I love the Grid Drawing technique! Okay, just had to get that out there. These printable worksheets are ideal for cover or sub lessons and my students love doing them! Grid drawing is, I think, fundamental to improving confidence and skills in art. Used correctly, the grid method is fantastic for helping students to concentrate, analyse and problem-solve what is essentially a very challenging task.
I often hand out grid method worksheets for art sub / cover lessons or extension tasks if students finish early, so I have made a huge presentation full of different pictures and themes, all gridded up with simple instructions for students to follow.
Grid Drawing Worksheet: Sweets
The full Grid Drawing Presentation is available on TES here and on TPT here – enjoy!
Historically, the grid method was used mainly for changing the scale of artworks – enlarging and reducing images based on different ratios, so these grid drawing worksheets could easily be used to show students how to change the scale of images.
I’m really more interested in using the grid method to show students how to really LOOK at and image and analyse it carefully in order to capture as much detail in their drawing as possible. The grid gives students reference points for every part of the image and allows them to judge each element in relation to the boxes. One of the amazing things about using the grid method is that students can be super precise (measuring within each square using a ruler) if they choose to.
The grid method is also very useful for art cover or sub lessons – there are written instructions on each worksheet so your students can just get on with it! I have had some wonderful results:
I think that grid drawing is really an essential method to improve student’s accuracy and fine motor skills. Ask your students to complete the drawing upside down so they really have to look!
Grid Drawing Printable Worksheets
The grid drawing printable worksheets I have made are all together in a huge presentation – there are over 35 different pictures for students to choose from, with themes including: Sweets, Cake, Fruit & Vegetables, Flowers, Architecture, Tools, Cutlery, Facial Features like eyes, mouth and ears, Fists, Animal textures, reptiles, fish etc. Lego and toys.
For each picture I have created an ‘easy’ and a ‘hard’ version – the easier version has a very faint copy of the original image for the students to draw directly onto, rather than drawing onto a blank grid.
‘Easy’ Cupcake Grid Drawing Worksheet
I have shared a list of artists inspired by food – enjoy!
Each slide from the presentation can be printed to give out as a grid drawing worksheet, ideal for an easy and simple art cover / sub lesson or extension task. The images are all high res so each slide can easily be printed to A4, then blown up on the copier (if needed).
Grid Method Worksheet – Flowers
The full Grid Drawing Presentation is available on TES here and on TPT here – enjoy!
Grid Drawing Worksheet – Cutlery
I have included a range of images to draw, some more complex and some more simple, to make it as easy as possible for students who are less confident. I have also included some images which have a full range of tones if you want to stretch students in their shading work.
I have also tried to include as many student interests as possible (sweets usually work 😂 ) with lots of images to engage boys.
The full Grid Drawing Presentation is available on TES here and on TPT here – enjoy!
Grid Method Worksheet – Animals
Grid Drawing Worksheet – Lego
In total there are over 70 slides on the Grid Drawing Presentation for students to choose from!
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The Art Teacher 
Using a grid is a most useful tool. I use it when I paint very large paintings. It helps me keep perspective, since that is not something I am very good at doing. i used the grid method to sketch the giant oak tree I painted and posted this week.
Dwight
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Great to hear how you use the grid method, and I love the tree painting you did – it looks great on the wall.
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Thank you so much. I love doing the big paintings. They make such a great statement when they are done. I have a few that I rotate on the wall from time to time.
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If you’re using the grid method as an excercise, turn the photo upside down and copy the shapes. Helps you to draw what you see, not what you think you see. Also, keep track of which row you’re on:
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That is a fantastic tip – I’m going to try it with my students, thanks! I also LOVE the horse drawing more than the original??
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My grampa told me to squint and sketch shadows first. They’re the most important part – they define shapes more than colors do. He had a copy of the best drawing tutorial book I’ve ever seen. Andrew Loomis’ Fun With A Pencil (1939) has ALL the basics – shapes, shadows, proportion, perspective, and the grid system, and I memorized it. Free download here:
https://archive.org/details/andrew-loomis-fun-with-a-pencil
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P.S. After your students have mastered the grid, tell them to make a drawing grid with curved lines and let them “morph” the original image. The results can be fun.
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This looks like a fun exercise–I have used it to scale up something—but choosing all these different categories to scale up would be a great deal of fun.
Thank you for reading my post on fingerpainting for adults—there are youtubes about it–I discovered the paste directions we had did not use enough liquid–thus creating a lot of lumps.
It was a delightfully messy project; we made our own ‘tools’ from fun foam; but marbling tools would also work well.
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Thanks for your comment! Your art sounds really fun 😊
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