Draw Like an Egyptian

Egyptian art may look a little strange to us, but they wanted to use a specific pattern when drawing human figures. They used a grid system to create a standard for their artwork. Learn more about the "Egyptian canon" (the rules for drawing) and try your hand at copying them.

Additional Materials: graph paper, pencil, coloring materials (optional)

Directions:

Download and print the PDF file

Click here for a link to the handout. For a larger version of the image in the grid, click here.

Using the image in the handout as a guide, try copying the figure on to a piece of graph paper with your pencil. The handout also provides some tips for where to draw parts of the body.

Click here for an image of the goddess Isis in the grid.

After you've drawn your figure, feel free to color it.

Once you have the hang of it, try finding a picture of Egyptian art on your own and see if you can use the graph paper to scale the image. Scale means to adjust the size of something, like taking a large image and reducing it to the size of your graph paper. 

The Egyptian canon (rule) of eighteen squares from the hairline on the forehead to the ground line.