Grid Drawing - Copying Pictures Using a Grid Squares

By Helen South, About.com Guide

The completed grid drawing will include all the major lines of the object - outline, important details and clear shadow shapes. If you want to indicate the position of subtle details, such as a higlight, use a light dotted line. Now you can carefully erase your grid, patching up any erased parts of your drawing as you go - if you've drawn it lightly enough, this shouldn't be difficult. The grid in this example is much darker than I'd actually draw in practice. Then you can complete it as a line drawing, or add shading. If you need a very clean surface, you might want to trace your completed sketch onto a fresh sheet of paper.

This technique is useful for transferring a drawing to large sheets for pastel drawing or to canvas for painting. When enlarging a drawing, you need to be particularly careful of distortion; lack of detail in the original can be a problem.

Previous

• Choosing a Picture and Grid Size
• Drawing Your Grids
• A Few Squares at a Time
• Following Shapes and Using Negative Space
• The Finished Grid Drawing

Next