You're Measuring Proportions WRONG!

[@gumpster8913]

I love Alex's clear, direct style of delivery. His content is extremely valuable and he doesn't waste people's time with distractions, especially at the beginning where he dives right into the lesson without five minutes of chit-chat. I wish more instructional youtube videos were like his.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you! Glad this was helpful!

[@shehnazsurti5027]

Absolutely

[@pashaveres4629]

Geez, that's brilliant. I've art degrees, yah, and have never seen this so clearly and plainly explained. Have subbed. May start drawing again. You touched on my toughest issues. Particularly valuable was the idea of making continuous corrections corrections. It's like driving, or flying, most of the time time you are headed in the wrong direction. But, constantly correcting, you arrive at your intended destination. Thanks much. Aloha

[@richmoab]

You're a great teacher, I always enjoy when you post a video here on KZbin. Thank you

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you very much Rich!

[@romanieo]

7:49 Drawing is a process of correcting mistakes. Amen Brother!!!

[@adieaf61]

I was going to slag you off but then I continued watching and , Hey Presto, I changed my mind..... Excellent, thank you.

[@maureenserafini1949]

I could watch Alex all day long. Love the ease of his explanations and directions. Thank you Alex!

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you maureen! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Toto69584]

Really good explanation. I’m drawing a skull at a difficult angle right now and this is helpful to improve my perception of the proportions and shape angles

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful,

[@rubenscasco801]

Thanks Sir Alex for this very informative Video you share I would watch it over and over again 👍

[@Michael-hb8nq]

For people struggling with proportions, you can learn , it takes time for your brain to adjust from lying to you, to being able to see accurately, sometimes as long as a year, but if you stick with it and practice everyday , you will learn.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Michael. Once you can see the shape, you can see the proportions. But yes, learning to convert the complicated 3D world into flat shapes takes practice.

[@Michael-hb8nq]

@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting thanks , Alex, I always enjoy your videos both here and on patreon , your very clearly detailed step by step instructions are second to none.

[@julia3983able]

Thank you. I’m really struggling with proportions as a beginner. Your words ring so true!! It’s like my eyes are playing tricks on me… I can’t see things the way they truly are :( Honestly it’s discouraging

[@AndrewThePoet]

Man, if only I have the ability ti actually learn in the first place... :(

[@Ms.strange]

​@@julia3983able Aw. Hopefully things are getting better for you.

[@qiaoli8776]

thanks for the explaining from this level, focusing on the abstraction of simply shapes, checking relationships and making adjustment as you go. it makes me more confident to put down the strokes. 🙂

[@StanleyKubick1]

one of the best painting/drawing tutorials I've seen. very inspiring

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you very much Stanley!

[@wrdaugette]

I've always been a measurer and struggle with changing media from pencil/charcoal to oil that doesn't lend itself well to maintaining an under drawing. This is massively helpful, Alex, thanks!

[@sarahpolcz9684]

This is so useful. Really appreciate you sharing your skills

[@darkeverythingbagel]

I always look forward to your videos, Alex, but this one is particularly valuable. I am a self-taught artist (I wish it were my profession but c'est la vie) and I always struggled with fixing my painting even thought I always "measure" as best I can. Thank you for clearing up this important concept.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you! You don't know how many times I've heard someone say "but I measured it" and then when I point out the shape, they can immediately see that it's wrong.

[@darkeverythingbagel]

@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting I would definitely be one of those people. Lol. Cheers!

[@kjw2364]

This is a wonderful video. Thank you !

[@PappuDas-fq1ll]

Extremely brilliant video sir

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you!

[@PaulRansonArt]

Really super Alex - a great explanation of the drawing process without measuring. I found myself down many a rabbit hole measuring and remeasuring a scene - a phenominon known as paralysis of analysis! Since I switched to shapes for proportion I've been much happier. Besy wishes - Paul 😃😃😎😎

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Paul!

[@davirosa]

Thank you Alex, your videos always come with a valuable technique to keep in mind!!

[@Dennis-Hare]

Thank you, for yet another video clarifying the mysteries of painting.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Dennis! Glad it was helpful!

[@Tekulaw]

What a great Master 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻thank you for the valuable video

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you! I'm glad it was helpful.

[@MickAngelhere]

I wrecked my shoulder when I went to an art school using the traditional method of checking proportions. Aggravated an old shoulder injury, which still is giving me problems a year later.

[@FarhadSalami]

the only channel I found on youtube that its channel name is one hundred percent the same as what it contains, thank you with all my heart

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

It's my pleasure! Thank you Farhad. I/m glad you think so.

[@MisterGuitarCoverMan]

you nailed it. Thanx for this video

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

You're welcome. This one might be a bit controversial? So I'm glad it makes sense.

[@FunkeeDonkee]

Awesome video, clear and concise explanations!

[@indepthliterature]

Great video. Most of my art classes have promoted sight size but I never used it. Its much better to just figure out the proportions by free-handing and feeling out the drawing. No need to stick your arm and hand out and try to convert that to the drawing. Most proportions and anything else in art can be found in the drawing and observations themselves. The sight size technique takes extra time away trying to convert the exact proportions of what you see which is unnecessary. It's helpful for initial stages of blocking in but not usually needed. In truth its better to find proportions by eye instead of using a brush, stick, and unnecessarily squinting and all that.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Measuring can become a crutch, particularly sight-size. All these students at expensive Atelier schools are essentially learning to use sight-size instead of training their eye. It's the 19th Century equivalent of using photoshop and it takes ages. However, squinting is REALLY IMPORTANT! Squinting isn't about proportion, it's about simplifying the tonal values.

[@Elaine-tk7nx]

This is such a helpful video. I could never get the hang of that measuring malarkey using the brush, stiff arm etc. I use my eye, blocking in shapes, so to have you confirm this as an accurate way to draw has really enhanced confidence in my skill. Thank you for such a clear demo and explanation. I'll be checking out your courses now! 😊👍

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Once ou can see that a shape you've drawn is wrong, that is the more accurate that measuring. I'm sure there are planty of artists who can draw accurately who measure with a pencil etc. but I don't reckon they need to. I've also had so many students who claim to have measured something when it is blatantly wrong.

[@Eterwest]

Thanks for this clip. Very interesting!

[@localcolour]

Excellent explanation of such a key issue.

[@Silverbirchtree]

Wow brilliant explanation - i shall certainly give this a try. :)

[@Kilobe1]

its so simple and i was overcomplicating it so much!!! tyvm this openned a new eye on me :D

[@SuperSavvyTravelersLLC]

This is great. Thank you!

[@levmyshkin8366]

I use the pencil method, although not as you described it here. rather than find one measurement, i find two that match each other. with enough of these counter measurements, the drawing begins to check itself

[@alisonlekarev2183]

Same

[@bobbytirlea]

Mostly I work from photos, yet only a plumb line and a horizontal both in the middle of the picture and on the bare canvas, and nothing else to guide me. To those I check all angels and points and shapes. It seems to work pretty well. Thank you so much, this is spot on, pure masterclass here!

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Bobby!

[@suecurtisart]

Thank you so much for this video and explaining your methods so clearly. This is going to be so helpful 👍

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Susan! Very glad you think so

[@marilenadalberto5204]

Grazie, utissima lezione, è la prima volta che riesco a comprendere il metodo GRAZIE

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Marilena! I'm glad it was helpful.

[@armsordyl]

Thanks, great held for my drawing and painting. Your videos are brilliant

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you vary much! I'm glad you think so.

[@finch45lear]

You are an outstanding artist and an equally outstanding teacher. I envy your students. They are in great hands if they wish to flourish.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you very much!

[@astronaut6905]

Notional Space and the Comparative Measurement helps a lot when drawing accurate proportions, starting from top, bottom, then left and right. It really does work wonders!!!!

[@vansserafim]

no information online about this method

[@paulbridgman3437]

Thank you Alex. I've said this before, but you are an awesome teacher mate. 🙏

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Paul.

[@sunriseboy4837]

Thank you. I never paint. Too much mess and fart arsing around IMO. But I'm most grateful for the emphasis on proportions, and values. I 'sort of' had the proportion thing right, but had let the value aspect be rather neglected. So, thanks again. Excellent instruction.

[@afriendlyfox]

I have also found it immensely helpful to learn the perspective first. When I was just copying what I see, it looked absolutely flat and I had no idea what's wrong with it. After I understood perspective, when something looks flat, I'm able to point out the mistake in the plane direction or shape. Also I can immediately understand what is the form that shape of light actually represents, how it's positioned and how to draw exactly that shape so it looks rotated in that way. Maybe other people come with that understanding built-in, but I didn't, and learning the boring theory improved my drawings really drastically really fast.

[@Caveqp]

what part of it did you learn? where should I start

[@afriendlyfox]

​@@Caveqp This is a pretty old comment of mine, I've improved a lot since then, and draw much better! :D My journey looked like this: first, I learned the technical part - what is the horizon line, what are vanishing points, and construction - so I was able to take a ruler and draw a cube in any rotation just out of dry technical knowledge, but was unable to draw it by intuition. This kind of knowledge is easy to find, personally I would recommend the book "How to Draw - drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination". At that point, I still wasn't able to draw from imagination, but this knowledge was super useful and made it easier for me to perfect and check my intuition later down the line. Then I took the course by Marco Bucci called "Drawing for Experienced Beginners", and there it kinda clicked for me at one point. He explained that we only need line to make an object look 3D, and that it's enough to draw lines as if they are wrapping around the surface of the object to convey the sense of depth. Like imagine an egg that has a couple of elastic bands wrapped around it. If you look at it from different angles, you'll see that the bands have a different curvature depending on the angle you view them from. And you'll notice that the closer the band is to the edge of the egg, the more it will be resembling of it's silhouette's edge, and the closer it is to the middle, the closer to the straight line it will appear. This kinda made the thing click for me, and I tried drawing "elastic bands" wrapping around objects on their photos, and that helped me really "see" objects in 3D better. This is kinda hard to explain in words, so if this sounds somewhat promising, I'd recommend you to take that course.

[@EyesofLamia]

You're always an amazing teacher Alex!

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thanks!

[@praneetakki]

Thank you so much for this invaluable lesson

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Glad it was helpful!

[@crystalheart9]

Thank you.😍

[@eugeneconstable4861]

Another brilliant video, thanks Alex.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Eugene! Glad it was helpful.

[@ricebug0]

Thank you 사부님!

[@amylincolnrealagebeauty]

Thank you for your dedication to helping us improve our work!

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

My pleasure Amy! Glad this was helpful.

[@photographicamateur]

Thank you very for your inspiring tuition. This has always has been a difficulty to understand

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful.

[@gabriellevickeryart]

Great clear video, thank you.

[@ArtbyPatrickPetruccello]

Thank you for the great video, very helpful! I use the measuring with the brush and all of the factors mentioned are key to it being off. Though I am not sure why you mention not being able to do the width in the example with the torso. the top to the waist is the control then doing the width uses the same control for proportion. Practice the feeling of your arm extended and locked and your back in the same position. We did hours of this in an art course I take and you can get very acurate..it like anything takes practice though and not accepting more than a 5% deviation. We also had a terrific chart as the overall control to tell us how far we were off.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

As you say, measuring accurately is difficult and takes a lot of practice. I believe based on my own experience, that if you spent the same amount of time training your eye, you will be able to draw accurately without needing to measure.

[@ArtbyPatrickPetruccello]

@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting Yes agree completely that you do not have to measure as it is just a tool to use. For me the measuring gave me a strict sense of not accepting "pretty close" as good enough as pretty close over the course of a drawing becomes pretty bad the more you go on. Now, I am at the point tha there is no need to measure as the eye has been trained. My new challenge is being able to get my vanishing 2 and 3 point vanishing lines for plein air work. Always something more to learn. Thanks again for your great videos.

[@ArtbyPatrickPetruccello]

I will still use the brush to measure outdoors as I am not as acurate as in my studio and often with limited time it helps get the large shapes in quick.

[@rajkumarpandey3376]

If I take measurements of the subject with a stick then it is not necessary why the photo should be big, the subject should be of this size but I want the subject to be small but if it becomes of big size then how will I take its measurement

[@jonroads8281]

Great video!

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Jon!

[@purpletrauma]

Okay, this explained what I wanted. I don't have space to even hold my hand out, so I was concerned about proper measuring. This breaks it down in a way that's easier to swallow. .. pretty sure I've had this lesson before, but it's as you pointed out at the end: the hardest part is thinking to apply it at all in the moment. Once you see it it's easy. Heck, the still lifes I committed to doing more regularly have the mistakes you mention as one of their most glaring flaws. The second most glaring to my eyes would be the small details not fitting right, so another measurement issue. And I roughly know this stuff, but didn't think to apply it so thoroughly I had to look it up again to review. I just have a plan to do 1hr daily still lifes, and get through an art learning book over the next 10 days while committing to actually spend the proper time on each exercise (1hr minimum per exercise, increasing time as I judge it appropriate for certain exercises), and this topic was something I was concerned enough about to look up before I reached the chapter on it. So it really helped out, even if the audio quality was super distracting. When the mic audio is blown out like that, you somehow sound too loud even with the audio turned down. Guessing you don't have a pre-amp for controlling sound, and didn't think to move your lapel mic lower on your shirt. Just wanted to mention that.

[@Joekatbetances]

Good explanation, thanks , would like to take that course

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Joe! Glad you think so.

[@Joekatbetances]

What is your best advice to someone that is learning to do portraits

[@handmadeindustrial]

Patience is THE prerequisite that is becoming harder to come by.

[@kajwilstorp1483]

i like your teaching i will try this hope evrything is alright

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you very much Kaj! I'm well, I hope everything is good with you too.

[@kajwilstorp1483]

everything is okay looking forward to your next video@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting

[@ccmills87]

Thank you. Is the course only for people who paint?

[@tangiblepress]

this is excellent

[@ndizzot]

Nice tip!!

[@warrencrawfordart]

There's a woman at Sussex Arts Club who has taken one of your courses, and she highly recommended you. I'll hopefully be up to Dulwich in the new year!

[@fineartist7710]

I am a professional artist and Instructor and what the artist-instructor is teaching here is accurate, and has centuries of academic tradition behind it....Bravo!

[@brianvanderspuy4514]

I remain mystified as to how one can place those boxes - when I try that, mine are so far off I might as well just draw a completely random box. With pencil, I can overcome this by simply drawing extremely lightly, so I can make corrections and then the drawing will slowly emerge from the mess of lines (though after decades of practice, I have yet to manage a single drawing that turns out entirely accurate - I usually end up with one that has "something" wrong with it, and I simply cannot see what the problem is!) Now with something like oil paint I don't even want to try; I'll just end up with mud!

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Don't expect to be able to immediately put something down correctly first time. The first maks you make, should pretty much be a completely random box. There's very little chance that you will put something down completely accurately. Also the larger the box (i;e the first box for the whole subject) the more likely it is to be wrong. It's often only when you start adding the smaller shapes that it becomes apparent that there's something wrong with the larger box. So you then need to go back and re-establish the larger shape. I actually find oils easier than pencil or charcoal, becuse you can just scrape it back and start again.

[@luisfernandez-izquierdo502]

Great video, thanks!@

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thank you Luis!

[@positivenergylife]

Magic! Or simply genius! ❤❤❤

[@dipuartsdigital]

Very beautiful 😍👏👏🙏

[@chaz9808]

So you have to constantly be comparing what your focusing on to the overall picture and things around it

[@MariaRevArt]

Is this the enveloping method that you are demonstrating here. Regardless of the name, it's really good. A much better approach to getting accurate proportions than the pencil measuring method. You also did a great job of showing the limitations and problems with the pencil method that I have personally run into.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

It's probably similar to the enveloping method, but before you start looking for the angles around your subject it's really important to first see it as a box and establish the height and width.

[@MariaRevArt]

@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting Okay. Thank you. That makes sense.

[@MariaRevArt]

@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting I have one question. How does this work for more complex compositions? For example, a still life. Would I draw one big box encompassing all the elements, then smaller boxes inside or start with individual boxes and then go for the angles?

[@DeliaSanz-t4q]

Where can I find the link to your course? I could only find your in-person classes

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

I'm working on a new programme that will be out in the new year. Here is the waiting list: alex-tzavaras.kit.com/629c38cbf6

[@ceruleanblue7]

I wish that I could apply this more to watercolor. I like to paint portraits and figures, but you can't really adjust the paint much. Can use it for the drawing though.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

You can definitely use it for drawing.

[@ОнжеАлексей]

thank you!

[@bearbait7405]

Thank you

[@telemachus53]

Thanks for this. I'm copying a Franz Hals portrait but I never seem to get it right. I'll start again using those principles you shoed.

[@areliicano8916]

How did it go?

[@mentalstress2129]

i love you so much you saved my life

[@erinbumble6049]

Thank you! :)

[@KristineTrinidad-x3o]

Hi Alex. I love your work. I am wondering where you got your art training. Could you tell me, please

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

I was taught to paint by a British portrait painter called Nick Bashall. He was trained by a Spanish painter called Joaquin Torrents Llado, who had a school in Majorca.

[@KristineTrinidad-x3o]

@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting thank you so much!

[@manoleioan6216]

Actually, we need just two properties when we capture an image: direction and size. The overall direction is given by directions related to the box tangent to the edges of the entire model, which we decline by symmetry, rectangularity, and closeness to vertical or horizontal coordinates (in this case, symmetry on the vertical coordinate and closeness on every side around the model). The overall size is given by the dominance of white over black or black over white surfaces (see the compositional eclerage of Michelangelo on his ignudos), which you delineate by contextualized directions, according to the established declinations and related to the overall box of the model. The peculiarity of this casted model with controlled lighting is the unitary value of its plains of light and dark, which implies that we must integrate the recessive values within the dominant one, while in a natural scene, the values are contrasting in most cases.

[@manoleioan6216]

Anyway, Alex, this is just construction. What about the overall morphological dynamics between the attentive object and its background when we have variations of size in background and size constancy on the object, which offer the viewer the sense of the object movement and the compositional balance by the alternation of apparent movement?

[@Riin_Rio]

I’m not knowledgeable enough to follow your discussion. But I can tell that if I slow down my reading, not moving on from the phrase under study until I can picture it, then I think I might learn a great deal from your 2 paragraphs. Thank you.

[@dallashill23]

@@manoleioan6216so what would you do, step by step in a practical sense, to achieve the theory of your constructive approach?

[@manoleioan6216]

1) Choose an image with higher value contrast and remove most of the intermediary values till obtaining three perceived (not necessarily concrete) value stages (light, medium, and darker), which offers you a map of value surfaces and their spatial disposal. You can use the index mode in editing programs. 2) You must understand that every map and its image has a peculiar ”fingerprint of contour orientations” generated by rectangularity, symmetry, and closeness to vertical or horizontal coordinates of 2D space. It is like a family of directions that accompany the surfaces of each work of art. They are most evident in defining the outer contour of most large surfaces or most continuous limits. 3) Identify areas of value alternation between the dominant and recessive ones: dark-dominant/light-recessive and light-dominant/dark-recessive. Try to selectively ignore the recessive surfaces and delineate the contour of the overall surface with dominant value content. Use the preestablished orientations of the ”fingerprint”. These overall surfaces are the constructive base of the morphological stage of composition, where the result is not only in a map of surfaces with their spatial distribution but also in an attentive assigning of their topological disposal and dynamics.

[@dallashill23]

@@manoleioan6216 thanks. Mind if I ask what source you learned this from? Are you in the academy or perhaps tutored?

[@simonight_art]

fantastic video :D

[@robadams2451]

Great vid, It might be worth mentioning the easiest way of finding any proportion is with a diagonal.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Thanks Rob!

[@DarkGodSeti]

The hardest thing I find about drawing/painting/art, is getting an idea, before it gone in my mind. Then making it look accurate to the object in my minds eye, then... try to find real life analogs, that are somewhat close to what I see.

[@theodoradanielacapat298]

Bravo! Shared this with my students. Your way of explaining is spot on!

[@victordanielcastellanosvelez]

tnk u so much!

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

My pleasure Victor!

[@EchoOfMe-z2c]

Shapes and measuring. Right, I get it now

[@chukukaogude5894]

The main thing to know is what is sabotaging grabbing likeness. First let's start with how I assume brain works. You see an image, it goes into frame storage, then temporary storage, then the brain simplifies it and puts it into a simplified storage. Frame storage is like 1 second of storage max. You are aware of what you saw. It keeps the world feeling continuous. Temporary storage is 3 seconds of storage. You know what you saw. The brain can add some knowledge to it. Simplified storage happens after 4 seconds. It sits there for a while hour, days, months, slowly being degraded and simplified even more. Look at a bottle, now put that bottle out of sight and try to draw it. Unless you have a certain type of photographic memory, you'll draw a simplifed bottle and a simplifed logo on the wrapper. You are pulling from simplified storage. This simplified image of the bottle you drew is not the real bottle in real time. So, what happens, is that beginning artists fall victim to this. (I still do when I take a long break from painting lol. The first one comes out hilariously bad and then the second one comes out great.) They draw from simplified storage. They take their eyes on the real time subject in front of them and draw what the brain has filtered and stored to simplify it. So if you are painting for more than 4 seconds without looking at the subject, you are pulling from the simplified storage. Frame storage is ideal, but temporary storage is acceptable. I call it frame storage because just like how our computer screens refresh every 60 fps+, we should be doing that with our eyes when looking at the subject. Could you think playing a fast-paced game that updates the image every 4+ seconds? Every stroke should be no more 3 seconds away from observing. Note that you also have to get use to making the right shapes with the hand movements. Although you can always adjust the shapes while painting. No shape is the final shape. They are all information to compare to the real time subject. 1.Look back and forth at the subject to quickly spot the inaccuracies or finding a shape. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. The faster you can do it the better. 2. After spotting the shape, look back and forth and think about how you will put down the shape to best grab it on the canvas. 3. make the mark. Then look back and forth to see if it fits well. There are many phases of painting, the large block in, the mid block in and the small block in. 1. During the large block in, you are just trying to get shapes on there to compare. 2. The mid block in you are refining the shapes. It's the last phase you can make major changes. If it's not reading by this point, it will take a huge amount of time to fix it. 3. Small block in, is the details. Details are always last. Note this is to grab likeness. There are times when you don't have to look at the subject so that you can focus on selling the hair or clothes or bringing out certain things in the painting that are independent from the subject's likeness.

[@RemoteGhost-u2t]

But what if your measurements disagree? This especially trips me up when it comes to portraits and I'm starting to lose hope in getting good a proportions😢

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

I think that is the problem with measuring. It isn't precise, like when your measuring something with a ruler on a flat piece of paper. So you can fool yourself into thinking you've measured something accurately, when any number of thing might be wrong with it. The most accurate way is to do it by eye, without measuring.

[@Danthehorse]

This method still involves a degree of measurement, off the bat, unless im going mad lol . Relating angles and shapes is a form of measureing. Funnily enough its exactkt what i settled on when i was able to paint. Once i learng the concept of lwtinv the image grow out of the lights and darks, and relating negative spaces, i got much better. I still used a bit of brush measureing as was prudent.

[@palnagok1720]

Measure angles that intersect from corners using a carpenter's sliding bevel

[@alisonlekarev2183]

It works for me! That's how I was taught and that's what I've always done. My proportions are always spot on, so have to disagree with you pretty strongly there.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

I know there are planty of artists who use this method of measuring with a pencil or brush and can draw accurately. However, it isn't accurate in the same way that a ruler is on a flat surface. At best it can help you see where the middle of your subject is, or that a figure is 6 heads high or that a shape is taller than it is wide. But I find it's quite easy to see these things without needing a pencil once you know what you're look for. When I point out the shape to my students they can ALWAYS see what's wrong with it. I've also had countless students claim to have measured something when it is blatantly wrong. The real point of this video isn't that measuring with a pencil doesn't work, it's that the the real key to getting proportions accurate is learning to SEE the shapes you're supposed to be measuring.

[@taraiviacarter]

"there can only ever be two things wrong with any shape: it's either too tall or too wide." mind blown. actual aha moment.

[@bozoclown2098]

I made a plastic measuring tool. Custom made tools is something(s)!I always make . Or psychologically (trick)get a manufacturer to make it for me

[@stevebuk100]

We need to see you on Sky Arts Portrait artist of the year, you would go far..

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

I disagree, the judges on that programme are clowns. There is a definite prejudice against artists who can actually paint. Many skilled professional painters have appeared, but they never get chosen. They reckon amatuers make more entertaining television.

[@bozoclown2098]

Accuracy is not always needed or important. It can be done good all the time if it's kept relative in mind when needed

[@handleOfThy]

I tried the traditional measuring technique but I just felt miserable xD it takes too damn long and I felt like I got worse, this one seems more doable

[@soupbonep]

I wish you would have used the box measure technique that you did on the profile of the woman during the painting of the cast. When you did the cast, you didn't show how the shapes related to one another. That was the most important part of this instruction for me, and went over things that I already know, but keep screwing up on the paper.

[@katechurches]

I never was successful sighting with a brush. I found I did far better with careful observation and “eyeballing” it.

[@majorhughes2791]

Most of this isn't really drawing it's copying. I used to hang on every word of the modern atelier system. Now I can't stand to hear or watch any of them. Firstly, the lie they perpetuate about sight size being THE standard method of the 19th century is ridiculous and damaging. Not only was sight size and the Bargue method not common practice for professional painters in the 19th century, It wasn't even designed to teach art. Charles Bargue was an engraver and needed to develop a method of highly accurate copying to produce high quality images for print. There is even a course that preceded it called the "Julien Drawing Cours." Once the academies became more bureaucratic and greedy they adopted the Bargue course book because it lowered the standards required to enter. Most teachers at the time were baffled that they were expected to lower their expectations for students. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that we are mesmerized by the works and especially the drawings of the 15th to 17th centuries. We also know deep down that what is being produced now is extremely shallow and lifeless in comparison. As a simple mimetic act how could it be on the same level? The high Renaissance and Baroque was a time when painters and draftsmen didn't just rely on what they saw. They actively applied their mind to the act using theory to elevate the drawing from a simple reaction of the mortal realm to more divine state. Any of you who are near the Art Students League of NYC should take a class with Frank Porcu. It will change your life. And you certainly won't have to be constantly correcting mistakes as a "method" because you will learn to actually understand and produce real drawing.

[@pletlpeter6857]

In the renaissance artists didn't use rectangle and straight lines when they drew figures. That appeared in the 18th- 19 century with the Braque plates. And the technique isn't used all over the world. Russians are using better techniques. They draw what they see without using straight lines and they are measuring only after the drawing was preliminary sketched. That's why Russian drawings have more feelings, composition and more intellectual value. The title is misleading. You can measure with your pencil and you can learn not to move between measurements and after few years your eye will get used to proportion relations so you will not have to measure so much.

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

Renaissance artists also didn't work Alla prima. Curved line are wonderful when you're drawing in charcoal or ink, but when you're working directly in oil paint you need to work with large shapes. Straight lines are a lot easier to place accurately than curves. With I'm painting I deal with curves after I have placed the larger shapes and I'm refining their edges. Are there not curves in my finished cast painting? Russian Academic drawing is probably the best in the world Today?. What little I know about their approach, they seem to place a very strong emphasisi on anatomy and constraction? But the Repin has a 7 year programme, probably the closest thing we have to what Art school would have been like 100 years ago? Unfortunately, very few people are lucky enough to recieve that kind of training today.

[@veraprokic4185]

But ....the shapes also have to be the right dimensions , inside a box which also has to be the right dimension...in order for the relations between these to be proportional ... So at the bottom line, measuring it all right is the key. So what are we talking about here? Do not measure, what you actually do measure??

[@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting]

A flat surface like a canvas only has two dimensions, height and width. So for any shape on your painting to be accurate its height needs to have the same proportion compared to its width, as your subject. If you're copying a photo i.e. working from one flat surface onto another, you can measure the height and width a ruler. But if you're working from life with a 3D subject in front of you, trying to measure it with a pencil and your thumb isn't accurate for the reasons I explain in this video. So you need to be able to actually see if a shape is in proportion in order to draw accurately. To measure in your mind rather than using a crutch like a pencil.

[@stefanvillette9830]

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[@inug2863]

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[@KG777.]

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