject and mapped out the grid on the paper much like the old artists did. The technology may have changed, but the technique is the same. Why not? If it helped the old masters then it should help us today.

Using the grid and looking at some carefully placed objects, I tried this different technique of drawing. I still had to figure out what objects go where, but the grid was a very helpful tool. It made me focus on angles as well as composition. With the grid dividing the paper up into squares, it made me aware of what was filling the page. Any gaps or large areas of blank space on the grid was blindingly obvious. It's a useful tool for composition as well as proportion.

Keeping one eye on the square I was working on, and the other on the object I was drawing, I finished two sketches. One was a bold line drawing with the grid still visible to show the technique I used. The other drawing was a shaded work without the grid showing. It was more of a finished piece.

What surprised me was how quickly I did the second drawing. After figuring out where on the grid everything went, I could draw the second sketch much faster. This showed me how useful the grid is, not only for a still life, but for portraits and landscapes as well. Using grids help develop observational skills.