How do I draw portraits from a grid?

I tried this in grade seven (a long time ago! 1994) but it's fairly simple.

Take any photo or illustration and measure the length and width. Divide those two numbers by around 5-10 depending on the size of the picture.

Secondly, measure what you'll be drawing on. Divide those two dimensions with the same number you used for the original illustration. Using those numbers, mark out and draw the box on the paper. Alternatively mark it out using rice or wax paper overlayed on the canvas you're using, so you don't mark the finished product. You should end up with a grid with the same amount of boxes, just much larger.

Then just focus on one box at a time, not worrying about the boxes neighbours. The trick of grid enlargements is exactly that - you don't have to focus on the entire picture, so there's less chance of distortion (expecially with faces).

The key with it is to make sure your intersecting lines hit the edges of that particular box at the same point as the original picture. If you get those right, the whole thing fits like a jigsaw puzzle.

If you find yourself correcting constantly, one really neat way to overcome that is to pick random boxes. You'll find that the more attention you pay to the individual box, the less time you spend correcting later, and it fits together much nicer.

It's a rewarding process, and not cheating at all. Have fun, and good luck!

I'm an ART ED student in college and we spend a good bit of time talking about the merits of the grid method. it comes down to what you want to take away from your art experience. the idea behind the grid method is that it lets to break down a complex form into smaller more manageable modules but you're still doing essentially the same thing, you learn to create and proportion each square in the grid so it aligns with those around it, those are the same skills you need to take true portrait drawing. so long as you're learning those skills and realizing the proportions and how shadow works to define the shapes I don't see a problem with it, you're still learning and growing as an artist after all and isn't that the whole point of creating artwork.

Southern Belle,

Doing art from a grid is a very old practice, and some of the most famous artists worked this way. Because of that, you can look in your local library for books with illustrations explaining this method. You can also buy some newer "how-to" books in art and craft stores (if they are out the day you go there, ask when they will have them back in stock.) Colleges may teach this in some classes, too.

Assuming that you have equally charted out the grid, you "copy" one grid at a time.