What can I safely use to draw grid lines on a canvas?

[16ga]

I often draw grid lines on my canvases and so far other then a few quick studies where I didn’t care enough to try to hid them I’ve had no issues with them yet. That said I keep hearing about stuff like this showing back up in paintings over time.

So far I use either a normal pencil, a colored pencil, or charcoal to draw light lines and then partly erase them. I then tend to give it a coat of titanium white to kelp hide the lines and too seal them in so it doesn’t get mixed into my paint as I work.

Am I doing things right or is this going to eventually show back up? And is there a better/safer way to do this? I'm just trying to avoid having problems down the line.

 

[Enyaw]

I could be wrong but vine charcoal. Let it sit far an hour and then fluff it off with a duster. The lines will remain but be ever so faint.

 

[Hermes2020]

I could be wrong but vine charcoal. Let it sit far an hour and then fluff it off with a duster. The lines will remain but be ever so faint.

That's precisely what I do as well.

 

[16ga]

Thanks. I have some vine charcoal that I can use. I'll try it next time.

 

[Marc]

I've never tried it, but some also use chalk line reels on larger dark toned ground canvases.

I just use charcoal

 

[Artyczar]

I never knew this. Thanks for this tip.

 

[WFMartin]

I use charcoal for my drawing, but I never draw a grid on my. canvas any more, with anything. And, for the exact reason you mentioned possible--"strike-through" in the future.

This is what I do: I use a piece of tracing paper of the exact size as that of my canvas. On it I draw a grid, perspective lines, or any other form of working lines that I require, and I use those lines as guides for my drawing. I do the drawing, usually with a graphite pencil.

Then, I flip the drawing over and apply soft vine charcoal to the lines of my drawing only (not to the construction lines, such as the grid). Flipping the paper back to right-side-up, I then use a ballpoint, and transfer the charcoal to the canvas surface, using my tracing paper as a "transfer paper". I transfer only the lines of the drawing.

If you do this on a canvas that has already had the background toned with oil paint, and has dried to the touch, this transfer is incredibly indelible, and dark, and won't tend to dissolve, or smear, even with the most strenuous application of image oil paint.

 

[Marc]

Oh yes I've done that too, but not with a picture using a grid.

This method reminds me of an artist I saw years back on local TV. He was spending a lot of effort covering a very large, very thin sheet of paper with charcoal. "You have to be careful not to rip it." There was a great mess of black dust. "koff', and not breath this stuff in." Then he flipped the paper over and up taping the top against a canvas. On the other side was a drawn picture of his painting to be. [ Me "What the hell man! The paper's clearly see through against the light. just put the charcoal where the lines are!"] Then with his blackened forearms and hands he drew over it with a pen, flipping the paper up on occasion to see the impression on the canvas. He got the idea from carbon typing paper (note for the young ones: A way of making copies before photocopiers.) Smart notion, he just needed to refine it another step.

 

[laika]

This is what I do:

Probably the best answer to your question, 16ga.
I've seen the icon writer that I follow on YT use grids and compasses to make drawings on paper and then rub dry pigment on back of the drawing and go over it with a ballpoint pen to make the transfer to his prepared panel. The faint outline will just become part of the paint; the pigment outline just "disappears" into the paint.

Edit: Using a quality soft pastel would probably sub for pigment and would be less messy.

 

[Enyaw]

Actually I don't predraw anymore. I draw rough shapes with my brush or knife to represent the shapes of the positive and or negative spaces using color to separate one from the othe. I prefer the crude rough edge over a predraw as then, to me, it gets to feel like a coloring book approach where you fill in between the lines. However if you are a detailed person I doubt my approach would work for you.

 

[16ga]

Thanks.

When I had a working printer and was only doing small paintings I’d print out the reference picture and transfer it to the canvas that way. Finlay I switched from charcoal or pastels to using oil paint on the back. Usually a cheap earth color.

The problem for me with doing it that way from a drawing is that I don’t draw on the canvas. I just paint on top of the grid using it to keep everything in the right place. I would have to try it and see.

 

[WFMartin]

Well, in my later years, and with particular types of subjects, I have done less, and less gridding. I got myself a cheap, proportional divider, and using that, I mark off what I call, "key points" on my canvas, usually with a pointed brush with fluid paint on it. My actual drawing prep. for my oil painting for subjects such as landscapes is practically non-existent, at present. And, for painting portraits, I gave up actually "drawing" years ago, merely because I found that an accurate, detailed, line drawing was actually HARMING my ability to achieve a relatively accurate likeness of the subject. The only subject for which I still use a grid, now, is my still life work, such as flowers, pots, vessels, fruit, etc.

 

[16ga]

Thanks.
Yeah landscapes I don't really use grids for. Still lifes and figure work I need something to keep my proportions rights.
I've never used a proportional divider. I might have to look into getting one.