The BEST ART TOOL You Didn't Know YOU NEED (and how to use it)

This tool can change your art! It can act as a calculator to help you "check" your work, function as an angle checker, and can also help teach you how to draw. It's one of my most prized art tools and is an important part of EVERY art kit I have ever had.

If you'd like to purchase one of your own, the best place to find them is in art stores that have architectural sections. They are called many things, including an academic divider, an architectural divider, a divider, a plain divider and an adjustable drawing tool. Some current brands that make them are Staedtler, Alvin, Jakar, and ECobra. I recommend doing a google search to see where you can find one in your corner of the world.

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Chapters:
00:00:00 The Best Art Tool I Own
00:08:29 Features & Where to Get It
02:08:19 How it Helps find Measurements
04:12:18 How it Teaches You to Draw
04:28:16 Measuring Items in a Cityscape
05:12:07 Drawing Symmetrical Objects
07:57:18 How It Improves Portraiture
11:25:00 How to Check Angles
12:49:05 Demonstration
16:35:29 Final Thoughts

[dmarino]

Yes, a video on the proportional divider please. Love your videos. Have learned so much. Thank you.

[Jen-cxsf]

Oh my goodness, I am a retired cardiology physiologist and I have a set of callipers I would use when measuring for various electrical issues in a patient’s heart on the ECG!!!! This is great now I will use them for art!!! Fabulous, thank you so much!!!!

[garyseabolt]

I've been using dividers since the mid 80s. I was introduced to them in drafting class in high school. It is a tool which is in all drafting kits. This was a time when blueprints were still done by hand before computer aided drafting was introduced. We were taught to use them in different but similar ways to the ones shown in this video. They are usefulful for geometric construction, drawing polygons, bisecting angles, transferring measurements as well as the use it was named for which is dividing lines into equal segments. Proportional dividers are used to scale measurements up or down in drawings. I adapted dividers to art in many of the same ways as in the video. I also have a few other drafting items I use for drawing such as circle templates, French curves, drafting triangles, and flexible rulers, among other things. One big trick I developed is using a compass (used for drawing circles) as dividers. just replace the lead with another metal point and you have a set of dividers which can be adjusted very accurately and you never have to worry about accidentally changing the measurement. It's also helpful having several pairs of dividers or compasses so you can set different ones to different measurements to repeatedly use throughout the drawing without having to reset them or worry about absentmindedly using the wrong measurement.

[Robot]

I have one in my tool box, but I never used it. Now I know what it is for. Thank you for such a great video. Also, thank you for not having music during your instruction. I love it!

[lorrie]

Yes, a video on proportional divider please

[maryaltabev]

A lifetime mystery solved! 😊 thank you so much

[sararamer-dean]

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed, because I struggle with angles on buildings, etc.

[pjlewisful]

love your voice and clear way of speaking. I prefer the proportional divider as it allows for making things larger or smaller as well as same size but can see how handy and portable the little one is.

[ahab]

I have a small divider from my school days, which I never used then. But over the past few years, I have started using this tool to check proportions, and this is one of my favourite and most helpful tool.

[bonenfant]

The best tutorial on proportions I've seen so far. Thanks.

[StephenLeaSheppard]

Every single geometry kit I ever bought as school supplies in primary school had one of these in them, and I never knew what they were for. The compass was obvious -- you use it to draw circles. But the thing that's like a compass with two points and no place to put in a pencil? Nobody I knew, including teachers, ever had any idea. Thanks!

[patbird]

Thank you for sharing Leslie. Your students are lucky to have you. You sound so kind and caring.

[sharonsunshine]

This was so helpful... I had forgotten so much. I still have my two from college also. My art instructor thought it was important too. I only remembered a few days ago and rummaged through my old art supplies. I suppose life just got in the way of something I really enjoyed? Not feeling well and just rambling.

[racheladkins]

Most dividers were used to plot coordinates on a map by captains on sailing ships, haven’t you seen old films about sailing ships where the captain is filmed in his cabin looking at a map and using dividing tools.

[rayvirgoe]

It's great you showed many ways to use the divider. I use it to find my centers. Keeping perspective and proportion is critical, otherwise you begin to exaggerate what you draw. Thanks for the tips. 😊

[Harkart]

I packed one of these around for 5 years and ended up giving it away because I didn't know why I had to have it at school. Now it seems I could actually use it after 43 years😅
Thank you.

[Mikeshawtoday]

Thank you, Leslie. A game changer. I've had one saved since high school, and never used it in all these decades. Can't wait to start using it. Much appreciated!

[rachelmarney]

This is going to become my coping mechanism x Thankyou so so much .If you can imagine my BPD Diagnosis, Then finding out the only life illness with no end? This Art is Resprite for a Therapeutic hour to give my natural mind some Balance and be normal thinking for the rest in Art rejuvenates my brain.
This gives me a little time to remember memories so Endearing in my life. DEPRESSION can mask over one's past pre Diagnosis life's wonderful memories, reappear and just reminds us ....We are strong and BPD illness can not take away the Beautiful mind I had.
So Art Resprites ones natural mind& Relives room to smile and not totally forget who you are.Once were.
Your always the Wonderful you.
That's important to remember. YOUR LOVED ONES NEVER LET YOUR ILLNESS FOG SUCH LOVE.
XXX Clementine Croft

[wmolyng]

I was given a divider years (decades) ago and finally know how to use it. Wonderful because I struggle with proportion. Thank you. I'll start working with it!!

[sarahmitchell]

Oh please a video on the proportional divider would be so helpful!