Portraits/ pictures done by gridding

[ChristianWeeks]

In class we've been doing a project based on the art style of Chuck Close... That is, using grids. I decided not to do something similar to his more recent work with all those colors and stuff.... too much for me. So I took a regular picture of myself, gridded it, and am now drawing that.

I have finished the face now and I can say with confidence that is a very well drawn picture and looks just like me. However, I can't help but feel that gridding the paper and the picture is just a cheap way of drawing that requires no skill. I've been drawing self portraits of myself for a while just by looking in a mirror and have never perfected it... none of them actually look like ME... UNLESS I grid a picture.

Personally, I think drawing without a picture and grid requires a lot more skill, and as much as I enjoy drawing a picture that actually looks just like me, I can't help but feel that I'm taking a cheap way out when I should really be learning how to draw a real life portrait. It feels like I'm giving myself a false sense of greatness since I have to rely on the grid to get a well proportioned picture. If I wanted a graphite drawing of a picture I have, I could just use some fancy photo filter now, couldnt I?

What is everybody elses thoughts on this procedure?

p.s. the pic still isnt done so I can't post it on here. sorry :)

[Flake]

Is measuring with your pencil cheating?

How about..

-A plumb line?
-A ruler,T square or compass?
-Optical devices?
-A digital painting and design software with undo functions, layers and instantaneous, easily reversible adjustment of any layer or element in the image?

[Ilaekae]

How do I put this politely? ...ummmm...

Why don't you take a break and have a cheese burger? It shouldn't take you any more than a few months to catch a cow, kill it and chop it up into some hamburger, but don't forget to plant your onions and tomatoes, before you milk the cow first to make some cheese. I can lend you a nice anvil and sledge if you can find a nice manhole cover or something to pound into a semblance of a skillet.

I'm sorry if that comes off as a bit smart-assed. I don't really mean it that way, but I am having real fucking trouble wondering what the hell is going through your head and where it came from. Since when does an historically appropriate method of getting a perfect likeness become a fuckin' excuse for slapping your own face with a 2x4? What are you being taught? Where is this kind of thinking coming from?

Have you checked you clothing to see if it was really sewn by hand or made on one of those cheat-machines that so many people seem to use today? If not, burn 'em and get yourself a nice bone needle and some damn sinew.

Sorry if that sounded offensive, because i really REALLY didn't mean it to. I just want you to think before you form an opinion and broadcast it to the rest of the world...

[ChristianWeeks]

Flake, you make a very good point and thank you. With all the computer aided stuff going on using a grid seems old fashioned.

Ilaekae, jesus christ mate, i suppose I should have chosen my wording a little more carefully but god damn. I guess you must do drawings like this for a living or something because I don't know why this would otherwise draw such a hostile response. You make a valid point and im not gonna provoke any more sarcastic metaphors from you. "Cheap" was a bad word to use. My bad.
sorry for offending you
But this was the whole reason of my asking this question. I guess that after drawing so many un-lifelike pictures and suddenly drawing a good one with the aid of a grid, I feel like I should learn how to draw a realistic portrait with nothing but pencil, paper, and a model / mirror.

Thanks for the counterarguements tho.

[tensai]

I feel like I should learn how to draw a realistic portrait with nothing but pencil, paper, and a model / mirror.

Yes you should, but that doesn't mean that the grid is forbidden. Learning to do without just frees you up from having to use it on each and every sketch that you do.

[Ilaekae]

Christian', I wasn't trying to offend you, and you never came close to getting me pissed. I just tend to be a bit blunt sometimes. I just got a bit frustrated with your question. Basically, you do what you can to produce what you need to produce as quickly, accurately and efficiently as possible. Yes, you don't cheat (trace a pic you don't have to, paintover something you didn't do, steal somebody else's work, etc.), but helping yourself with legitimate practices is NOT cheating. If we couldn't work from photographic reference, for example, there would be no paintings/illustrations possible after 1870 of Abraham Lincoln. Some form of gridding has been used for THOUSANDS of years, not centuries. It's literally the only way to enlarge or shrink something you drew without access to photographic reproduction. It is not cheating, and there is no logical reason why anyone would even consider it as such. See where I'm coming from?

[alesoun]

To this day, if I hit trouble, I'll use a grid. The old masters used a form of camera obscura (think overhead projector) If it's good enough for them, am I going to argue?



(Well, okay; I'd argue with my own shadow,- but seriously, as a problem solver? Hold me back!)

[ChristianWeeks]

Yeah yea I get where you're comin from. Thanks for clarifying

[Elwell]

But this was the whole reason of my asking this question. I guess that after drawing so many un-lifelike pictures and suddenly drawing a good one with the aid of a grid, I feel like I should learn how to draw a realistic portrait with nothing but pencil, paper, and a model / mirror.

Using measuring devices like grids is exactly how one moves from one to the other. As you train your eyes and your hands, you can do more and more measuring relatively, in your head, without needing absolute reference points like a grid. But you need to understand, the difference is simply a matter of degree, not of kind.

Or, to put it another way...

I guess that after falling on my bike so many times and suddenly being able to ride with training wheels, I feel like I should learn how to compete in the Tour de France.


Patience, Grasshopper.

[ChristianWeeks]

Very well put Elwell, thank you :)

Although... I hope I'm not as far away from drawing good portraits as a bike rider on training wheels is from the tour de france... haha

[dose]

The grid is fine. Just don't use it as a crutch- unless you are satisfied with it. Learn what you can from it, and move on. Then, come back and use it again if you need it in the future.

I personally don't enjoy using grids and measuring, but if it works for you and you enjoy the process and/or you're satisfied with the results, why not?

[ChristianWeeks]

Yeah, that's exactly what I shouldve said in the original post, but I decided on different wording for some reason. I shouldve just said that I didnt want it to become a crutch or something i relied on to draw well.