Learn How to Draw Accurately:
Measuring Shapes Video

Learn how to draw with accuracy - watch the Measuring Geometric Shapes Video. (9 min.)

• Close one eye while measuring.

• As you measure keep your pencil perpendicular to your line of sight.

• Use an easel to prop up you paper so that it is also perpendicular to your line of sight.

• Don't change your viewpoint. Shifting even an couple of inches could change your measurements.

• Keep your arm straight while you measure - bending your elbow will give you inconsistent results.

• When finding an angle, pretend your pencil is pressed flat against an imaginary pane of glass. Tilting it forward foreshortens the pencil - giving you an incorrect measurement.

• Measure the overall height and overall width of an object or group of objects - make note of which is longer and by how much - ex: does the width fit into the height twice, three times? etc.

• When drawing an angle measurement onto paper, make sure you transfer the correct angle - don't twist or bend your wrist.

Drawing a tilted ellipse:

1. Sight the angles (longest and shortest dimensions)

2. Measure and compare height vs. width

3. Remember to draw the ellipse within its overall dimensions

Return to the how to draw and sight geometric shapes instruction page.