What is the Accurasee Drawing System?

The Accurasee Drawing System provides drawing tools to help implement time tested methods of alignments and measurements. It can be used to help any artist arrive at correct overall proportions. It was created in an effort to simplify the process of comparing distances and aligning features and when used properly, the Accurasee Measurement System has proven to be able to teach artists how to draw accurately.

What's included in the Accurasee Measurement Kit?

The Accurasee Drawing System is provided as a Kit that contains drawing tools uniquely created by Bjorn Thorkelson. Along with the core tools, the Accurasee Drawing System includes written and video instruction aids to provide a solid understanding of the artistic principles upon which the art system is founded. The Accurasee Measurement Kit includes the following:

How can the Accurasee Drawing System help me?

The Accurasee Drawing System can help any artist improve in the following ways:

• Artists will recognize an immediate increase in drawing accuracy. Using the Accurasee drawing tools, you will have the choice to represent your subject matter more accurately than ever before.
• Develop essential habits used by all good draftsmen. Most great artists know how to draw accurately.
• Identify and correct drawing shortcomings. Using the Accurasee drawing tools, an artist can effectively check accuracy throughout the creation of their drawing, identifying and fixing inaccuracies or tendencies to distort.
• Learn classical methods of alignments and comparisons. The Accurasee Drawing System makes use of key artistic techniques of plumlines and alignments, size and proportions, but does all this much more accurately than traditional drawing methods.
• Make "accurate drawing" another creative option. With the Accurasee Drawing System, you can choose to make accuracy an option that may not have been available to you before.
• Develop the ability to see more accurately over time. With sustained use of the Accurasee Method and identifying and addressing personal tendencies, artists can simply learn how to draw more accurately.

How does it work?

Download the free Artist's Guide to Using the Accurasee Drawing System. Additional instructional videos and guide are also provided on the Accurasee demo page.

Use of the Accurasee Drawing System is simple, but can be used to any level of accuracy desired. The artist positions the accuview measurement card between himself and the subject matter. The artist then moves to a position allowing the subject matter to fall within desired parameters of the segmented card. He can then decide how large to make his drawing using the Accutape, which is included in the system. It is a measuring tape which contains a variety of size options. One horizontal and one vertical reference lines are sketched on the drawing surface. The artist can then determine where the key landmarks lay in relation to the horizontal and vertical lines. The artist can then use the combination of the measurement tape and the proportional divider to accurately locate the landmarks desired. With time and practice this process will become second nature, and the artist will be able to identify drawing shortcomings and correct them immediately. With correction comes learning and the Accurasee Drawing System can literally teach artists how to draw more accurately.

How much does it cost and where can I buy it?

The introductory price for the entire Accurasee Method Kit, including the written and video instruction and tools is $39.99, with a retail price of $49.99. The Accurasee Method is not yet available in stores but can be purchased directly from the Accurasee Store. If you would like to provide the Accurasee Method Kit to your students in quantities of more than 10, please contact us for details.

The Evolution of the Accurasee Measurement System

G. Bjorn Thorkelson is the creator of the Accurasee Measurement System. As Bjorn was fulfilling his masters degree at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, he stumbled upon an idea that has helped him tremendously in his drawing.  This was an online program, and as such, it was necessary for him to take digital images of his final paintings and turn them in alongside the images used as reference.  As he prepared these images in Photoshop to turn in, he was stunned to see the drawing inaccuracies that were very evident when he looked at these images side by side.  It was then that he committed himself to learning how to draw more accurately.  

Bjorn decided to test his skills using Photoshop as a guide.  By making his drawing semi-transparent and laying it on top of the actual reference, he saw first hand how close...or maybe more accurately, how far off he really was.  Over the next year and a half, he experimented with various drawing techniques and through trial and error developed a drawing system which can help even the most experienced artists to dramatically improve their drawing skills.  These drawing techniques are based on concepts that have been around for centuries and are commonly taught in art schools today. What Bjorn has done is simply taken these drawing techniques and refined them to make them much more accurate and easy to use.

I believe that by using this drawing system over a sustained period of time, any artist can learn to draw more accurately not only in the short term, but can learn how to draw much more accurately over time.  After using the Accurasee Drawing System consistently over the last year and a half,  I've seen a dramatic improvement in my own ability to see and draw accurately and I think it can do the same for you. Try it..it will teach you how to draw.

~G Bjorn Thorkelson

About Bjorn

A native of Southern California, Bjorn lives with is wife Connie and their four boys, T’Jae, Braden, Shawn, and Riley in his Southeastern Idaho studio/home. Art has been his passion since early childhood and he cannot remember wanting to do anything else. His early “crayon studies” of kindergarten took on more importance as he realized that he wanted to be an artist. “I’ve always loved to draw,” he says, “it’s as simple as that.  Painting is merely an extension of that desire.” 

After graduating from Art Center College of Design with honors, he pursued illustration as a practical means of providing for a young family and preparing to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming a painter.  In his illustration pursuits, he achieved both financial and critical success, but never felt the satisfaction he desired.  “ I always knew what I wanted to do,” he says.  “At some point, I just had to go for it, and paint for myself.”  So, after 12 years as a full time illustrator, he has entered the fine art gallery market.  Bjorn adds, “I look at my years as an illustrator as a period of intense learning and preparation.   Over 15 years of illustration, I learned how to draw and paint and I acquired the skills necessary to create art. I'm now able to enter the galleries with a more mature vision of who I am and what I want to communicate.  I’m passionate about what I do. I wake up everyday with a new hope of creating something special or learning something new.”  He shows his work today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at The Wilcox Gallery.

Bjorn and his family. His wife Connie (also an artist). Braden, Shawn and Riley. Missing in action is his oldest son T'Jae who was serving an LDS mission at the time. He's back, and Bjorn needs to update his photos:)