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Interesting comments from Pam and Lon.
When I'm painting from life, I draw freehand when doing a head and shoulders, and use a grid for a larger figure. The grid, however, is in my head, I don't use a visual reference of crossed lines, but I do measure....a lot. I do have my 3/4 figure students make up a see-through grid of acetate marked into squares. These are hung from a stand in front of them, and they look through the grid to develop their "cartoon". The grid is (I think) necessary if you are doing a developed drawing, and you are not working sight size. It saves a lot of wasted effert.
Pam, I am very much against tracing a projected image and painting from that. I won't take the time here to describe the distortion that happens in a photograph, but I have seen too many stilted and unnatural poses put into oil because, well, that's what the photographs said. Painting and drawing from life, understanding anatomy, understanding the way the body works, makes it possible for you to "adjust" what you see, either in life or in a photograph, to make the painting more interesting, more pleasing, and more real.
Painting potential motion is a very esoteric concept. When I posted this, I had hoped that someone would say, "Yes, I do that as well." Certainly it could be considered a small thing to do when one is struggling with likeness, composition, or solidity. But I mentioned it because it is something I think about as I am painting the latter part of a portrait. (As I think of it, the only places I have heard of this concept is in the works of the 18th Century French, but I see it in a lot of my favorite pieces.)
I am glad if it has tweaked a few to another way of seeing things. I like to shake things up, for myself as well as for other artists.
Peggy
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