Studio Must Have's ....Part Deux

Well..............I am a couple days late posting this second post in my Studio Must Have's series, my only excuse is......I really don't have one. I just got distracted by some shiny object...again.

  Although hubby was off work yesterday so that does throw a wrench in the works. I find it difficult to concentrate on my work when he's home. I love spending time with hubby though and I try to take days off when he has his days off. Nuff said about that.

  Today's "Must Have" is a good one!  This is a small piece of equipment that I think every artist or even all you "doodlers" out there should have.

  But first, a small disclaimer....This piece of equipment will NOT draw for you. You still have to have a basic knowledge of drawing skills such as proportions. The best way to learn to draw is just by drawing. It's like learning to play the piano or any instrument, or learning how to ride a bike. The more you do it, the better you get. Practice makes perfect. You can watch all the videos and read all the books you can find but, unless you sit down and put pencil to paper, you won't ever improve.

So this small piece of equipment, what does it do?  It helps with judging distance and enlarging or reducing. It looks like this below and it's called a Proportional Divider........

  I picked mine up on Amazon.com but you can probably pick them up in a good art store. There are a few different versions of this on the market but they all do the same thing. How this works is, by using the orange tab, you adjust just how much you want to enlarge or reduce your image. Like when you take a photo with your cell phone. The photo image will naturally be small and you might want to make it into an 8X10 drawing say.

  By using this tool, you can do that. Also, it will help to measure distance between eyes in your drawing for example. But still, remember that it won't draw those eyes for you.

  I use it to double check my accuracy when drawing to check my proportions. I usually "eyeball" everything but this really helps get that initial sketch down correctly. I really find it to be an invaluable addition to my arsenal of art tools.

  So there it is, another tool that I just gotta have. Let's see, whats on my agenda for today? I am going to put more work into Harley Quinn..............

  And then I think I am going to break out my fine liners and do some pen and wash techniques. I have been wanting to play with my pens ever since i participated in this last #inktober2016. If I end up doing something half-way decent, I'll post it up later.

Olaf and I hope y'all have a great Thursday and a fantastic weekend. I will dig around my studio and find more "Must Have's" to share with you.