Graph paper might seem rigid, but it helps you ground spatial ideas and practice perspective tricks. Don't fear it—embrace it and get your ideas on paper!
In this lesson, we unlock the creative potential of graph paper with easy techniques for creating 3D illusions and mastering perspective. Learn to use angles, overlapping forms, and even optical illusions to expand your spatial thinking.
Newest
@lemonmerchant
2d
Experimenting with this. I tried breaking it with the horizontal lines. Does the inversion still work?
Katie
3d
Man, working on graph paper is a GAME-CHANGER for me!
Copying someone else's illusion was a relatively simple task, but I was struggling to rough out concepts for my own illusions because the difficulty of free-handing isometric perspective was getting in the way. But with graph paper I could wholly focus on the design aspect-- And I ended up having a lot of fun, haha! My brain is thoroughly teased.
Li Ming Lin
5d
I (finally) caught up with some of the homework for this course :D
This exercise was fun actually! I got to think about the angles and the "hidden" lines that are being blocked by something in front.
Haemah Ravanan
8d
Sandra Salem
11d
Finally, I played around with a shape of my own. Experimenting with the form inside. Shading helps me to clarify the form and play with the design. At the end I cleaned it up with only lines to see if still is readible.
Nassim A.
12d
Hello everyone! I tried to start simple with a non-complex shape and make it rotate in different directions. Not as easy as it seems, but fun :)
Maybe this is a silly question, but how do we know if the depth side of a shape is correct in terms of lenght?
@marcthenarc
14d
Just a note. If you think you can combine the previous lessons and graph paper into one drawing, obsessive-compulsive people like me may find shocking that your paper may align poorly with a T-square. They are maybe perfect squares, but rotated on an angle overall ? (The math confuses me and my head hurts). I think that unless you have a specific brand reputed to be dead-on on each sheet, graph paper is pretty cheaply made in general (I get mine at a dollar store) and any art based on it is better left alone in its own little world.
@marcthenarc
14d
I thought I'd improvise on some brutalist "thing". It resolved quite nicely from top and bottom. Simulating various heights from columns on top is just a line away.
Andy O
14d
So I'm really digging working on Iso graph paper and wanted to share a discovery. I was messing around sketching last night trying to figure out how to rotate isometric cubes on graph paper by construction rather than measuring everything. I was getting bored with just drawing objects just looking up or down. What about left and right?? What I found is that the x,y,z axis of an isometric cube can be described by an equalateral triangle (60,60,60). I found that drawing the triangles first let me orient the cube in different ways on the graph paper. Then I tried it freehand and.. mind blown. It works on triangles of any orientation or size! Check out my process in the images below. @Marshall Vandruff any other tricks like this you'd care to share?
@littlefluffyclouds
15d
Thanks for dumbing it down for me ! 😆
I’m following this course with my 11-year old, so smaller steps are appreciated! ❤️
@marcthenarc
15d
Some of Kirsten Zirngibl's drawings resemble kitbashing. A great way to design ships and corridors.
@dooby
15d
I remember doing this in my high school science classes on my ol' composition notebook. The grids would help me measure proportion on my humanoid characters (using the "how many heads tall" method). I gotta start looking for those notebooks!
Jonatan
15d
And here I had been thinking for a long time that graph paper (square ones, I had lots of them) weren't useful for drawing, I still used them to draw on sometimes but I felt having the graph could create bad habits and somehow distract me while drawing so I gave them away :P, with this new learned knowledge I got to get some now! Thanks for the video and explanation!
@ganzaru
15d
If anyone need Graph Paper for Clip Studio Paint, I've found some:
Rectangle: https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1864890
Triangle: https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1729628
While doing these, I found that it's still very hard to do straight lines on digital pen tablet-,-
How do people get their hand muscles to work as accurately as doing it manually on paper?
Shayan Shahbazi
16d
Just look at the magic 🤩🤩🤩. This opened my eyes Mr.Marshall. Thank you so much.
Randy Pontillo
16d
The knowledge is behind castle doors, my head is the battering ram, and I'm too stubborn to quit. Here's to running into walls, everyone, cheers!
Michael Giff
16d
Really appreciate this video.
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I Write, I Draw, I Teach