Drawing at a different scale than what they see is often a problem for beginning art students.
Sight-Size
eliminates that problem.
Which is why many ateliers use it.
Do you struggle with drawing what you see?
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Does drawing from life intimidate you?
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Are your drawings disproportionate?
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Are you unable to capture a likeness?
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Do you wish you had atelier training?
Learning to draw in Sight-Size can help!
What is Sight-Size? Sight-Size is simply an arrangement of the artist, subject and artwork that allows the artist to see their subject and artwork one-to-one.
You can see an example of this in the photograph at the top of the page, taken from near the artist's vantage point.
-John Singer Sargent painting Mrs. Fiske Warren and her daughter Rachel in 1903.
1. Side-By-Side
Your subject and artwork must be visually side-by-side. The size of the drawing depends on the placement of your easel, relative to your subject and your vantage point.
2. Consistent Vantage Point
When your subject and artwork are visually side-by-side in Sight-Size, from the proper vantage point you can see both in one glance and in a one-to-one relationship.
3. Draw What You See
Consistent comparison between your subject and artwork through the one-to-one relationship of Sight-Size will help you achieve an accurate likeness of your subject.
How? Through Bargue plate copies and cast drawing.
Learning how to accurately draw what you see can be difficult, especially when your subject is larger than your paper.
Sight-Size eliminates the problem of scale and makes the process of seeing and drawing much easier because your artwork is the same size you see your subject. That is why many of the most successful ateliers in the world teach their students how to draw using Sight-Size.
Due to the one-to-one relationship between your artwork and subject, Sight-Size allows you to easily see shape, value, edge, and even color errors. Your drawing will therefore be more accurate. That is a good thing because accuracy is where likeness is found.
When learning to draw in Sight-Size, what you see is what you draw. There is no scaling, construction, or formula. Sight-Size is purely objective sight. Then, once your eye is trained to objectively see, you can make intentional, intelligent, and artistic choices about deviating from your source. You can also more easily scale because your eye is now trained to accurately see.
My name is Darren Rousar. During the late 80's through the early 2000's I studied and taught at numerous ateliers in the States and Florence, Italy. Since then most of my efforts have been guiding students through print and online.
If you want to learn how to draw what you see, I can help.
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Finishing one area at a time is death to relational seeing. It interferes with your ability to compare relationships, whether that’s between shapes, values, color, or edges. Better is to keep everything moving along at the same pace. That not only eliminates the risks of piecemeal seeing, it also helps to assure an accurate representation. But how do you keep everything moving when nobody can effectively do more than one thing at a time?
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Back in 2007, Mr. Hunter (and American Artist) gave me permission to reproduce an interview he did with Richard Goetz of American Artist Magazine. The copyright remains with American Artist, 1970. Other than the diagram, none of the following images were in the original article.
A Color Cast
Proper training in any subject requires that you begin with simple elements and only after they are mastered would you move onto the next. That is why most ateliers begin their students education by drawing casts in charcoal. From there they move onto cast painting en grisaille, and then still life in full color. But some skip over the grisaille cast stage and jump straight to color by having their students paint a color cast.
When you can see accurately, you can confidently draw anything you can see.
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You can learn cast drawing in Sight-Size with my help!
Learning how to accurately see, as well as draw, is best done through cast drawing in Sight-Size. Ateliers exist worldwide to help you do that. But what if you cannot attend an atelier? Or, perhaps you are already in an atelier and would like to supplement that training?
You can learn how to see through Sight-Size, or enhance what you already know with help through my various books and courses. Available at castdrawing.com.