A drawing I did from life, using the following measuring technique.

A quick discussion on "measuring".

It's vitally important that this is understood. Which ever great artist you care to mention, almost without exception the one thing they had in common, "They could draw accurately". Unless you can draw accurately, you will never be able to paint competent paintings. It is the solid foundation upon which great paintings can sit! It is the only set of rules that exist in art - Not even colour theory has a strict set of rules. Remember, learning the following technique is no different than learning most things in life - practice and patience. I find that most of my students learn measuring from between 5 and 10 hours of practice. Once you learn the following measuring technique and are able to use it, you will have three big advantages.

Firstly, you will no longer suffer frustration because of the... ...Oh, I'm just hopless at drawing! syndrome. I've yet to come across a student who cannot draw, once they learn the basics of measuring.

Secondly, it will pay back enormous dividends enabling you to draw and paint better.

Thirdly, it trains your eye to do much of the measureing simply by closing one eye and making a visual judgment.

You've possibly seen an artist drawing or sketching and producing a highly accurate piece of work by just trusting their eye and hand coordination. The reason they can do this, is because they have learnt how to measure! They've done all the hard work - Please remember, the measuring techniques which follow in the following two lessons may well appear daunting at first. But after a little practice and patience, you will master it. Also remember, when measuring, you must keep your arm outstretched and close one eye, or you will suffer double vision and not measure accurately. No sooner do you learn to measure by thumb and pencil you won't need to do as much - Your eye will do much of it for you. The only tool you need to measure with, is a long pencil - or paint brush - as illustrated in the following exercise - The best of luck, and have patience.

1. Hold your pencil as shown, CLOSE ONE EYE. STRETCH OUT YOUR ARM, EYE-LEVEL. Note how the pencil is locked between the fourth and little finger. Loosely and relaxed.	2. Practice moving your thumb up and down in the verticle position...	3. ...up and down.
4. ...now practice moving the thumb in the horizontal.	5. This is how to hold the pencil, arm's length.	6. Once you're confident, let's make a simple measurement. Firstly, we have to choose a reference by which we can measure everything else in the subject. Note: Once you choose your reference, you must use it throughout the measureing process to ensure accuracy.
7. Let's use the width of the bottle. Remember, keep your arm out straight, close one eye! and keeping that measurement (don't move your fingers, transfer it to the cup...	8. ...Yes, it's the same as the width of the bottle!	9. Let's measure the height of the bottle. First, go back to the reference - width of the bottle.
10. ...and divide it up the bottle... One...	11. ... Two...	12. ... Three...
13. ... Four. The width of the bottle divides slightly under 4 times into the height. And this is the principle of measuring!	14. looking at the subject, we can see there's a space, or gap, between the bottle and the cup. Whenever you come across this space, it's called NEGATIVE SPACE, but it can be measured!	15. ...Here is a closer look at that negative space. Let's measure it...
16. Go back to your reference - width of the bottle. Hold that measurement.	17. ...transfere across, and it's around half the width of the bottle.	This is how you measure with the thumb and pencil techniqe. Yes, we've chosen a simple subject. But the critical point to remember is to find a reference within your subject and measure everything else against it. Don't choose something too big, like the height of the bottle. It would be too cumbersome! Nor something too small, like the top of the bottle - that would lead to frustration.
Why not look around you and measure objects? Just for a bit of practice. Before we leave this lesson for lesson Two, let's look at the first measurement you need to make once you've decided your subject matter. And please remember, this measurement technique can be used whatever the subject - still-life, landscape, working from a model ect... ect...	18. Firstly, carefully decide how to compose your subject. This composition has too much space around it. Let's crop it down, getting rid of all that empty space.	19. Yes, this is much better. Your first measurement will nearly always be how does the width of the subject (always at its widest part) compare to the tallest (again it must be the tallest area)
20. Note, you will have to hold the pencil differently, as you would usually hold it. This is because of the distance and your thumb being small	21. Close one eye, outstretch your arm and measure the width...	22. ...holding that measurement, compare it against the tallest part of the subject. Yes, it's slightly less than the width. Remember, often when looking at a subject, your eye can be tricked, that's why measuring is criticle.
I suggest you practice this first lesson before moving on to the second. Simply arrange some of your objects like I have in this lesson. Please remember, you will need to practice. I'm always looking for feedback to improve my lessons. I'f you find this lesson of help, or unhelpful, and feel you'd like to make suggestions, then please do so by clicking here click here for lesson 2

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