How to Draw an Incredible Picture

From the time I was three years old, to my occasional daydream now, I've wanted to be an artist. I've taken art classes from kindergarten through college, and the most efficient, effective, fool-proof lesson I ever learned was in my Freshman year of high school. No matter how frustrated I was feeling about my drawing techniques, or how impossible it seemed to draw a picture that could actually be considered "good", I would always resort to this method and it never failed me. I call it "grid drawing", though I'm not exactly sure of the technical name, and with it you can create a detailed picture in an easy, cheap, and fun way. The only materials you need is a pencil, an eraser, a ruler, and any size piece of paper, preferably a large piece of white paper, or even a white poster-board that you can get from the school supply aisle in any local drug store. Oh, and of course, your drawing subject, which leads me to the first step.

1. Picking a Drawing Subject.

You can easily pick any drawing subject that you like, but the challenge is picking the subject that works best. The easiest way to do it, is to go through some magazines and pick out pictures of things or people that you would like to draw. Celebrities, cars, sailboats, even photos of family and friends, pretty much anything can be your subject. However, I suggest picking a photo that contains only one focal subject; for example, it would be better to pick a photo just of one person rather than a group of people, or just of a person's head and shoulders rather than the whole body. The trick is, the simpler the better, and believe me, a simple subject will not take away from the drawing. If anything it will only make it better, because even a seemingly simple subject is full of little details that will bring your drawing to life. The less objects you focus on, the more you focus on the details, which will make your drawing better. Also, if you choose a photo that you've taken yourself, scan it onto your computer so you can blow it up and print it out. That way you won't have to draw on your photo, and you can see the details better. Once you pick your subject, it's time to move on to the next step.

2. Drawing the Grid.

You have your magazine cut-out, you have your pencil and ruler, and you have your large piece of white paper (you don't have to go big, but it's always easier and more impressive). Now it's time to make the grid, which requires some math so break out your calculators. First thing is to measure the sides of your subject photo. Let's say it's a 4X4 photo. Sometimes the sides won't be the same length, it could be 3X4, 5X8, or 4.5X7.8, but it doesn't really matter. The next step is to measure your white drawing paper. Most of the time the dimensions will be written right on the pack, but if not, just measure it. Let's say it's 20X24.

Next, we'll need to figure out the dimensions of our grid (believe me, this is the most difficult part about the whole process). The first thing to notice is that your grid is not going to fit perfectly on your new sheet of paper, since the subject is a square and we are putting it on a rectangle, but the excess paper usually serves to make a nice border for your picture. I don't know if it's the easiest way, but the way I do this is to make the fractions match. Let me explain what I mean. You have a 4X4 subject with a 20X24 piece of paper. If make a square on the large paper that is 16X16, we are able to make a picture that is four times the size of our subject, with a 4 inch border on the top and bottom, and a two inch border on the sides. Now, you might want your picture to be bigger than that, with less border, but this is still a good place to start. Once you at least have the dimensions right, you can play with the size, and make it bigger or smaller, while still keeping it to scale.

Once you've figured out the size of your workspace, it's time to draw the grid. You are going to be drawing a grid on the subject photo, and on your paper. Put the ruler against one of the sides of your photo. Decide how big you want the squares of you're grid to be. If it's a 4X4 photo, meaning it's four inches in length on all sides, then I suggest marking the photo at every half inch on the sides, using your ruler. Once you've marked every half inch all the way down each side, use your ruler to connect your marks with straight lines from one side of the photo to the other (side to side, up and down), until it you leave yourself with a grid of 64 squares (the number of squares may change depending on the dimensions of your photo).

Now that you have 64 squares on your subject photo (8 squares on each side), you need to have 64 squares on your paper. Since the picture on your paper is going to be four times the size of your subject, you're going to mark off squares that are four times as large as the squares on your subject (in this case, two inches). Mark off every two inches, and draw your grid the same way you did with the subject photo. You should end up with a large grid, the same scale as your subject photo grid. You're ready to draw.

3. Drawing the Picture.

Now that you have an equal number of squares on the photo and your paper, it's time to make the transfer. The easiest way to do this is to leave the shading for last, and for the time being, just outline. Go square by square and outline everything you see, including shadows. Don't worry about how you're picture looks at this stage, just make sure you're staying proportional to your photo and that your outline lines up as you go from square to square. Doing this will help you spot mistakes before you spend hours of time shading. Once you've outlined everything, it's time to shade and erase. As you follow each square again, this time to shade, erase the grid as you go along.

You're finished!

Once you finish those steps, you will have made a picture that your family and friends will be impressed with. They'll be begging you to let them hang it in their living room. This kind of drawing is so simple you feel like you're almost tricking those around you into thinking you're a good artist, but don't sell yourself short. It can take you anywhere from a day to a month to finish a picture, depending on how much detail it has, and there are some things you should remember to make you're good piece of art a great piece of art.

Take your time.

Really focus on each square as if they were each a separate picture. The extra time will really show.

There are no outlines in real life.

People don't have a thick black line showing where their faces begin and the background ends, and neither should your picture. Use shading to show the differences between foreground and background, not lines, and your picture will look less like a drawing and more realistic.

Avoid smudging shading.

Even I am sometimes guilty of using my finger to make my shading look softer. Although this looks pretty good close up, from far away it makes it look like someone accidentally smudged your drawing, which looks messy. Using only your pencil for shading will look better in the long run.

Well, I believe that's it. You're ready to make some art. Have fun and good luck!