picture planes for drawing
Last semester I taught a Beginning Drawing class at our co-op ‘Branches Homeschool Community.’
One of the 12 weeks of classes was inspired by one of the “Drawing on the Right Hand Side of the Brain” YouTube videos from the classic book of it’s same name that I remember from way back in design school.
The tools that Betty Edwards used are a product called “Picture Plan View Finders” that you can purchase from their own website. They are nice, but not affordable for me to buy for 15 students even at $6 each. I started researching online and the closest thing I could find from Jerry’s Artarama was a “Compose-It Grid” but they were outrageous in price at $16 each !
After a flash of inspiration I thought what if I can find acrylic panels – small ones – and DRAW the grid lines on with a sharpie ?! After much searching I found the perfect product: the “Plaskolite OPTIX Clear Acrylic sheets 8×10” at LOWE’s – and they were cheap -under $2 each I believe. I had to order online since no store in town ever carried qty 15 – 8×10 sheets in one location. 😉
*side note, I just tried a search to link and that size isn’t being carried…. perhaps temporary? I did of course, find them on Amazon (what don’t they have?!) for about $3.42 each on sale.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PICTURE PLANE FOR DRAWING
1. Peel off the protective vinyl and get out your graph paper pad, ruler, pencil and RED sharpie.
2. Divide out on the graph paper where your center line lies and divide the other side into thirds. Draw with pencil on your graph paper.
3. Put your acrylic ontop of the graph paper and with your ruler – draw the lines carefully with your red sharpie marker.
4. Turn the acrylic over and put a nice small sticker in the corner. This will remind the user which side to draw on with your DRY ERASE PENS. If you draw on the side that your grid lines are on – they will scratch or wear down in time.
5. Use quality dry erase pens. I found the black EXPO Low Odor Fine Tip Dry Erase Markers to be perfect. Others are too smeary. Clean off with a soft clean microfiber cloth.
* Try to remember to NEVER use sharpie on these when doing your drawing exercises !! ;D
