Using Visual Aids
Using visual aids for drawing practice is essential for the beginning artist. Through observations of photographs or the paintings and drawings of master artists, art students learn the needed skills to create their own masterpieces. Careful study of successful compositions help in learning to capture a visual reference's correct proportions, perspective, and balance.
Take for instance the photograph I took of a dragonfly pictured below. This photo could be reproduced as a drawing with astounding accuracy using a technique that helps an artist break up the task in pieces.
Step 1:
Find a visual aid that you would feel comfortable reproducing as a drawing.
Step 2: Draw a grid on top of the visual aid with lines that are evenly spaced both vertically and horizontally. It is important to plot the grid as a series of squares rather than rectangles in order to avoid distorted proportions.
A grid superimposed on the image will allow an artist to efficiently handle positive and negative space without the frustrations of centering the subject on the drawing surface. The exact distribution of vertical and horizontal lines will depend on the artist's preference - some will find it easier to draw with the aid of a grid made up of many, smaller squares rather than one with fewer and larger squares.
The illustration above shows how a grid system can break up the image in terms of positive and negative space. Negative space is represented by the black background while the positive space in the image is shown as the white outline of the object.
Step 3: On a sheet of drawing paper, lightly plot out a grid that has the same number of vertical and horizontal lines as the visual aid. The best way to do this is with a hard graphite drawing pencil that only makes light marks (a 6H pencil from a drawing kit should do the trick). Be careful not to score the drawing paper as you plot out the grid so that they can be erased easily when the drawing is complete.
The drawing surface does not have to be the same size as the visual aid, though it helps to choose a piece of paper that is proportional to the dimensions of your visual reference. Doing so will prevent a lot of headaches when it comes to plotting out the grid. Also, bear in mind that this technique is useful for both enlargements and reductions of your chosen visual aid since the size of the subject matter that you are drawing depends on the dimensions of the grid's squares.
Below is an example of a 2X enlargement of a visual aid to a drawing surface. Notice that both the height and width of the visual aid has been doubled in the enlargement, resulting in a drawing that is exactly twice the size.
Careful attention to measurement, as in the example above, will result in a drawing with proportions that are double that of the visual aid. In other words, the dragonfly will be twice the size in the drawing as it is in the photograph (provided the dimensions of the graph are doubled as well).
Step 4: After the drawing surface has been prepared, transfer the drawing piece by piece to the corresponding squares.
For this project you will need:
- A visual aid
- A 12 or 36 inch ruler
- A 6H drawing pencil
- A piece of drawing paper
- A bright colored pen or marker (for visual aid grid)
- Your medium of choice (graphite pencils, pen and ink, colored pencils)
