Before we go on to the next exercise let's talk
about another skill that is absolutely vital to
understand - measuring. I know measuring sounds
like a very logical, "symbol-like" thing to do but
follow along with me here. When doing drawing it's very
helpful to have a "standard unit of measurement" for
your drawings. Measuring helps you to place objects in
the correct place and also helps to maintain perspective
and proportion in the drawing. If you measured for where
each shape was placed on your contour chair drawing it
would look just like the chair and the size would not be
"off". A standard "ruler" that we'll use is one that's
already in your hand - your pencil.
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Hold the pencil like this. |
To measure
something, hold the pencil like this with your thumb
extended along the body of the pencil. We'll measure
going from the tip of the pencil to the tip of your
thumb. You're able to slide your thumb up and down the
pencil to place the tip of your thumb at the end of the
object you're measuring and the tip of the pencil is at
the other end. Find an object in your subject that you
can use as a base to measure everything else with. This
"standard unit" is different for each drawing, it's not
like using a ruler where an inch is always an inch (one
twelfth of a foot). For example, when drawing a human
face, use the width of the eye as the "standard unit",
or if you were to draw a tree, use one branch length as
the standard.
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The fruit for the still life |
 Let's
do something done in all art classes and draw a still life of fruit.
In this exercise we'll find an object in the photo we
can measure and use that as our "standard unit", then
we'll use that measurement to measure the size against
other objects and distance from everything else in
our drawing. Get ready to do a drawing by putting a
new sheet of paper on your drawing board and sharpen
your pencil. Put the paper horizontally on your board
because that's the orientation of the photo. You'll be
drawing this picture of fruit on the right. Click the
photo to see how large it looks for you. Is your monitor
big enough to have the picture open and read this page
as well? If not I suggest you print the photo out. Get
comfortable with your drawing board in front of your
computer so you can draw and read as well. |
