Questions and answers

Yes. Every setting, effect and export size is free, with no account, no watermark and no usage limit.

No. Your image is read and drawn entirely by your own browser. It is never sent to a server, which is also why the tool keeps working if your connection drops after the page has loaded.

No. It runs in any modern browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.

The rows and columns you chose do not match the proportions of your photo. Turn on Keep cells square and the row count is worked out from the image for you.

Sixteen to twenty-four columns suits most human portraits, because features like eyes and lip corners need cell-level precision. There is a full size table in the guide on choosing a grid size.

Sketch keeps grey mid-tones and looks like a soft pencil rendering. Line art pushes those greys into solid black lines on white, which is sharper to follow and much cheaper to print.

Yes. Choose the sheet format and the export is generated at those exact millimetre dimensions. A4 at 300 DPI comes out as 2480 by 3508 pixels. Set portrait or landscape and a margin, and the readout shows the physical size of each square.

Choose Actual size or 100% in your print dialog rather than Fit to page. Fit to page rescales slightly to respect printer margins, which makes the millimetre measurements wrong.

Yes. The grid, labels, guides and any effect are baked into the PNG or JPG exactly as you see them. The grey page outline and blue dashed margin are screen guides only and are never included.

Yes. Drag the image to move it, scroll or pinch to zoom, or press Fill page. The grid follows whatever part of the photo stays on the page.

Divide your drawing width by the number of columns to get your cell size, mark that spacing along the edges and join the marks with a ruler. Use a 2H pencil so the lines erase cleanly.

No. It is a measuring technique, like a plumb line or a viewfinder. It handles proportion so you can spend your attention on edges, value and mark-making.

Your drawing is your own work. What matters is the reference: use your own photo, a licensed one, or an image released for free use. Closely copying someone else's photograph and selling the result can infringe their copyright regardless of method.

JPG, PNG, GIF and WEBP. You can also paste an image straight from the clipboard with Ctrl+V.

A4 suits most desk work and takes a 16 to 20 column grid comfortably. Chart paper at roughly 56 by 71 centimetres is better for large figure work, and a half-imperial sheet at 38 by 56 centimetres sits neatly at 19 columns of 2 centimetres. Choose a column count that divides your sheet into whole centimetres and ruling becomes quick.

Yes. The page is a single file with no frameworks, and once it has loaded there are no further network requests. All the drawing happens on your device, so a mid-range phone handles it as well as a laptop.

Yes. Your grid settings and your most recent image are saved in your own browser, so reopening the page brings back where you left off. Nothing is uploaded to do this, and the Clear saved work button under the download buttons wipes it whenever you want. Saved work stays on that one device and browser.