Portrait Drawing By The Grid Method
July 14th, 2008 at 9:13 am (Art Lesson, Pencil)
Many art students enjoy drawing, but many of them say, “I can’t draw!” Discovering ways to instill in them, and give confidence, that they can draw can be a difficult task.
Chuck Close is a gifted artist with a dissability. Students were curious about his way of painting when they learned that Chuck paints with a paintbrush strapped to his hand, and that he is wheelchair bound. So when students think if he could paint like that, they could try to draw too.
By showing them examples of Chucks work and presenting them with the grid system, students begin to feel more comfortable… focusing on one inch at a time. Looking at 1-inch sections at a time, and not the whole portrait, helps students not to be overwhelmed by the thought of drawing the whole portrait.
The most difficult part then was ruler skills. Many students were having difficulty with the exact grid dimensions on their photocopied portrait picture and their drawing paper. I found them to be losing patience and getting frustrated, so making a grid on drawing paper myself 1 inch by 1 inch squares on a 8 ½” X 11″ sheet and putting in the photocopier with transparencies to have them be the same, simplified things tremendously.
All the students had to do was to tape the grid transparency to the portrait photocopy. They found this to be helpful and less frustrating. This then gave them the confidence they needed to look at the portrait and assess the shapes and values more closely.
Drawing the human figure is one of the most difficult things and my students always are intimidated by it, these modifications relived some of that tension and gave them the confidence that they need to believe in themselves that they can do it. It also got them quickly into the drawing part of the assignment.
Many times there are just too many preparation steps in a project and students lose interest and then are not motivated to complete the assignment. It is our job as teachers to keep students motivated and these simple project modifications are an example of that.
Article Source: Drawing By The Grid Method
