How to paint straight lines

Question from Jaganath, Drawing Academy student

I came across some paintings of buildings. The lines of buildings are very straight.

Can you explain how the Old Master painted such straight lines?

I tried using wooden rulers but did not achieve that much precision.

Regards,
Jaganath

Hi Jaganath,

Many thanks for your message.

When you look at photos of paintings, you need to keep in mind the real size of the artwork.

We have seen many original paintings by Canaletto, they are quite big. Lines painted on big scale will look very precise when scaled down to a small photograph.

Some artists use threads instead of rulers.

For example, in some Vermeer paintings there are small holes in perspective vanishing points.

This holes are left by pins that were used to tie a thread to plot linear perspective.

Very straight lines are not ideal for a painting. Great masters knew about it.

Think of Parthenon, for example. All of the elements of this magnificent temple on the Athenian Acropolis were designed with curved edges.

As an artist (not an engineer) you have a license to be more artistic, and not so mechanical. Precision is good for technical drawings, however; artistic artwork is about creating an illusion that portrays the “spirit” and “soul” of life.

We hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Natalie Richy and Vladimir London
Drawing Academy tutors