Hip to be square?

**Nadesican** · July 29th, 2008, 06:29 PM

I've been doing a lot of perspective work lately, and even with my ruler, I find that I have a really hard time eyeballing weather or not a line is square on my notebook page. Since a standard T-square is a little too big and bulky to use on this size paper, I've been struggling with squareness.

This wouldn't usually be a problem, but I'm working with perspective, and having straight, square lines is important!

So, to you guys that are more experienced then I am...I have a question: What tricks do you guys use to determine if a line is square or not??

**arttorney** · July 29th, 2008, 06:37 PM

I'm having a little trouble understanding what you mean. Lines are straight. Four line segments of equal length can be used to make a square when they are arranged to have common endpoints meeting at 90 degree angles. Are you talking about the straightness of lines or about getting the angles of a square correct?

Is this something deeper such as how to build good cubes in perspective?

**Nadesican** · July 29th, 2008, 06:53 PM

lol, not quite. Its more like "Constantly fussing over weather my lines are at square angles to the sides of the notebook sheet"

**dcorc** · July 29th, 2008, 07:05 PM

What's wrong with a set-square/triangle?

There are small-format ones easily and cheaply available. (for example http://www.dickblick.com/zz554/47/ )

Dave

**Ilaekae** · July 29th, 2008, 07:11 PM

I sketch on graph paper, but you didn't want to really hear that...

There are plastic templates of all sizes that are basically flat pieces of transparent plastic with a grid printed on it. They're used in quilting and shit. (HINT HINT...go to place like Jo-Anne Fabric or crafts store) take a look at what they have and pick the best one for your purposes. Some are even triangles, making them doubly useful. Couple of bucks at worst.

Just line one of the graph lines up with the edge of your paper with the edge of the thing where you want your guideline drawn.

**chaosrocks** · July 29th, 2008, 09:56 PM

actually a 3 by 5 note card can keep you square
just line it up on the edge of the paper. or a cheap .49 cent ruler

the end is square with the sdies

i lik ethe clear plastic ones with inches on on eside and picas on the the other.. but thats just becasue I used to have to do layout by hand

**Flake** · July 29th, 2008, 10:21 PM

Tried this? Not exact but close enough for when the vp's are miles of the page and you don't have a 5 foot ruler handy..

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=130363

You can do this in PS and if I remember where the link is I'll edit this...assuming we are talking about the same thing at 3am..

**Nadesican** · July 30th, 2008, 12:44 AM

Great input from everyone! Thanks!

**Anid Maro** · July 30th, 2008, 12:01 PM

I just eyeball my lines. They're never perfect, but I don't mind because I was eyeballing them in the first place. If you want perfectly placed and straight lines however, the only way to go is drafting style with a T-square and triangles.

Size of paper doesn't matter either if you get a drafting board, which is basically a hunk of sanded wood that you tape your paper on. Hell go buy some cheap cutting board, it's practically the same thing.

Really it is a matter of how far you're willing to go for certain results, I eyeball and freehand all my lines because handling the drafting equipment annoys me... as a result I have less than perfect lines and I have to accept that.

As for getting acceptable eyeballed work, my rule of thumb if you can look at it in a mirror and it's not obviously off then it's good enough. It also helps that if you draw your lines all relative to each other then, unless your angles are extremely off track, it's nigh unnoticeable.

**Jasonwclark** · July 30th, 2008, 03:27 PM

2 points for the Huey Lewis line.

As others have suggested, a straight edge and some initial measurements are probably all you need. You could try eyeballing your squares and circles, and probably only hit one in a thousand. Having the proper tools on hand helps a lot.

**CCThrom** · July 31st, 2008, 07:59 AM

Yeah - don't use your ruler just as a straightedge... use it to measure equal distances from the edge of the paper.

A T-square is pretty unwieldy unless you have a drafting table to go along with it. I'd recommend a triangle instead... line up one side with the edge of your paper & the other edge will be square.