Video 12: Drawing From Photos

Photography can be a great resource for drawings. Because photography on it’s own
is considered a form of art, it is suggested that artists take their own photographs to
use as reference for drawings. When the artist uses their own photography, the
drawing is completely their own creation.

Photographs can be a great aid in creating highly realistic drawings. In this lesson,
we’ll look at using the “grid technique” to create a drawing from a photo.

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 The Grid Technique
The first step is to locate a photograph to
use for your photo reference. Remember,
it is suggested that you use your own
photo. The photo that will be used in this
demonstration is of a gorilla and is
available for download on the video page
for this lesson.

Next, we’ll need to prepare the photo. To

accomplish this, photo manipulation
software is required. Photoshop will be
used for this demonstration, but other free
solutions exist. (An alternative program is
listed on the video page.)

Once the photo is in the photo

manipulation software, we can edit the
image. Since our medium is grayscale
(graphite) we’ll first remove the color.
This is accomplished by selecting “Image”
> “Mode” > “Grayscale”.

Next, we’ll quickly adjust the

brightness/contrast to balance the
values. This is accomplished by
selecting “Image” > “Adjustments” >
“Brightness/Contrast”.

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 Now, we’ll crop the image to a size that is proportional to our finished paper.
In this case, the image will be cropped to 8” by 10”. To crop the image, use
the rectangular selection tool to define a 8” by 10” area. Then select “Image”
> “Crop”.

Next, we’ll define a grid on top of the

image in the photo manipulation
program. To do this, select “View” >
“Show” > “Grid”.

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 By default, the grid is made up of small
squares. We will need to change this
to reflect “1” squares. To do this, go to
“Photoshop” > “Preferences” >
“Guides, Grid, & Slices...”

In the “Preferences” pane, change the “Gridline Every” box to “1” inches and
the “Subdivisions” to “0”. You may pick a color that you want the gridlines to be
as well.

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 Here is a look at the edited photo
ready for drawing.

The next step is to prepare our

drawing surface. In this example, the
image was purposely cropped to fit an
8” by 10” drawing surface. Therefore,
the drawing will need to be
proportional to the 8” by 10” photo
reference. For this example, a 8” by
10” drawing will be created, but any
paper size that is proportional to 8” by
10” can be used.

Now the corresponding grid will need to be drawn on the drawing surface.
Horizontal lines are measured at 1” intervals to match the horizontal lines of the grid
on our photo reference.

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 The grid is completed by drawing vertical lines at 1” intervals to match the vertical
lines of the grid on the photo reference.

The artist can now refer to the individual squares on the photo reference and draw
the contours that exist in the corresponding square on the drawing surface.

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 Using the grid, the artist can draw all of the contours that exist in each of the
squares of the photo reference. Changes can be made to ensure an accurate
translation.

When the contours are completed, the artist can now begin to add the values that
exist in the drawing.

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 As the drawing develops, the artist can erase the grid lines on the drawing surface.

As the values are added, be mindful of the palm of your hand. In this case, a paper
towel is used to prevent the palm from smearing the graphite in worked areas.

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 Using the grid technique, the artist can focus on smaller “chunks” of information
from the reference photo. This allows for greater accuracy in the finished drawing.

When the information is simplified into smaller “chunks”, the artist is less likely to be
overwhelmed with challenging subjects.

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 The artist, of course, can choose to remove subjects from the original photo and use
the grid technique for selected areas only. In this case, the background in the photo
reference is substituted for a solid application of tone.

The completed drawing

has the desirable
characteristics of a
drawing (texture, tonal
range, etc.) but is
proportionally and
compositionally similar to
the photo reference.

Copyright (c) 2013 The Secrets to Drawing