Art Education Art Technique Grid Method

1. Grid Method
Art Technique in Accuracy
Scale Up and Scale Down

2. Grid Method
A method for enlarging a small design (a
"bozzetto") to a full size cartoon for a large
mosaic. It involves drawing a grid of squares
over the small picture.
Also called Grid Technique or Squaring Up

3. A Brief History
In Egypt, they made use of a Canon of Proportion (a
precise measurement of a body) that allows little
individuality. The forehead is measured on the 18th box
and the belly button is at the 11th box.

4. A Brief History
The Canon is a theoretical
work that discusses ideal
mathematical proportions for the
parts of the human body and
proposes for sculpture of the human
figure a dynamic counterbalance—
between the relaxed and tensed
body parts and between the
directions in which the parts move.
("Polykleitos")
Polykleitos created his
method around 450 BCE and called
it “The Canon” coming from the
Greek word kanon meaning
measure, rule, or law.

5. Technique and Execution
1 Pick your image. The image this article will be
using as an example is this image from a Calvin
and Hobbes cartoon.

6. Technique and Execution
2 Choose your drawing paper. It should be scaled
to the size of your original print.
For example, if you have an image that's
8.5" x 11" (21.4cm x 28cm), then scale the drawing
paper size accordingly (i.e. 17" X 22" (43cm x
56cm) (two times), 4.25" x 5.5" (10.7cm x 14cm)
(0.5x)). In this article, you will be making a 1:1
scale drawing (8.5" x 11"/21.4cm x 28cm) for the
sake of side-by-side comparison.
In the picture on the right, you can see
the two pieces of 8.5" x 11" paper. The top is your
reference image, and the bottom is your drawing
paper.

7. Technique and Execution
3 Mark the edges of the reference
picture at equal intervals. For this
How-To, you will be using one-inch
(2.5cm) intervals. In the end, you
should have equally spaced marks
along the edges of your paper.
If you were using one-inch
markings, there will be a half-inch
(1.27cm) marking at either the upper
or lower half of the drawing, since
the length (or height, if flipped in the
example) is only 8.5"/21.4
centimeter (8.4 in).

8. Technique and Execution
4 Connect the opposing
marks with a ruler. These
connected lines will form a
grid pattern, hence the name
"Grid method".
5 Make the same exact grid
pattern on your drawing
paper. In the end, you should
have something similar to the
image provided.

9. Technique and Execution
6 Once this is complete, number
each box for both your reference
picture and drawing paper,
starting with the top left corner. If
done correctly, you should have
99 separate boxes. The product
should look like a long calendar.
7 Now it is time to begin
drawing. Begin wherever you
want. In this image, you'll see
the original artist started in
Hobbes's armpit (Box 23).

10. Technique and Execution
8 So draw...
9 And draw...
10 Complete the drawing. It may as
exact as you would like. For pictures that
are the same size (1:1), you can use a
light box. However, if you are making a
poster, try making smaller boxes.
For example, if you're taking this image
and making it twice the original size
(2:1), you could have 1" (2.5cm) boxes
on the original image, and 2" (5cm)
boxes on the big poster. You could also
make 0.5" boxes on the original image,
and then have 1" (2.5cm) boxes on your
big poster. The important thing is to keep
everything scaled.

11. Uses
 Scale-Up
 Scale-Down
 Select Image
 1:1 Scale

12. Plates 13-15
 Plate 13 Scale-Up (measure up to 6 x 9 in)
HB, H, B Ruler, Eraser
 Plate 14 Scale-Down (3 x 4.5 in)
HB, H, B Ruler, Eraser
 Plate 15 1:1 Scale (measure picture and copy
as it is)
HB, H, B Ruler, Eraser

13. Sources:
http://www.wikihow.com/Scale-Drawings-Using-
the-Grid-Method