How to use the grid method for drawing
To use the grid method, draw a grid of equal squares over your reference photo, draw a grid with the same number of rows and columns on your paper, then copy the picture one square at a time. Make the paper's squares bigger to draw bigger. Rub out the pencil grid at the end.
The Grid Drawing Tool puts the grid on your photo and makes a matching blank grid for your paper size.
What the grid method is
Museums call it squaring. The Getty Museum's glossary defines it as "a method for transferring a drawing to another, usually larger, surface": both surfaces are ruled into the same number of squares, and the lines in each square are copied by hand into the matching square. It isn't tracing. You still draw every line yourself; the grid just tells you where each line starts and stops.
It works because a small square is easy to judge. Placing a whole face by eye is hard. Placing the corner of an eye one third of the way across a square is not.
How to use the grid method, step by step
- Grid the photo. Draw equal squares over your reference, or let the Grid Drawing Tool do it. Start with about 6 to 10 squares across.
- Grid the paper. Draw the same number of rows and columns in light pencil. The squares must be squares too, or the drawing stretches.
- Label both grids (A, B, C across and 1, 2, 3 down), so you always know which square you're in.
- Copy one square at a time. Look at where each line crosses the edges of a square on the photo, mark the same points in the matching square on the paper, and join them.
- Work on shapes, not things. Inside one square an eye is just a few curves. That's easier to copy than "an eye".
- Erase the grid once the outline is in, then shade and add detail.
Tips that make it easier
- More squares, more accuracy. Smaller squares mean less guessing per square, but more lines to draw and erase. Add squares only where the detail is, such as the face.
- Diagonals from corner to corner help place details in the middle of a square.
- Pick a line color that shows on the photo: white lines on a dark photo, dark lines on a light one.
How to enlarge a drawing with a grid
The size of the drawing depends only on the size of the paper's squares. The scale factor is:
scale = paper square size ÷ photo square size
If the squares on your printed photo are 1 inch and the squares on your paper are 2 inches, the drawing comes out twice as big. The number of squares stays the same.
The grid has to have the same shape as the photo. A 4:3 photo can fill an 8 × 6 grid, but not a 7 × 7 one. If your paper is a different shape, either leave a margin or crop the photo to the paper's shape first.
Worked example: a 4:3 photo on Letter paper
The Grid Drawing Tool's example photo is 1600 × 1200 pixels. Its default grid is 8 columns of square cells, which gives 8 × 6 squares of 200 px, because 1600 ÷ 8 = 200 and 1200 ÷ 200 = 6.
| Where | Grid | Square size | Picture size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo printed 8 in wide (200 DPI) | 8 × 6 | 1 in | 8 × 6 in |
| Letter paper, landscape, 0.5 in margin | 8 × 6 | 1.25 in | 10 × 7.5 in |
| Same, with A1 labels around the edge | 8 × 6 | 1.2 in | 9.6 × 7.2 in |
| 16 × 12 in canvas | 8 × 6 | 2 in | 16 × 12 in |
Letter paper turned landscape is 11 × 8.5 in; minus a 0.5 in margin on each side that leaves 10 × 7.5 in, and 10 ÷ 8 = 7.5 ÷ 6 = 1.25 in per square. So the drawing on Letter comes out 1.25 times the size of the 8 in print. On the 16 × 12 canvas it's 2 times.
Do it with the free Grid Drawing Tool
- Open the Grid Drawing Tool and choose a photo.
- Set the grid by rows and columns, by square size in pixels, or in inches or cm for a given print width. Add diagonals or A1 labels if you like.
- Download the photo with its grid, then download the matching blank grid for Letter, A4, A3 or a canvas size, at 300 DPI.
Your photo stays on your device, and there's no watermark. Pixel art mode turns the photo into blocks with a grid, for squared paper, beads or stitches.
Open the Grid Drawing ToolFAQ
How do you draw using the grid method as a beginner?
Start with a simple photo and a coarse grid, around 6 to 8 squares across, labelled on both the photo and the paper. Copy the outline square by square in light pencil, check the whole drawing against the photo, then erase the grid and shade.
How do you use the grid technique to enlarge a picture?
Keep the same number of squares and make the paper's squares bigger. 1 inch squares on the photo and 2 inch squares on the paper make a drawing twice the size.
Is the grid method good for drawing?
It's a way to get proportions right when copying a reference, and to scale a drawing up or down accurately. You still draw every line by hand. You can use it for the outline only and draw the rest freely.
Which famous artists have used the grid method?
Squaring is a standard enough studio technique to have its own entry in the Getty Museum's glossary. One example: the Courtauld holds a Frank Auerbach study from about 1957 to 1959 with a red squaring grid on it, which its record says would have eased transferring the composition to a larger painting.
How many squares should my grid have?
Enough that each square holds a shape you can copy at a glance. Fewer squares are quicker to draw; more squares are more accurate. Try the photo with a few grid sizes in the tool and pick the coarsest one where the details you care about still sit clearly inside squares.
How do I make a grid for drawing without printing?
Measure the paper, divide its width by the number of columns, and mark that distance along the top and bottom edges and down both sides, then join the marks with a ruler. The Grid Drawing Tool's blank-grid note tells you the square size for your paper.
Related
Sources
Each page below was read on 27 October 2026. The square sizes and DPI in the worked example are what the Grid Drawing Tool reports for its own example photo.
- J. Paul Getty Museum, glossary: squared. Squaring is "a method for transferring a drawing to another, usually larger, surface"; both surfaces are ruled into an equal number of squares and the lines copied freehand. Rendered in a browser.
- The Courtauld, Frank Auerbach, Study for Oxford Street Building Site (c. 1957 to 1959). Collection record: the drawing carries a red squaring grid, which the record says would have eased transferring the composition to a larger painting.