Get an ACCURATE Sketch EVERY TIME with this TECHNIQUE 

QOTD: Do you struggle drawing accurate sketches and what tip/technique has helped you improve your sketches the most?

I've been a silent reader. I followed all your advice and learned so much in less than a month that when I tried to make the realistic drawing I myself could not believe on how much I improved. So much that I earned my first commission work when a coworker saw what I did. Much love!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge to us.

Oh my, I thought I was the only one who use dots as the key points for drawings. I'm 64 and have been doing this all my life and its so awesome to see you do the exact same thing. I could never use a grid, but i do free hand a lot. But I need those dots that I figured out many years ago. Just like those dot to dot drawing books for children. I make my own dots.

Why arnt there more good people like u in this world who help people with art..Why God? Btw thanks for the video and ur the best

My daughter in-law, is crazy about owls, I was thinking of drawing and framing as a present. Thanks Kirsty for making it easier for me!😁👍

But what if we don't have any reference picture.. I mean I usually draw from phone

Dear Kirsty Partridge, Oh my gosh, this is the very best instruction I have ever received on learning how to draw! I'm so thankful to you for making this lesson video for us! I'm "older", haha 50, and I've recently realized that I want so badly to learn to draw. When I was a wee little girl, by the age of 5, I knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. Then somehow, I wasn't really exposed to very much art at all. At the age of 10, my schoolmates and I were given an art project. It was to draw something with pencil, and then use watercolors. I remember being so excited! But, I had no experience and I drew a very simple house with a door and a couple windows, a tree, and some grass and flowers. Maybe the same thing I would have drawn when I was 5 years old. There was a boy that drew a lovely underwater scene with sand and fish. I was admiring his picture when he looked at mine and told me it was so ugly, and that I would never be an artist. I honestly believe that affected me until just recently. I remember being so embarrassed, and I think I avoided "art" in general the rest of my school years. So, I never learned to draw, or paint, or anything. Yeah, I'm super sensitive, which can be good, but in this case, not good at all. Now, I'm so glad I'm trying to learn. I'm collecting supplies as I am able. And I feel so fortunate, that even with all the bad things going on in the world... We are living in a time when at least some art supplies are easily accessible for most, and especially for videos like yours

Omg I’ve been waiting forever for a porportion video

I am alittle freaked out 😂 I do portraits every now and then but they are free hand and Yesterday I was looking for a why to do the sketches better cause I wanna try and use color pencil but I couldnt find anything. Now today, There is suddenly a video of what I was looking for 😂😂😂 Crazy

You should become an art teacher! You doing really well by teaching people online, imagine how you will do if you teach people irl

I was drawing a picture of Emma Watson...and struggled with getting the facial features right...this helped me alot!! Thanks Kirsty!!

Thank you Kirsty, this was really helpful. I was using grid lines in the past, the sketch was pretty accurate, but it was taking too much time. I tried to free hand, but as you have said, drawing a portrait can be very overwhelming, that's why I think it's better to be patient and look at the portrait as you would look at some shapes and try to replicate them, instead of paying attention to every tiny detail and overthinking about it.

Here is another tip guys: Shade the back of your reference photo with a B grade pencil, then place the photo on the drawing paper, and put key points on the reference photo, and the points you made should transfer on the paper, so you can connect them later :D but you may wanna get a new reference photo since the graphite can rub off on other places :D This is my own way so its great and you may all wanna try it it helped me so much!

Wonderful video!! Getting an accurate sketch is something I really struggle with and these tips seem super helpful and I can't wait to try this! Thank you, Kirsty!😀🎉💕

Thank you SO MUCH Kristy for sharing this technique!

When doing portraits for commissions I usually use the grid method but I just found out last month that I can free hand, its simple, just turn your reference upsidedown and then just start drawing what you see. I used this for a couple months and it also improved my free hand skils without using any methods.

I'd forgotten about this technique! Thank you for this video. I like the grid method but erasing the grid lines after makes me nuts. I recently took your portrait class and just want to let everyone know it was worth every cent and the best thing I've ever done for my colored pencil skills. I highly recommend it!

Interesting techmique. I've just tried it and you're right; much easier than using the grid system. Subscribed! Thznks, Kirsty.

just wanted to let you know that you are helped me so much to getting better! Each video of yours help me improve my drawing!! You are the best artist that I know! and you are just my favorite artist and RU-vidd and I just wanted to let you know it💓

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely use this method once my prismacolors come.

Top Tips and a lot quicker: 1. Get your reference photo, put it into Illustrator or Photoshop and put a grid on it. Print it out, then draw the grid on your paper. 10 minutes tops. 2. Draw a grid in black fineliner pen on some A4 paper, get some acetate/clear film, pop it into the printer, make a photocopy of it and it'll print onto the clear film/acetate. Place the grid onto your reference picture and stick it in place with masking tape. To make the grid easier to read, place a piece of masking tape from the top to bottom on the left hand side of the acetate and then across the top of the acetate. This is the part where you can make the grid reusable - it'll last for years. For example, an A4 grid of (210x 297mm) with 10cm squares would be - 1-21 marked down the left side in each box. For the top piece - write on the masking tape in each square - A-T. After that, do the same on your grid you have drawn on the paper. For example, if the pupil of the eye is in 10/C - go to your paper and start drawing in 10/C. These grids can be scaled up or down to suit your preference. I have had the same grids I made over 10 years ago and have made loads of different sizes. Hope that helps

I'm taking art for A-level next year, and these videos help me alot, especially the proportion and coloured pencil ones. Thank you so much Kirsty :)

The "think where the dot should go and measure" is a really good technique to improve intuition I think. I'm going to keep trying till I don't suck haha.

This is the best solution that I've ever seen... Thank You Very Much Beautiful 😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

Thank you! I’m 30 and trying to get back into art. I had been using the grid method and rendered some nice drawings, but feel it’s a bit of a crutch and slowing progress down. This is pretty brilliant.

This is very helpful to get a good sketch! Thanks Kirsty, my favoutrite youtuber as always!

Gotta applaud your explanations.My art teacher in school would tell us what to do but never show or explain much..she would just expect us to get on with it ourselves.Needless to say I didn't get an A. .All your videos are wonderful

I use the grid method. Gives me the best accurate drawing possible, but still takes a long time for me to do. First I do a grid on the reference photo, then another grid on sketch paper using the same measurements. After the drawing is done I use tracing paper to copy the drawing and then use a lightbox to lightly sketch on a blank Bristol Vellum paper. It saves time and don't have to erase grid lines, but it still takes a while and a whole lot of patience. This is the method I used for years and still do, but I'm willing to try the "dot-to-dot" method if it cuts time even more, especially when I suffer from carpal thumb and need to take frequent breaks to rest my hands.

Thank you so much for this!! It will definitely help me out with proportions. This is a great idea. I learned the grid technique when I was a kid and I'm actually not too bad at it, but I hate dealing with so many of the lines, as well as, it's a bit time consuming... to me anyway. This is something a bit different that I cannot wait to try. I think it will definitely help me!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

that you for this technique my strong skill at drawing is sketching but sometimes i cant get an accurate image this helped me a lot thank you

I came across your channel yesterday and I'm loving every artwork of yours😭 and your eyes are so beautiful 😭❤️

Thank you ALoT, this will definitely help me. But the only way to make reference points for me is to print them out...so now I’m going to learn how to use a printer

Finally! Ive been needing this 🙏🙏 thanks a tonne Kirsty

Hello Kirsty, Thank you all your lessons and teaching. The way you teach is really very simple to understand most important think which I observed is you are very transparent in your lessons.. whatever you know you completely transferred to learners.. Thanks a lot..

Kristy I’ve just discovered you and so thrilled that I have already picked up some wonderful helpful tips. Thank you!!!

I've always looked at videos on youtube to help improve my art but i never really get any from the other than your videos. So thank you

Thanks a lot kirsty we want a video about pointallism

Kirsty, you really are a goddess at teaching

Very useful and nicely broken down

Hi Kirsty, I just finish my Emma Watson portrait from your tutorial, just fabulouse, thank you so much, took me long time to finish but I learn so much , wush I could show you my finish work !!! is not as good as yours as is my first portrait ever !!! will continue with my next lesson

Damn, that dot method rather than a grid or anything along those lines is really smart. Never would've thought of that. Great video!! 😄✏️

Once again, HELPFUL N AMAZING

Dear Kirsty! I am struggeling with drawing now since I started out, although I practiced!!! I have a tremor that also comes into play especially when I'm nervous or trying something new and it even gets worse if I am watched doing something like drawing! I finally totally gave up on drawing and that's a very sad thing, cause I have so many ideas that I even have to write them down! I got to the point where I accepted that I will never be able to draw and have to rely on royalty free websites like pixabay,print the image out and trace it on to my canvas. But there is an issue with that, too! There are very often times I just cannot find the right picture of the idea I have in mind. It is so different than what I have in mind, that it's quite frustrating to just be able to pick an image that I like and that's similar to what I have in mind. But with this tequnique you just showed us and what you said,that we only should think in shapes and not of the subject itself, is very helpful to me! It is so true that if I think about I'm drawing a face, while I'm trying to draw it for an example, it's scary, seems to be impossible for me to draw it and YES it is totally overwhelming to me! That is true for everything I ever tried to draw! But this method that you showed in this video,gave me hope again! I haven't heard about this method before, but I will give it a try! I have nothing to loose,right.? And I don't worry if I will need a whole lot of reference points,maybe more than others and if I will have to stick with them forever, if I am just able to draw better and better... Hopefully... Thank you Kirsty so much for this video and giving me hope again! Be blessed! Lots of Love from me, Manuela from Germany, to you,dear Kirsty!!!

This technique is simple but with Kirsty become professional

Grownup "connect the dots"! I love it!

Reference point copy. Maybe make dots with black paint, press your other paper on it. The paint will be on your new page. Now turn your new page back and the dots are visible though this paper. Perfect and quick.

A very old but relatively accurate method, and one you have all probably used previously without realising as a child as it’s been used in dot-to-dot books for decades. Another way is to spot reference the negative space. Both are better than the grid IMHO, much less erasing 🙂

You could use vellum ,trace it , heavy pencil over it , then draw over it .it will transfer the image , I find that very easy.

I usually change the size of the reference. To manage that without loosing the proportions I usually draw a cross in the middle of the picture. Then I measure the reference at major points in the picture along those lines and multiply the distance with the factor that I want to expand the drawing. With a portrait for example I would mark the chin, nose an hairline where they sit on the chosen vertikal line and on the horizontal line I mark ears, cheekbone etc. Then I have maybe 5-6 dots along the cross and I use those to get the proportions right. Otherwise its very difficult to double the size or draw 3x as big as the reference....

You have talent in pencil drawing and colour pencil painting and colours you are awesome artist have a new subscriber

This is the best, thank you so much for sharing this technique! Its so simple but produces great results and I can't wait to use it for my drawings!

OMG I needed this today! Thank you!

Hi, the points is a great idea...if the reference photo is too small, I multiply up, using a ruler to mesure in the features.. mostly in regards to portraits...but I`ve just started up drawing and painting again, so I`m slowly getting into it again. I`ve always had trouble with being accurate in my drawings..some of it has to do with patience, you have to take your time when drawing

This really helps me understand how to get an accurate sketch,I've been struggling for a long time with drawing from reference photos and this gave me the help I needed and made me inspired to draw today! I still need to work on sketching lightly though but even though I've been drawing almost all of my life whenever I tried drawing from reference, there was always something of about my drawing compared to the image I'm looking at(not saying that it looked bad but it never looked quite like the original image)like maybe the placement of an arm or a leg or a finger 😂.

Can you teach us how to add color to pencil drawings

Brilliant tip! As always thank you for sharing 😊

Yes I have waited for this video!!

this has got to be one of the best tips/techniques I have come across! thank you

This is a good tip. I enjoy the drawing process the most that's why I don't enjoy tracing. This will be helpful for subjects that I'll be drawing multiple times. 👌

Very helpfull. I sometimes toss away up to 5 tries before im happy with the outl8ne of a free hand sketch and the gridline teq does not work with me at all. I love your videos. Thank you very much

In my opinion, I think I could use both Grid and Freehand technique. However as for me, as a beginner in Graphite and charcoal, I can't possibly draw without grids to get the exact drawing. Anyways, your tutorials and tips videos are a great help for my drawings. I'am into anime/cartoons and a visual artist. So most of the time, I used colored pencils as my medium on my artworks. Thanks Ms.Kristy! Your video is much appreciated!

How foolish I am!! I always drew using the grid method but now I will draw like this point method. Thank you Kirsty for uploading such useful video.

For ppl like me who don't have a printer nearby can just measure on the screen and then multiply (all measurements) by a factor to match the size to be drawn at.

You give me inspiration to draw! I love your art really very much! 👏👏👏

Thank you a lot for this video! I am a big fan of yours and I learn how to draw from you, from your advice. It was cer helpful. You inspire me to draw! 🙏

Thank You So Much, +Kristy Partridge,have Learn something new from you and i do support you💃

Well done. I assume lots of people nowadays think that tracing outlines of a photo and colour it means they can draw. Frustrating for artists who have been working on their skills for years. Often there are drawing videos on you tube where they start out with a completed sketch and you often don’t see them making the sketch. Good for you you choose to go for the skills and honoust way!

Great tutorial....a little further ahead in the picture making cycle, are The three T's.....in order....trace, tone, texture. These work in both hand drawn artwork and in digitally generated illustrations

You can also use a proportional divider to change the scale; larger or smaller, or the same as the original.

Your tips are great.. I already did realistic sketch within 1 month of watching your video! Thank you.. I was wondering if you could do a video on how to draw nerves.. It's very challenging and I need your guidance.

This is a great video and it was very helpful but what would you do if you can’t get a reference photo the same size as your paper?

Wow! This is a much better method than the grid method. It's less messy too.

Cool technique with the points. Ill try that, thanks

wow that's so smart!!! really helps improving because one thing I'm not really good at is getting an accurate sketch😬 Thanks Kirsty💞

Nice techniques Please share some techniques for eye, eye lids and lips. Love you

your art very beautiful

Thanks , I've never seen this technique before but I will definitely use it on my next drawing

I've been searching for something like this for ages! Thanks😄

Loved dots technique👍🏻

i love how she talks....i dont know why....her accent make me calm

This is very good for the cases where you have a physical picture reference... I try to do it from pictures I found with my phone so is not really helpful for me at the moment LOL but is a great idea and I will surely use it when I have the opportunity!

I currently use the grid method and find that works well for me but this is an interesting alterative to that. Definitely going to try it out!

Thank you very much for sharing your incredible Tips Kirsty I love drawing so much , and your channel too ... i usually drawing using Grid , it's really helpful and make artwork realistic looks , my teacher at the school suggested me drawing everyday , look at the reference photo , be patient same with your technique ...

Thank you for this helpful video! Normally I make a grid but this is also a good alternative.

When u said “Have your reference the same size as your drawing” I use reference photos straight off my phone bc I don’t have a working printer soooo can u give some tips on getting an accurate sketch from ur phone or ‘different sized’ references??😊

Loved this video! Thank you for sharing I can't wait to try this method out for myself.

Great and helpful video as usual! Again, who disliked? I’ll hunt you down.

1. Make it a pencil effect ( ipiccy.com ) 2. reference same size as drawing (Print it out) 3. Make the lines clearer and bolder (draw on reference) 4. Put drawing paper under reference, draw key points and it should come out on the paper (to make it easier!) 5. Sketch it out lightly, finalise the drawing after you get a good sketch 6. Erase guideline points 7. FINISH! :) *just to make it easier for me and for other people*

Definitely will try this technique!!!!!!

You're very talented! Thank you for sharing your precious advice to people who want to improve their art! God bless you and keep up the *FANTASTIC* work! *~Flex*

Thank you SO much! This tutorial really helped me!

You are the best 😍😍❤️❤️😘😘

I usually use the grid method.. it saves paper (so i don't have to print the reference photo) but your method is awesome.. I'll try it out and see how it goes *-* thanks!

its very help me out thank you Kirsty love you

What pencils do you usually use to draw?

I have never seen using points as reference. Fantastic idea! Thanks.

That's awesome I used the grid system and it's hard to erase afterwards. Thanks for showing.

Proportions have always been a issue for me thanks for this tip it will really help.

this technique reminds me of bezier line on pen tool and some approach vertex to build 3d in 2d view to interpolation. the core of art it's so multidimensional relevancy of rich insight to implementing like this. so God bless you to share this idea into the build accuray itself of artwork.

GOD BLESS YOU FOR UPLOADING THIS!! i've needed this for so long !!