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Technique & Tools For Sighting

Sighting is the use of tools to find the length, angle, and proportion of various parts of a thing when drawing from life or from a photo reference.

Proper Technique For Sighting

• Fully extend the elbow to keep the distance consistent.
• Close one eye or wear an eyepatch to flatten the image.
• Keep the head still or use a fixed eyehole so as to not alter the view.

Tools For Sighting

• Pencil / Pen

• Proportional Dividers


• Plumb Line


• Callipers


• Cropping L's (These can also be used to frame an image for compositional purposes.)


• Viewfinder Grid


• Ruler (e.g.: lay it flat on a vertical drawing surface and line it up with some point on a model you are drawing from in order to transfer distances from the model to the drawing surface)

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Photo Credits:

• Proportional Dividers from Jerry's Art-a-Rama
• Plumb Line from ???
• Callipers from Northern Tool
• Cropping L's from ???
• Viewfinder Grid Jerry's Art-a-Rama