This drawing guide for beginners
will help you in checking your drawings accuracy.

No, this isn't a fancy set of chinese chop sticks, but a rather useful drawing guide that can help you in checking your drawings accuracy.

It is a great beginners tool in checking the accuracy of your initial sketch.  It's used by pro's too, I use mine all the time.  If you check out my YouTube videos, you may see one laying around my computer screen where I check my drawings.

They're called proportional dividers, and unless you've taken a drafting class in the past, you may not have ever seen them.  The ones used by mechanical engineers and draftsman are very expensive because accuracy is super important in their jobs.  But I've found some that serve a great purpose in drawing.

A Drawing Guide, proportional divider!

So, firstly we take our drawing guide (proportional divider) and measure or set the points to match my width of the photograph.  You may have to adjust the center snap (red) to get the proportions within the limits of your drawing tablet. 

This is an item that it's easier for you to play with than rather explain it.  Just slide the red pin to different holes to get an idea of exactly what this does. Just remember to keep the points (plastic) protected, and matched to one another when moving the center red pin.

Basically, you measure with the shorter end, the end closer to the red pin, and compare or transfer with the larger end. (This is for taking a smaller picture and making it bigger) 

If you're taking a larger picture and shinking it, of course you'd go the opposite way with your measurements, but usually, us artists want to increase the size of our reference photos.

The closer the red pin is to the points, the larger the proportion is transfered to the other ends. 

Here (above) you see I've got a measurement of my total width.  With out disturbing the setting (there is a little tension provided by the clip to keep the pointers from moving), I check the width of my tablet.

This falls nicely into the width of my tablet, so I mark it.  If the center red pin is not in the proper location, and my pointers are off the page, my pin needs to come "away" from the short end.  If the pointers are located way too far inside my drawing space, then the red pin needs to be positioned closer to the short end.

Above, I'm checking the height.  It comes in nicely too, so I draw a box around the perimeter of my tablet to establish my outside edges using these measurements. 

As I continue to draw using this divider, I measure different aspects and elements within the photo (above) to see if I have transferred those measurements correctly to the drawing.  (Below)

These are strictly comparative measurements.  If I have a mistake, I erase and use the pointers as a guide.

Here, you see my final outline sketch of the drawing.  Once I am happy with all these elements within the drawing, I really have no need for the proportional divider or guide any further, and I complete my work within each section or outlined area. 

Get your own proportional divider here, click this link. 

Below is the finished work. 

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Related Drawing Pages

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A fantastic resource,  so grab it while you can!
Nolan Clark has done it again!  By putting together this comprehensive course in Drawing, he never fails to amaze me.  A great artist, author and a great teacher with a course that will help you in this must have skill of drawing.  Remember, painting is drawing with a brush, and you need to be able to draw well to improve your painting skills!