Tracing sheets and reference photos in Easel by Zaweba

Almost every painter works from something: a photo, a sketch, a still life on the table. And plenty of painters trace, or at least use a grid or an overlay to get proportions right before the paint goes on. Easel by Zaweba supports both with a tracing sheet and a reference photo, kept apart from the painting so neither ends up in it by accident.

The tracing sheet

A tracing-paper or acetate sheet lies over the painting and holds guides. Think of it as a clear layer on top of your work, the way an illustrator lays a sheet of acetate over a drawing to plan corrections or mark a composition.

Because it sits over the painting rather than in it, you can draw guide lines, mark a horizon, plan a perspective or note where the main shapes go, then paint underneath without those marks becoming part of the picture.

Ctrl+H shows or hides the sheet. Get used to flicking it on and off. With it on you check the plan, with it off you see the painting as it really is.

The reference photo

A reference photo can sit in one of two places. Beside the canvas, it works like a photo pinned to the side of a real easel, so you can glance across while you paint. As a faint tracing guide, it shows through lightly over the canvas so you can follow its shapes.

Either way, the photo is never merged into the painting. That's a deliberate choice. Everything in the finished picture is something you painted, and the reference can never sneak into an export.

Which way to use the photo

Beside the canvas is the better choice for learning. It forces you to look, measure and judge, which is how observation skills grow. It also keeps you from copying every small detail, which tends to make paintings stiff.

As a faint tracing guide is the better choice when accuracy matters more than practice: a portrait commission, a pet painting where the likeness must be right, a building with tricky perspective. Lay in the main shapes over the guide, then switch it off and paint freely.

Many painters combine the two. Trace the big shapes from the faint guide, then turn it off, move the photo beside the canvas, and paint by eye from there.

Working with the drawing aids

The sheet is a natural home for guides drawn with Easel's other drawing aids: the ruler, French curve, ellipse guide, compass, proportional dividers and grid. A grid on the sheet over the canvas, matched to a grid over your reference, is the classic way to scale up a photo accurately.

The view checks help too. The mirror, values and squint views exist only on screen and never affect the painting, so you can use them to compare your work with the reference.

Tips for a clean result

Turn the sheet off often. It is easy to keep painting with guide lines visible and only discover later that the painting looks odd without them.

Don't trace everything. Trace the big shapes and key points, the corners of eyes, a horizon, the edges of a building, and leave the rest to your eye. The painting stays lively that way.

And remember that the sheet is saved with the picture. A .zeasel file holds the sheet along with the surface, palette, masks and time-lapse, so you can pick up tomorrow with your guides still in place. That makes Easel by Zaweba a comfortable place to work on a carefully planned painting over several sessions.