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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What others have said.
The latest Sight-Size articles.
Piecemeal Seeing – Part 2
There are many ways to categorize artists. One of the most useful divisions describes the ways in which they tended to view their subjects. Although the specifics sometimes vary, there are essentially two: seeing the whole, and piecemeal seeing. This article explains the latter, using a painting by the eighteenth-century Italian master Pompeo Batoni.
Bunker’s Fishhooks
One of the first things beginning painters want to know is how to physically put paint on the canvas. There are many options: you might stroke it, dab it, or scrub it, etc. In a sense, your brush stroke is like your handwriting which differs with each individual. Such was the case with Bunker’s fishhooks.
Allan R. Banks
Light is something artists know a lot about. It often reveals itself opposite of shadow, which makes the representation of three-dimensional form fairly straightforward. One can see the result in any number of high-contrast student cast drawings done in many of today’s ateliers. Successfully representing form in a fully lit, low-contrast environment is far more complex. It is a complexity at which Allan R. Banks excels. It is also one of the aspects which ranks him a master in the craft of picture-making.
When you can see accurately, you can confidently draw anything you can see.
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Learn Sight-Size cast drawing through the
full-length book,
The Sight-Size Cast!
Learning how to accurately see, as well as draw, is best done through Sight-Size cast drawing. Ateliers exist worldwide to help you do that. But what if you cannot afford atelier training, or there is not an atelier nearby? 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 Darren R. Rousar's book The Sight-Size Cast.
Want more in-depth instruction? How about an online course?
Few have the time to attend an in-person atelier. But now you can learn Sight-Size cast drawing in your own home through Atelier Rousar | online and the Sight-Size Cast Drawing online course.