nah it's a method of drawing from a photograph
you divide the photograph into segments with a ruler, then you can either enlarge or shrink the size of the image by how you create your grid on another piece of paper - then you fill in the individual grid squares.
(Poppet some assembly required., Fri 6 Aug 2010, 8:59, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

Do you have one of those complicated plastic things
with hinges and a pencil in one end and a tracer on the other that draws things bigger or smaller?
(Bazongaloid, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 9:00, Reply)

No?
I have a ruler and a set of derwent greyleads. I like to take my own photographs then draw them, but occasionally I'll take a photograph from someone else and attempt it.

give me five minutes and I'll take a photo, upload it, and show you what I mean.
Edit: Here we go.
i34.tinypic.com/15dnyn9.jpg
Not sure if you can see the gridding or not, but that's basically where I'm up to at the moment.
(Poppet some assembly required., Fri 6 Aug 2010, 9:03, Reply)

That's a pantograph Al.
Really difficult to use.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 9:46, Reply)

I've never even heard of those...

(Poppet some assembly required., Fri 6 Aug 2010, 9:58, Reply)

Too dificult to describe, Wiki it.

( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Fri 6 Aug 2010, 10:06, Reply)

already have - they look weird.
I just measure the photograph exactly, and divide it into squares, then get a seperate bit of paper to rule out my graph to start drawing!
(Poppet some assembly required., Fri 6 Aug 2010, 10:09, Reply)