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- This topic has 18 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 12 months ago by terriks.
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March 7, 2019 at 5:52 pm #470216
Hey all! I wanted to share a very interesting technique I came across recently. In the December 2018 issue of Artists Magazine, artist Chris Ivers writes about her very no-hassle grid technique to help with perspective and scale.
I’ve tried her suggestions twice and, both times, it’s worked like a charm! Briefly, I worked from a 4×6 photo reference – a print with no borders. In the article, Ms. Ivers describes how to lay out her grid pattern directly onto your photo reference. I first tried the technique with a relatively easy landscape for a photo ref. Using a white Prismacolor pencil, here is the grid pattern on the photo ref:
I printed in B&W on my old Epson photo printer without making ink enhancements, so please excuse the poor quality. For my purpose this photo was fine. Note that I cut off the white borders. No borders on your ref photo!
I used a ruler as a straight edge, but other than getting a 4×6 size inkjet print of your photo ref, there is no measuring involved – just laying out the grid pattern. (Note: Ms. Ivers paints directly onto her surface from end to end, like canvas, whereas I always tape my paper to foam board, losing a little space around my edges.)
After taping my 12×16” paper to the foam board, I laid this ref print in the upper left corner of the paper – within the paper’s plane (not as shown in the photo below). Carefully, using a straight edge and colored pencil, I extended the middle diagonal line – from upper left corner to the lower right corner – all the way down to the lower right corner of my paper.
As expected, the diagonal line did not go neatly into the corner – this is where you get your perspective help! You just mark where your diagonal line ends on the bottom of your paper and, from that mark, draw a vertical line up to the top of the paper. In this way, your line becomes the *false* right side of the paper, leaving an open inch or so.
Once you have that *false* right side vertical line, you remove your ref photo and make the identical grid pattern on your paper, using that vertical line as if it were the actual end of the paper.
When I finished the grid on my paper, I decided it would be easiest to make that extra, empty space just be part of the sky – easy to do with a landscape scene. So I rotated the paper to place that small empty space between where I taped and the line I made. Notice that the top horizontal line from the grid is now placed in what will become part of the sky – very easy to fill in, and that extra space doesn’t interrupt the overall scale of the image. I placed the ref photo just above where I taped the top of the paper, as a guide while I sketched out the painting.
It’s up to you where you want to place that empty space – whether it’s going to be painted on horizontally or vertically will depend on your photo ref.
I used Nupastels to start sketching my underpainting. The grid on the ref photo made placing the horizon line and the tree placement easy.
One word of caution: I made extra work for myself by using too deep a color to make the grid. I had planned a lighter sky but ended up having to go deep orange to cover up the grid lines. First time mistake!
The finished underpainting in Nupastels:
After spraying with Krylon workable fixative, I finished the painting in Mungyos, Neopastels and some Senns:
I had to apply lots of layers to cover every line well, and this painting ended up being quite vivid. Some close ups:
Chris Ivers is a genius! Despite my stumbles, the painting came together. The grid helped a lot and was easy to do. I have seen other grid patterns but they seem more confusing to me than helpful.
Anyone who might be interested in learning more should check out her website or find a copy of her article.
Terri
Film photographer with special love for alternative photographic processes - especially ones that get my hands dirty!
March 7, 2019 at 6:17 pm #794655Here is my second attempt. This was the painting I did for the Abstract thread here, Picasso’s Cat Catching a Bird. It’s such an angular thing, I thought it would be a good exercise for the grid technique.
I got a better ref photo printed, again a 4×6″ for another 12×16″ paper – this time, it was Pastelmat. I printed the photo and created the grid per Chris Ivers’ instructions, using a white Prismacolor pencil.
When finished, I laid the ref photo onto the upper left corner of the Pastelmat, which was already taped to my foam board. Laying down my straight edge from the upper left corner of the Pastelmat (under the ref photo), I extended that middle diagonal line – from upper left to bottom right corner.
Again, it didn’t go neatly into the corner. I marked where the end of my straight edge touched the bottom right side, then drew a vertical line to the upper right corner. This made a new *false* side of the paper, and I followed this new dimension when I completed the whole grid.
Here is the ref photo with the grid, taped above and outside the Pastelmat with the grid pattern:
[FONT="]In this instance, the empty space just ended up as more background to the right, behind the cat’s rear legs. In the sunset photo, I turned the paper to make the empty space at the top.
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[FONT="] Following the grid on my ref, I sketched it out with Nupastels and colored pencil first:[/FONT]The grid really helped with the cat’s size, leg placement, etc. Here is the final Nupastel sketch:
[FONT="]I put in quite a bit more detail with the Nupastels this time. I wanted to get the face right. All I had to do was expand on this with the oil pastels, after coating the Nupastels with a workable fixative.
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[FONT="]This went faster than I usually work, and it’s because I didn’t have to correct mistakes of scale and perspective. Highly recommend Chris Ivers article from the December 2018 issue of Artists Magazine.
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[FONT="][FONT="]The finished painting (again), with some close-ups:[/FONT][/FONT]
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Terri
Film photographer with special love for alternative photographic processes - especially ones that get my hands dirty!
March 7, 2019 at 6:47 pm #794649What is the final size of the sunset painting? Why is there empty space at the top if you started in the left upper corner?
Lamar
Art is life's dream interpretation.
- Otto RankMarch 7, 2019 at 9:21 pm #794656Hi Lamar! The sunset painting is also 12×16, though I think it’s on Arches oil paper. I only tape in a quarter inch on all sides, so when I peel off the tape, I have a clean quarter inch border.
About that empty space… It was the first time I tried the technique, and I had the paper vertically in front of me, even though I set the ref pic on it horizontally. I wasn’t really thinking it through. The empty space ended up on the long end of the paper, and I had to rotate the paper so that end could be the top, for open sky. It didn’t matter for this particular image, but laying the horizontal reference pic on the paper positioned vertically was another mistake.
For the cat, I positioned the paper horizontally, and laid the ref pic horizontally as well. When I made the first diagonal line, the empty space ended up on the shorter side, and I was able to keep it that way without rotating it.
I apologize, I gave the 2 examples of how I used the empty space, but didn’t make a point of saying think about where you might want that empty space to end up. Each reference photo will be different. These were both horizontal images, but I used the empty space differently in each.
Does that clarify it better? Sorry for not being clear! My fault.
Terri
Film photographer with special love for alternative photographic processes - especially ones that get my hands dirty!
March 7, 2019 at 10:47 pm #794653Thanks for sharing, Terri! This really is a great technique to try out!
Christel
March 7, 2019 at 11:08 pm #794650OK, Terri, I think I get it now! I saw this somewhere years ago, but didn’t quite grasp what was involved. You’ve solved something that’s been nagging me for years
Even the empty space makes sense now. If you had a 12×18, it would have exactly filled the paper as a 300 per cent enlargement, but the 12×16 is a slightly smaller enlargement, but still proportional when the empty space is taken out (or used for extra sky).
Lamar
Art is life's dream interpretation.
- Otto RankMarch 7, 2019 at 11:39 pm #794648Excellent demonstration Terri. I’ve used grids before and you do a great job showing it in use. The colors are so vivid in that sunset painting. Very striking.
Rich
My website - http://rapaintings.comMy Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/richallanbass/
March 9, 2019 at 12:04 pm #794657Christel and Rich – thanks so much!
Lamar – I’m happy that I was better able to explain this. In re-reading my first post, I made reference to “my stumbles” but didn’t mention that one in detail. Sorry to create confusion.
But yes, some of the sizes are easier to deal with together than others – an 8×10, for example, is a perfect match with 16×20 since it’s just double the size. On the other hand, the Pastelmat isn’t even an exact 12×16 – it’s more like 12×15.5″ or something like that.
When you flail around like I do trying to eyeball trickier compositions from photo refs, this was a big help, and easy to do. I was happy to find that issue of Artists Magazine with the Chris Ivers article.
Terri
Film photographer with special love for alternative photographic processes - especially ones that get my hands dirty!
March 9, 2019 at 8:13 pm #794651Lamar – I’m happy that I was better able to explain this. In re-reading my first post, I made reference to “my stumbles” but didn’t mention that one in detail. Sorry to create confusion.
The confusion is on my part :confused: But now I get it
I saw this method of scaling up in a library book years ago, realized I’d misunderstood it, then couldn’t find the book again. It would have been very handy for something work-related at the time (having to do with enlarging 9inch x 9inch stereo aerial photo negs – I could have used a string and a contact print to pre-visualize), plus the obvious benefits in landscapes and such. Now I’ll have to relearn a little math to make full use of it Thank Goodness for online proportion calculators!
So, anyway, I’m thrilled; thank you so much for sharing this!
Lamar
Art is life's dream interpretation.
- Otto RankMarch 10, 2019 at 5:18 pm #794658You’re very welcome! Chris Ivers wrote a very useful article, simplifying the process to make it approachable for beginners with few tools and no math skills.
Perfect for me.
Terri
Film photographer with special love for alternative photographic processes - especially ones that get my hands dirty!
March 11, 2019 at 8:35 am #794662Thank you for taking the time to explain this useful technique, Terri!
I will have to re-read it to get the full grasp of it (it’s not about your explanations, it’s just a technique that requires better concentration… for somebody for whom English is not the first language :D)I love the vibrant, burning colors of the first painting!
The second is interesting, you really like this guy Picasso! maybe thanks to you I will learn more about his styleI love oil pastels and have created a blog about this medium. While the blog posts are in Russian, still I invite you to get inspired with various artists' beautiful OP paintings in my blog's gallery: https://oilpastelist.wordpress.com/gallery
March 11, 2019 at 11:25 am #794654Very informative post, terriks, and fantastic paintings! Once again you’ve outdone your reference with Picasso’s cat.
http://www.shyeomans.co.uk
\m/ neue deutsche härte \m/
Nothing left but smoke and cellar, and a woman with a black umbrella...March 11, 2019 at 11:57 am #794659Mira, Sarah, thank you both!
Sarah, you’re too kind. Way too kind!
Mira, if you can find the article you’ll see better photos of the technique. Like most artists, we’re quite visual in our learning styles and it can be easier to look at something than reading alone.
I do indeed like this guy Picasso. I’m not a fan of pure analytical cubism, but really love the various ways he used it in portraits. I’m a much bigger fan of surrealism, and there’s a lot of it out there. It’s both freeing and challenging (at least for me!).
This grid helps a lot with my sketches.
Terri
Film photographer with special love for alternative photographic processes - especially ones that get my hands dirty!
March 22, 2019 at 4:59 pm #794652I used that grid system for this painting in the March Watermedia challenge. It’s mostly opaque watercolor, but I did use a bright green oil pastel to draw the pears and white OP for final highlights. I slipped in the the far right pear outline and could not correct without leaving a paint resistant line hanging in the background, hence the lop-sided pear A diagonal line can be seen coming from the upper right, which resulted from a too heavy hand in the grid stage. At the bottom is what was left of the paper after scaling up proportionally.
Anyway, I found this way of scaling up a drawing to be very handy and plan to play with it more.
Lamar
Art is life's dream interpretation.
- Otto RankMarch 23, 2019 at 7:31 pm #794660I’m so happy you’re finding this technique useful, Lamar!
I like your pears. If you hadn’t mentioned that diagonal line, I don’t think I would have noticed. Combining mediums like this sounds fun! Your palette is bright and cheerful. Definitely keep going.
Terri
Film photographer with special love for alternative photographic processes - especially ones that get my hands dirty!
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