Art Tutorial: Using a Grid for Contour Drawing

     After 20 years of teaching Art, I have found that one of the best ways for students to learn contour drawing is through utilizing the “Grid”.  In this post I will explain the basics of grid drawing and provide you with a project to get you started.  For all of our contour drawing projects through YouTube, we will be using an 8”x10” format. The accompanying instructional video may be found on my YouTube at Realistic Drawing | Digital and Traditional Art

Traditional Art Supplies

    If you are following along with this project as a traditional artist, you will need an 8”x10” piece of paper. As this is a learning piece, drawing paper or sketchbook paper will work well. However. If you would like a more professional looking piece, I recommend Bristol paper.  Additionally, you will need a pencil of your choice and either a ruler or t-square.  

Digital Art Supplies

    As a digital artist, you probably have your device and drawing app of choice already available.  If  you are new to digital art, and would like more information about your options please see my previous POST

    To get started, you will need to open an 8”x10”  (2400px x 3000px) canvas with a 300DPI.  If you can choose between RGB or CMYK color format, it would be best to choose the RGB for this project. 

The Process

    Whether you are working in digital or traditional, you will need to create an 8x8 grid on your canvas or paper, respectively.  Start by dividing your working surface into 4 equal quadrants.  From here, you will continue to divide each section into equal parts, until you have an 8 X 8 grid, giving you 64 total boxes on your surface.  Below, is an example of how your grid should look.


    Now that your grid is ready to go, check out our Draw With Me  series on YouTube for your first project. 

    And, if you should have any questions, please feel free to share those in the comments section below.  Thank you for following along! 


“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭8‬:‭36‬

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