Grid Drawing
Grid Drawing
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29:07

Portrait Painting in Oil Without a Brain

Grid Method

Your assignment is to do this with me! Again, it may seem overly simple but learning how to do this is a great place to start for the rest of the course.

Download the reference from the downloads tab of this lesson.

Newest
Ana Aguilar
Hi Morgan, Here is my grid drawing. I think I may have done too much details. Thanks for your comments. Ana Aguilar
Niklas Nilsson
Learned a lesson the hard way. After completing the grid drawing the first time, something felt wrong. But no the lines match the grid. Trust the grid. Until I realised that my canvas did not have the same proportions as the reference. 41x33 cm instead of 12x16” re did it and it was much easier. Attaching failed attemp here also. 😅
Rachel Dawn Owens
Thanks for sharing! This is a helpful lesson to learn for sure
Edward Taylor
Hi Morgan, Heres my preliminary drawing for Grid drawing section. Loving the course so far!
@rachaelcawley
First time using the grid method and it's awesome! so excited to see how it looks with paint.
@keiimotoleyendoshi
Please pardon the lateness. Freehand.
Morgan Weistling
solid. I like it.
Salem M
1mo
This was my first time trying the grid method. I used 2" squares.
Shawn Laughlin
This is digital. I'm going to try to do the entire course digitally and pick up what I can out of it. I did this with a grid and drew a lot of it upside down. I then put the reference over it, and turned it on and off to show where the glaring errors were.
Morgan Weistling
try and think more about he two families of shadow and light and how you can keep each family separate but tight nit within each group. You should be able to see it very clearly in your drawing in a small thumbnail image. It shouldn't look all disjointed.
@rrb
2mo
Do you ever use projectors?
Morgan Weistling
mentally. I don't like to take the mechanical into my drawing process.
Gannon Beck
It feels good to finally have this started!
Morgan Weistling
a good start. keep going.
@arlenedanielartist
Thanks Morgan for this course! I'm looking forward to honing my skill. Great tip with the paper for the girds!
Morgan Weistling
good job, now move into shadow with paint
Lynda Baxter
I wasn't successful in folding the paper, so I did a one inch grid.. (I am going to go back and try the paper folding again.. it looked really interesting to do.) I wonder if I should go ahead and use the fixative on this drawing now? Thank you @Morgan Weistling For a grid drawing (which I've never done before...) It took me forever to do this and I am not even sure if I have it accurate enough. This was a big eye opener for me.
Morgan Weistling
yes, this good. move on
@micheledavisart
Just started this course — I loved the paper folding trick for gridding! Cannot believe I didn’t know that until now! Thanks for making another great course, Morgan. Here is my sketch…
Morgan Weistling
great start!
@mnk
3mo
I started drawing during the first covid lock down and have spent most of my time since then on learning construction/anatomy, mostly doing sketches. I picked up painting last spring and have felt very disheartened for the last 6 months, since none of the things i learned seemed to translate to a brush and canvas. Glad I found Kristians interview with Morgan. The grid definitely helps with "turning my brain" off. Not sure if the drawing is good enough to proceed, maybe not enough detail, or too little?
Morgan Weistling
it's good enough to move forward but keep thinking the same objective way with the brush and improve your drawing with paint
Angel Kritikos
The beginnings of the first portrait
Fancy Mongoose
A bit more challenging than I thought it would be, but I found the grid very helpful.
Lynda Baxter
@Morgan Weistling I'm having a terrible time getting my print out to match my canvas going from corner to corner like you are demonstrating. The only way I can make this work is to size it to 8 x 6 which of course is not good to grid. I've printed several prints of the photo using different margins etc. None of them match corner to corner on the canvas. Not even close enough to use. I would have through 10 x 8 would have worked, seems 8 x 6 worked, but it doesn't either. What size is the print out you are using? I've almost run out of ink printing this and want to get it right the next time. I am using a 16 x 12 canvas, and a yard stick... thanks so much for any advise you can give to help me get this gridded.
Morgan Weistling
just draw a line where the canvas should be to match the photo and grid from there.either from the top or bottom. doesn't matter.
@jimpansyart
Drawing assignment. Used a 8x10 canvas just because it’s was available. Reasonably happy. Is it ready to fix?
Morgan Weistling
Yes,. But it's harder to paint smaller the way the demo is structured for beginners. But you can do it.
Shelly England
Took your advice. Slowed down. flicked eyes back and forth. Flicked between photos of drawing and reference (most helpful). It’s better than 10 days ago. But I’m certainly not overjoyed yet. Somewhere in the videos you tactfully said a version of “find your own stinkin’ errors” 🙂 And I needed to be reminded of that. I think our default is to ask for help first rather than as a last resort. Great reminder. Thanks for that.
Morgan Weistling
you are in the ballpark. good job.
Debra Rank
3mo
Ready to spray fix?
Gaye Sekula
My revision. I will be sure to use a lighter, smoother application with the acrylic wash in future.
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Award winning fine artist represented by @legacygalleryart in Scottsdale AZ
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