Sarah Hope Art: Sight size drawing technique

Sight Size Drawing Technique

I have decided to share with you a technique that was taught to me at Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, USA. I hope you find this helpful!

Sight size technique is drawing or painting while viewing both the model and artwork simultaneously from a selected position so that both images appear the same size to the artist. This setup allows the artist to directly compare nature with the artwork and to more easily see and record the impression of the whole of the scene.

Materials : Two sheets of paper, medium and hard charcoal, sharpening board, putty rubber, plumb bob and line.

Set up and measuring (day 1 and 2)

Tape 2 sheets of paper to a drawing board. The first sheet is just for a little padding. The easel and cast are set up adjacent to eachother.

I will be making my observations 8 feet away standing in between the cast and the drawing. I mark my spot with masking tape so my position will stay the same throughout the whole week.

Strong light is set above to cast some nice shadows on the cast. A black curtain is placed on the outer side of the cast to soften the shadows.

A plumb line hangs in front of the cast and I will draw a vertical line down the centre of my paper to mirror this.

Standing in my marked spot 8 feet away I take my piece of string and begin to measure the main vertical points. I am concentrating on the big shapes only at this point. I mark the measurement on the paper and return to my spot to double check if I got it right. Each measurement is double checked, changed if needed. I check through each measurement every time I take a new measuremen

Once you've done your vertical points you can start on your widths. I measure the big shapes to the left and right of the plumb line with my sharpened piece of charcoal.

3 hours later, I have the outer shape and big shapes marked out.

It's a good idea before you finish for the day to mark the spot where your easel stands..the height of the board and position of where the paper sits...just incase the gremlins visit in the middle of the night and move your stuff around!

Measuring and drawing (Day 2)

Recheck your measurements with fresh eyes. When you are happy and trust that your measurements are correct you can start drawing the cast through observation drawing and measuring (still from 8ft away), remembering to check that the marks you make are correct from your standing point.

Adding Value (day 3)

Once the drawing is done it's time to start adding value to the drawing. The first area I add value to is the background and the shadow shape on the background. By starting with the background it makes it easier to judge the values for the cast.

Using a medium charcoal, remember always keeping your charcoal sharpened, I start drawing in the background. Keep your lines in one direction. I like to work from left to right in a upward diagonal direction.

Once I have put in a single layer of the background I start on the cast itself. Again just using a single layer of charcoal I draw in the shadow values. Again I am thinking big so I squint to get the big shadow shapes, don't get bogged down in all the subtle changes in tone at this point and ignore the lights.

Once I have drawn in the background and shadow shapes I use black mirror to check the values. I can see that the background needs to be a lot darker so I will come back to this tomorrow.

I spend the another 20 minutes remeasuring and adjusting angles.

Building up values (Day 4)

On top of the background layer I create a darker shadow by going back and forth in a diagonal

direction with the medium charcoal. I am then going to add to add another layer to the shadows on.

iI continue to work on my values throughout the day using the black mirror to check my values against the cast.

The grand finale! (day 5)

Using a harder charcoal I drew of the shadow areas in a back and forth motion to give it a smooth finish. The lighter areas are also drawn with the harder charcoal. When drawing the lights it is important to decide where your lightest light is, this will be the blank area of the paper. Please note I have not used a rubber (eraser for the Americans!) at all in this drawing. Rubbing out areas will spoil the finish on your drawing, that's why we build the drawing up in stages like we do. Once it is finished you are going to want to fix the drawing with a spray fixative.

The Finished drawing