How do I get the proportions right?

I am lucky enough to have always had a talent for drawing what I see… or close to it.  My freehand drawing is about 95% if I work really, really hard at getting my proportions right.  When drawing a landscape or a plant, or even certain animals, accuracy is less important.  But people and most animals really have to be fairly close to correctly proportioned to enable a  realistic style like mine, especially for pet portraits.  But luckily, there is the grid method.

Basically, the grid method involves laying a grid over a reference photo and drawing a similar grid on paper, though the squares may be different sizes in each grid.  So if the reference grid is eight squares by ten squares, the drawing will have an 8×10 grid on it as well.  The size of the squares will vary from artist to artist depending on preference.  I personally like a very precise drawing, so I have been using smaller grid squares for more precise detail, but recently I’ve begun using larger grid squares to allow a little more of my personal style to come through.

There is an iPad app called CopyIt Legacy which overlays a grid onto any photograph stored on the tablet (only within the app; not permanently affixed to the stored photo).  Full brightness on the iPad reveals all the detail, and it is possible to zoom in as much as 20x, which is occasionally useful.

The idea is that instead of drawing the whole picture, the artist draws what is in each square of the grid, one square at a time, which is often just one or a few lines.  Each line is carefully drawn, taking note of the angle and curve and where it starts and stops.  Halfway up the right side?  Three quarters?  By drawing each square, the picture comes into focus quite nicely.  Some care should be taken not to lose track of which is the current square, though, or the eraser will see as much use as the pencil!

If the grid is drawn directly onto the drawing paper, a light touch is best, because the grid will need to be erased later.  This is an acceptable method, but if the grid is drawn on a separate sheet of regular copy paper, little erasure is necessary.  Once everything looks like it’s in the right place, the rough drawing can be taped over the drawing paper with transfer paper in between (making sure the correct side is down on the transfer paper).  Retracing the rough drawing transfers the image to the drawing paper.  Voila!  It’s ready for color and detail!