Hey guys, i’m new here!
I’ve been drawing by hand for years but have recently converted to digital painting, and i have a question if one of you more knowledgable people could reply that’d be great.
When drawing by hand, i always begin my portraits using a grid over the reference image and a grid on my paper. But when you are drawing portraits digitally, do you begin with linework or just go straight into painting? I’m a little confused.
Cheers guys!
The grid method is something that an artist should outgrow once leaving behind the beginner stage, because the longer you rely on it, the more it becomes a crutch. After developing your observational skills and eye-to-hand coordination for a while, you should have honed your ability enough to work without a grid system, or at the very least, only use a very basic one like a quadrant division or something. I’m not saying don’t use grids, just that think of it as the helper wheels on a child’s bicycle–once you get beyond the early stages, you need to take off the helper wheels and actually ride the bike for real.
As for starting a portrait painting digitally, there’s no real difference between analog and digital. It’s a matter or preference how an artist starts a figure. Some people do line drawing/sketching, some people block in the major shapes with solid values/colors first to establish the composition, and some people just make are few marks that indicate where the major landmarks are (eyes, nose, top/bottom of head), and then start painting in an alla prima manner (Richard Schmid is a master of this). I come from a comic book/animation background, so my habit defaults to drawing first–that’s just personal preference though.
I think for less experience artists, having the roadmap of a line sketch/drawing will make them feel more secure in proceeding into values/colors, because they can make sure the sketch/drawing is sound before going further, whereas if they worked with valued/colors right away and make mistakes with proportions that need correcting, it’ll take more work to repaint than it does to redraw.
I can certainly umderstand both the desire to use and to out-grow the need for the gtid system. For me it is a creative life saver because I am visually impaired and it is the only way I can maintain proportion and perspective in my eork. It is fot me a visual aide. I believe whatever method that helps you create is a plus. Just my view on this. 
Quoted for the truth.
I remember relying on rulers and measurments was my biggest mistake when I was starting.
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