GRIDS are extremely handy when tackling tough drawing projects, more importantly, very large projects. If you see photos of crop drawings from the sky, the artist more than likely used a grid to accomplish such an overwhelming task. Grids are very useful when drawing or painting for the purpose of being extremely detailed and authentic to the subject matter.

The idea is to take a photo of your subject and draw horizontal and vertical lines making equal squares. You then do a little math and transfer the same number of squares onto the medium that you’ll be drawing or painting on. If you used 1×1 inch squares on the photo perhaps all your squares on the paper will be 2×2 inches and so on. That’s what I’ve done for this drawing of a classic Porsche.

I find it helpful to label the columns and rows so that it’s always simple to know which square I am working on. I have labeled columns alphabetically whereas I’ve labeled the rows by numbers.

Each square acts like a mini-drawing. Instead of being overwhelmed by the big picture, concentrate on one square at a time. I start with the outline first then get into little details. You’ll find that by drawing in squares your lines will match up better and your outline will be extremely accurate to the photo.

This is a work in progress. I started with the grid (2 inch squares), made an outline of the car then went in and put in tiny little details. I worked around the car gradually square by square adding the details. Once I was happy with the shape and beginning details, I erased the grid lines from the car drawing. This can be tricky as an eraser will leave behind white lines. So it’s important to blend the eraser marks away the best you can!

I then started adding more detail and added shading to the car to bring it from being a static line drawing to a close facsimile of the real thing.

I added the background and put finishing touches on the brick driveway and approximately 14 hours of working the drawing is complete!