If you are 1mm out with this alignment, every single mark you make from that point on will be 1mm out. When moving the second page down to continue marking, align the first mark on your second page up with the last mark on your drawing paper very accurately. The mark would only end on the edge of the second side if you are lucky enough to have divided the page up into blocks which have exactly the same ratio as the paper – highly unlikely I am sure you will agree. This is normal and not an error on your part. More often than not you will notice that the last mark doesn't end on the edge of the page as you would expect. If you are still inside the page, then you need to triple, quadruple and so on until your last “mark” is outside the page as shown below:
“Mark off” the amount of blocks onto your paper using double the distance to see if the marks are still “inside” the paper or have you gone past the edge?Įg., if you are using a 10mm grid, you will “mark off” every 20mm this time. Most probably though an exact copy will be too small or big so we would need to continue by doubling the size.
Often the reference picture and your drawing paper have such a small size difference that it is pointless resizing it, just draw it the same size and use your artists license to fill in the small amount of empty space. You don't really mark off anything at this stage, we are just testing to see if the drawing will fit or not, so just move your finger along the ruler as though you were marking off. If you are using the 20mm grid, mark off every 20mm, etc. To divide the chosen side of your drawing paper into the same amount of blocks as your grid size you start by checking to see if the drawing doesn't fit in nicely as an exact copy (the same size) by measuring the same amount of blocks on your drawing paper by “marking off” the blocks along the length of the paper in the same intervals as your gid.Įg, if you are using a 10mm grid, then “mark” every 10mm onto the side of your drawing paper. To save yourself counting time, remember the word EJO.Į = block 5, J = block 10, O = block 15 across, so you can now count from one of those blocks to save time. The other side is lettered, so you usually have to count those blocks.
The grid is numbered along the one side, so to read that value off is easy. I will now need to divide my drawing paper up into 15 equal parts horizontally too. The squirrel fills blocks A to O, so that gives me 15 blocks. (Print onto transparency using your inkjet or print onto regular paper and then photocopy onto a transparency)Īs I have chosen the horizontal width as the most important, I will count how many blocks on my grid are filled by the squirrel horizontally.
Once you start drawing it is vital that your grid does not move!!!īelow are some grids for you to download and use. (Just like we did with the lightbox method to form a hinge). Stick the grid into place using a long length of masking tape on one side so that it can't move, but you still lift it. You can see how I have left some space at the top and to the left of my squirrel above. That way your picture will not extend all the way to the sides of the paper.
Another rule of thumb would be to use a finer grid for fine detailed pictures and chunky grid for redrawing chunky pictures.ģ) You can work in a border around your image by adding blocks onto the sides or top and bottom of the image. Rule of thumb is to use the 5mm or quarter inch grid for pictures up to A6 size (105mm x 148mm), the 10mm or half inch grid for images up to A5 (148mm x 210mm) and the 20mm / inch grid for larger images. Choose too big, then the blocks are so big, you loose accuracy. If you choose a grid that is too fine, then you will go squint trying to follow each block. 1) When placing your grid ensure that everything you need in the picture fits inside the grid.Ģ) Choose a grid that is a comfortable size for the reference drawing.