How to Use a Proportional Divider for Accuracy

Use a proportional divider to get the most accurate drawings as you enlarge or reduce the size from a reference photo.

[@valerieculp1266]

Thanks! This is the best tutorial on the proportional divider I’ve seen. Thank you for taking the time to do this for us, Janet.

[@inh0usegraphics]

Thank you so much! I’m so glad you found it helpful. Enjoy!

[@suzannethompson8151]

So meticulous and clear ly explained. Excellent! Thank you. Suzanne

[@howlingwind1937]

Oh my word! I've watched many many videos to the point of being cross-eyed, and I'm certainly none the wiser. One of them along the way even said get a proportional divider. I felt that well maybe I'm just not meant to draw portraits, but I really do want to, but I was frustrated. However, in the 25 minutes of your tutorial video it was aaahhha! Brilliant! I think I've finally found in your lesson the way that suits me, (sigh) oh thank you for sharing your method it is just brilliant, I know the video isn't new, but it has never crossed my search until now, thank you and a smidge of thanks to the mysteries of KZbin. Cheers from Tasmania!

[@inh0usegraphics]

That’s wonderful news! So glad it helped because portraits are such fun to draw!

[@Rubbereyes]

Incredibly informative, I’m going to rewatch this and give it a try.

[@CarlWinter-oy8uf]

Cant beat the grid block emnlargement method Janet --much quicker with app that puts a accurate grid on your d/loads fotos --very fast !

[@rheannak3934]

Which app please ?

[@MZ20208]

This made sense. You have to close it then decide where you want the screw to be. And the short end vs the long end. Thanks. I had mine open and the ends would fall apart. I was going to throw it out. I would like to know what all the numbers etc on it mean

[@wendywatchit]

What a great video! Thank you x

[@inh0usegraphics]

So glad it’s helpful to you!

[@seahorse5689]

Agree with @valerieculp1266 This is by far the best explanation of using a proportional divider i've ever seen--now I know why I was still having issues getting correct proportions even using the divider. Thank you!

[@UndaAutistica]

This + Betty Edwards = ★. Thank you!

[@judyh3017]

This is such an excellent video. Thx for patiently explaining and demonstrating how to use a proportional divider to draw a portrait, where accuracy can make such a difference. Use of painter’s tape looks interesting. I wonder if it works well for taping the edges when painting a watercolor.

[@inh0usegraphics]

I’ve used it and it’s worked for me. 😁

[@rabibade5760]

Best tutorial with clear explanations ❤❤❤

[@inh0usegraphics]

Thank you so much! So glad it is helpful to you! Blessings.

[@TjVoelkerArt]

Thank you for the video, my friend. It's very helpful information.

[@RomanesEuntDomus.]

I'm a beginner and this is a life saver! Thanks!

[@inh0usegraphics]

So glad to help you! Keep art-ing!!!

[@farmerfox3332]

Good teaching. Well done. Thank you.

[@vasantabhyankar7499]

Thanks for the information ma'am I will surely try this method for portrait drawing.

[@haddock54]

Wonderful. Well explained right up to the minute detail.

[@inh0usegraphics]

Thank you so much! I’m glad it helped you.

[@malgorzata7011]

Thank you very much for this so helpful lesson, I learned a lot!

[@inh0usegraphics]

So glad you found it helpful!

[@lilybay1]

Fabulous video and instruction

[@patriciateacher8686]

Very wonderful information. But I have drew so many many pictures without all that explain that I would get lost in what the heck I’m doing. Lol besides measurements was not one of my best subjects in school. Lol. I know my self well enough to see that when I draw anything I’m definitely wanting to see if all my proportions are right or as close to accurate as I can get them give or take an inch or two is off in any direction. If it is I will try my best to concentrate harder to try to perfect it with the next drawing. With all due respect I really don’t have the patience and by the time I finish putting all those measurements on the paper I could have finish a portrait and it my work don’t look professional than I have no problem destroying it and training my eyes to see where I went wrong and to discipline myself to learn from my mistakes. Yes it’s very hard to do it that way but like they say I you learn from your mistakes in almost anything and everything in life. Personally I think it’s a wonderful lesson. Lol. But of course that’s strictly my own personal point of view.

[@darranthompson8202]

Very well explained and thanks for the time making video.ive just starting airbrushing. But am trying to learn to draw first lol.

[@inh0usegraphics]

Good for you! Drawing is a wonderful foundation for all art in my opinion. Glad the video helped. Best to you with your airbrushing!

[@Mulberry2000]

Thanks for this.

[@inh0usegraphics]

You’re so welcome!

[@paulduplessis4542]

This is a very good demenstrasion I'm going to do it. I feel saver Whit this one thanks a lot

[@user-jc9vf5xv3i]

Thanks for taking the mystery out of this gadget, best video on yhe subject,

[@inh0usegraphics]

I love a good mystery, but this one is better solved! 😉 So glad I could help you!

[@mochilatte2570]

This is amazing so many helpful tips thank you!

[@inh0usegraphics]

So glad it helps!!! ☺️

[@VanmeterFL]

This is a great video! It's the first I've watched by you but I'll look for others as well. I use a proportional scale divider to start my projects, measuring only an item or two in the foreground, then I freehand the rest based on visual measurements out from that point. It's a good foundation tool.

[@staredsky]

Loved the trick of tha taped ruler... i was using the protractor, but your way is faster

[@inh0usegraphics]

Glad my little trick helped!

[@r.mercado9737]

Outstanding!

[@inh0usegraphics]

I’m so glad you liked it! My intent is to start making some helpful videos as teaching tools. Stay tuned!

[@patriciateacher8686]

My greatest problem in my drawings is working harder is to keep my artwork exactly in the center of my artwork. I’m learning how to either tape a border around it, or to outline very lightly in pencil a very light and thin borders line around the whole picture and also how to learn to draw my artwork smaller I tend to draw my little to large for my paper. I’m learning from you mistakes.

[@inh0usegraphics]

Maybe I’ll make a lesson to address this issue. Thank you for sharing.

[@DateDialogue]

thank you granma

[@gaylepage1987]

Thank you. Your video is very helpful. I have purchased the Derwent divider, but am finding that the points are really not precise enough. I have looked at the other plastic ones but, after reading reviews, it seems that the lock does not hold reliably. The metal one that you are using appears to be sturdy and accurate. What is the brand of that one?

[@inh0usegraphics]

Gayle Page Glad my video helps! Here’s a link to the one I used in the video. Several of my students have upgraded to it as well and you can often find it on sale! www.jerrysartarama.com/proportional-divider

[@VanmeterFL]

@@inh0usegraphics I sure wish this proportional divider wasn't nearly $150 now. ;-)

[@inh0usegraphics]

@@VanmeterFL I know, right?!? It is invaluable though, even for professionals to double check measurements. And if cared for, will last a lifetime. Every now and then they are on sale. And when they are, it’s generally a very good sale price. 😊

[@honeybunchhoneybunch9954]

Excellent tutorial and very useful indeed - many thanks for posting!

[@inh0usegraphics]

I’m delighted you found it helpful! 🤗

[@nordmende73]

Thank you!

[@inh0usegraphics]

So glad to help!

[@prashantinerellapalli]

brilliant!!

[@inh0usegraphics]

@@prashantinerellapalli Aww, thank you so much!

[@watercolorgirlfriend]

Interesting. Do you like this better than a grid? Thanks for showing this in such detail. 🙂

[@inh0usegraphics]

With a grid, you’re replicating what’s inside a tiny square and not seeing how any area relates to another. With the divider, you’re constantly assessing what features line up with others - horizontally and vertically - which is training your eye to eventually draw freehand with accuracy. Both methods work, but I prefer to use one that is improving my skills the fastest.

[@CarlWinter-oy8uf]

Theaoo is called ART GRID d/load it ---easy to use -brilliant grid over photo in minutes ---any size grid any colour !

[@inh0usegraphics]

Grids are very helpful and a lot of people use them. Using the divider method is just another way to draw. What I like about it is that it better trains your eye to see the relationship and placement between features in a portrait or elements - really in any subject matter - so that that you can more accurately freehand before long. If you’re more looking at what goes on in one small square at a time, it’s not as easy to concentrate on the overall relationship of one area to another and how they bring life into the drawing. Just my opinion! Thanks so much for your input and happy arting!

[@MZ20208]

How do you use it to reduce something? It doesn't reduce very far even when screw it put to long end

[@jinawatts3559]

Hi Janet , my question is how do you use a photo the size you have or maybe larger and you want to do a smaller version, like on a piece of paper such as a 5x4" sketchbook to practice different size papers for my child who is an artist and he's trying different ways to use proportions and in looking at different size sketchbooks and making sketches on them learning with Jehovah he told me to ask you only cause he wanted me to use some of the methods you have and others to teach what he has for them black indian in our family and I am a MONTESSORI MOM AND GRANDMOM and I am going to be using some of the ideas for art for my oldest children cause these educations were not available to blacks and so many of them are gifted and talented and my son in Elementary school was chasen by a teacher cause he didn't know how to make a picture she asked him to draw large and it upset him and I told him to wait and I would try to get him a teacher that was Montessori to tell him how to understand how Jehovah wanted him to learn from someone who asked Jehovah how to teach him and he told me to teach him the grid method first with a teacher , but I couldn't find anyone where I lived and we didn't have the internet and computers in the schools when he was going , but now he's grown and he is given help to see why history kept him from learning these things black..... My life was not given art in the schools at the level they can learn now and I appreicate seeing people wanting to teach the youth in the world black now and I funded an organization to help 3thru 17 years old to learn these things online .... I'm a prophet and I have had a journey in the world to help black , indian children the Montessori Method and Jehovah is going to bless those who help youth who were not given the talents they needed to use to help them heal ....

[@inh0usegraphics]

If I’m understanding correctly, you want to draw a reduction from your reference photo? If so, all you need to do is flip the divider over so the reference is measured with the larger end of the divider. Then the smaller end will be the reduced size. Everything else is the same. Hope this helps.

[@marktristram]

It would have been easier at the part where you had the photo on top of your drawing paper To just mark the four points at the edge of the photo at the end of the lines Lift off the photo Then just join the dots to get your lines

[@inh0usegraphics]

True. That’s a shortcut. Just be extra careful in doing it that way, especially if your reference photo is small. If your markings are not in exactly the right spot, you’ll be off more than you expect when you extend the lines out. But it certainly can be done. Thanks for your insight!

[@dancer4560]

Is this tool just for front on portraits? I have grand children w lots of profile type views...

[@inh0usegraphics]

Nope. Not at all. In fact you can use this method to draw a still life or landscape as well.

[@mr.fanstastic9010]

Can we also use a compass for accurate measurement

[@inh0usegraphics]

I know you could if you are drawing the same size. But I’m not sure if you’re enlarging or reducing.

[@karlstuck6772]

With Calculating you can enlarge or reduce with a Kompass.

[@johntheprophet5833]

Does this help you learn to freehand?

[@inh0usegraphics]

It sure does! As you plot the points initially, you begin training your eye to see the relationship between different features/elements of your subject. As you practice, you’ll have less and less dependence on the need for the guidance the dots provide. You begin to have confidence to plot fewer dots as you trust more in your ability to “see” the proportions, shapes, and alignments. Eventually, you can freehand with accuracy. I equate it to cooking. You read a recipe so carefully the first few times you make a new dish, but before long, you may need only a glance. Eventually you’re making the dish by memory AND you’ve learned how the different ingredients work well together. This knowledge now gives you confidence to start experimenting with other dishes to make them your own. Hopefully that analogy makes sense!

[@marthasusannaprinsloo4099]

Thank you so so mutch now I understand how to use it mutch better God bless you

[@chapter1o1]

If this method was good enough for the old masters, then is fine by me.

[@temeoeloyo3352]

Who is the girl from the picture ?

[@inh0usegraphics]

I haven’t a clue!

[@7Earthsky]

Very convoluted...Better to just make triangle grids on the reference and on your paper.

[@inh0usegraphics]

It sure can be! The thing that I find promising with teaching this method that a grid doesn’t offer is that you’re looking at the entire subject, seeing the relationship of each feature/element to the next. With a grid, you’re only concentrating on a micro view within a square (or triangle) and not the entire image. To me at least, that doesn’t lend itself well to eventually being able to freehand accurately. However, with all that said, everyone’s brain works differently and some just really grasp grids better. The end result is what we’re after in the grand scheme of things. Happy art-ing!!!

[@ppmppm7010]

You could have taken your data points straight from the photo when it was in the middle of the blank sheet

[@inh0usegraphics]

I’ve found lots of good shortcuts as well! But sometimes my students get confused if they don’t grasp the “why” behind the step. But I’m glad you can cut some corners, and thanks so much for sharing! Cheers!

[@ppmppm7010]

Thank you agree it's important to know why 👍

[@capitantestosterona]

siento lo que voy a decir, pero creo que hace mucho trabajo para sacar las proporciones. yo en lo personal haría la cuadrícula sobre la foto. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@MybeautifulandamazingPrincess]

Yeah the grid method is probably easier

[@CarlWinter-oy8uf]

You are correct Janet --your method does improve your freehand accuracy 0----you are very talented ---some need the grid as they are not too accurate free hand I can freehand easily-- painting for 50 yrs -but many amateurs need safety of squares ----

[@colorfulbleeding]

why not tracing, that s just complicated tracing steps.

[@kelcarrigan]

How would you trace it and make it bigger at the same time?

[@inh0usegraphics]

I look at this tool as a way to train your brain to understand the relationships between different areas of the subject matter. Tracing doesn’t help the artist eventually freehand accurately. This method offers that ability as you continue to practice. Tracing is helpful if you’re in a hurry or not trying to improve your skills. It’s a good shortcut to a finished piece. I suppose It’s all a matter of what your end goal is. All the best to you.

[@junevvaldez5959]

I NEVER SEEN A GOOD PORTRAIT ARTIST THAT DID THESE TOO MUCH MEASUREMENTS THEY JUST GO START DRAWING IT AND THAT IS WHAT I WANT TO LEARN

[@inh0usegraphics]

Thank you for your comment. There are many ways to learn to draw. This video only addresses the use of proportional dividers. Good luck in your search for the best method for you! 🙂

[@samohtra1]

Not a way to actually learn to draw. Huge waste of time like paint by number learn to paint. Why not draw something from life?

[@inh0usegraphics]

Thank you for your comment, Rick. This is just one method of learning to draw and helps those who struggle with getting accurate proportions. It’s not the only method to learn to draw. What I do like about this method is that it helps train your eye to see the relationship between different facial features in a portrait or whatever your subject. As you learn to trust your ability to judge distance and alignment, you depend less on the aid of points continually reducing the amount used. This results over time in freehand drawing skills that are proportionally accurate. It is not intended to be a permanent crutch. Just my experience from working with students.

[@junevvaldez5959]

TOO MUCH EQUATIONS. THIS IS TOO TEDIOUS. I SAW A GOOD ARTIST HE NEVER TO THIS JUST START DRAWING IT AND HE DID IT ACCURATELE

[@inh0usegraphics]

Thank you for your comment. This process is just one of many to help those who struggle with getting accurate proportions. Hope you will try other methods that you might enjoy more if you need help in refining your drawing skills.